The Battle of Langat River was an armed encounter between a fleet of the Portuguese Empire and the Sultanate of Aceh, within the Langat River in the Malay peninsula in 1628. The Portuguese were victorious.
| Battle of Langat River | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Acehnese-Portuguese conflicts | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
.svg){kind=small} Portuguese Empire | Aceh Sultanate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Dom Francisco Coutinho | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 15 half-galleys.[1] |
100 ships[1]
| ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Few |
99 vessels[1] 3000 men[2][1] 800 guns[1][2] | ||||||
The battle
editSometime after late May or early June, Portuguese command at Malacca received reports that an Acehnese armada had been spotted within the Langat River.[1] Anticipating that the Acehnese intended to attack the city, the captain of Malacca Gaspar de Melo de Sampaio tasked Dom Francisco Coutinho to seek out the fleet and destroy it, with 15 half-galleys.[1]
The Portuguese found the Acehnese ships heavily fortified by the banks of Langat River.[1] Nevertheless, Coutinho moved his oarships into the river and after firing a salvo of artillery and muskety grappled and boarded the Acehnese vessels closest of the mouth of the river. At the end of a stiff struggle, having suffered heavy losses, the Acehnese lost or abandoned almost all of their ships, 3000 men killed, captured or missing, and 800 guns captured by the Portuguese.[2][1]