Da Gama then announced that, unless the Zamorin met his conditions, he would bombard Calicut the next day. The Portuguese had captured a number of small boats and their crews. At midday on 1 November 1502, they began to hang their prisoners. Thirty-four sailors were executed. As the dead men were taken down, their hands, feet and heads were cut off. These body parts were then piled on a boat, which was floated into the harbour together with a message saying that the actual killers of Cabral’s men could expect an even crueller death. The truncated bodies of these innocents were then thrown into
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