Qualla: Battle of 4 May https://qualla.com/battle-of-4-may en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of 4 May https://qualla.com/battle-of-4-may Battle of 4 May: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-4-may/ Thomas Cochrane had just cut the Portuguese line when he realized his own crew had mutinied. It was noon on 4 May 1823, somewhere in the open Atlantic off Salvador, and the Scottish admiral had spent the morning maneuvering his flagship Pedro I to split thirteen Portuguese warships - only to find that below decks, the Portuguese-born sailors he had been forced to hire had imprisoned the powder boys and stopped the guns from firing. Above deck, 130 marines recently emancipated from slavery stood ready to fight. Between those two facts lay the uncomfortable truth of the young Brazilian Empire: it was a nation still trying to learn how to crew its own ships.

Read more: Battle of 4 May on Qualla

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/j/s/u/battle-of-4-may-wp/7jsu-battle-of-4-may-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of 4 May: The Admiral for Hire https://qualla.com/battle-of-4-may/ Cochrane was already famous when Brazil came calling. He had ended Spanish rule in Chile three years earlier by capturing Valdivia with a handful of ships and an audacious mind, and his name alone could rattle a Portuguese captain. Independent Brazil, declared in September 1822, ...

Read more: Battle of 4 May on Qualla

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/j/s/u/battle-of-4-may-wp/7jsu-battle-of-4-may-the-admiral-for-hire.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of 4 May: A Flagship Held Together by Flags https://qualla.com/battle-of-4-may/ The Pedro I was rated a 74-gun ship of the line, though Cochrane thought her closer to a 64 by Royal Navy standards. What he found when he inspected her was worse than the rating. The sails tore in moderate wind. The gunpowder bags were so rotten that every shot risked setting of...

Read more: Battle of 4 May on Qualla

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/j/s/u/battle-of-4-may-wp/7jsu-battle-of-4-may-a-flagship-held-together-by-flags.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of 4 May: Noon Off Salvador https://qualla.com/battle-of-4-may/ Shortly after sunrise on 4 May 1823, Cochrane's lookouts counted thirteen Portuguese sails to leeward under Chief of Division João Félix Pereira de Campos. The odds were worse than the numbers suggested - the Portuguese flagship Dom João VI alone carried 88 guns. Cochrane's plan ...

Read more: Battle of 4 May on Qualla

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/j/s/u/battle-of-4-may-wp/7jsu-battle-of-4-may-noon-off-salvador.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of 4 May: The Blockade That Worked https://qualla.com/battle-of-4-may/ A tactical defeat became a strategic pivot. Cochrane retired to Morro de São Paulo, an island refuge fifty miles south, and did what he had done in the Pacific: he improvised. The best Brazilian sailors from the other ships were transferred to the Pedro I and the Maria da Glória....

Read more: Battle of 4 May on Qualla

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/j/s/u/battle-of-4-may-wp/7jsu-battle-of-4-may-the-blockade-that-worked.mp3 0:06 5 full