Battle of 4 May

4 May 1823, Off Salvador, Bahia

Inconclusive; Cochrane broke off

Cochrane sailed from Rio on 3 April to blockade Salvador, where General Madeira de Melo's Portuguese army was besieged by Brazilian troops on land. On 4 May he met the Portuguese squadron under João Félix Pereira de Campos, thirteen ships with a ship of the line and two big frigates, and tried to cut through its line and fall on the rear. Pedro I opened fire on the corvette Princesa Real around noon, but most of his ships hung back out of range, and Portuguese-born sailors in his crews, Pedro I's among them, hampered the fight. Seeing he could not win even locally, Cochrane broke off and anchored at Morro de São Paulo. He sent the slowest ships away, moved the best men and guns into Pedro I and Maria da Glória, and kept up the blockade with those two.