Siege of Tellicherry The Siege of Tellicherry was a military embargo that happened in Thalassery ( North Malabar ) . The Commander in Chief of the Mysore Calicut Province , Sirdar Ali , took siege of the British Military Barrack of Thalassery for 18 months . They British and the local administrators were blockaded within Thalassery by land as well as by sea . It was during the Second Anglo - Mysore War . The siege continued till reinforcement from Bombay led Major Abington attacked the Mysore army defeated them . Major Abington forwarded south leading to the capture of Calicut . " The Siege of Tellicherry " lead to the fall of strongholds of the First Mysore conquest , lead by Hyder Ali . Even though later Tipu Sultan came from Mysore to reinstate the conquered area to previous status . Tellicherry ( Thalasseri ) rose to become a fortified coastal harbor and major town under English East India Company control . The British got this site in 1705 from Kolathiri Raja of Northern Malabar . Hyder Ali , ruler of Mysore had no love lost for British and had already fought a war with British . His objective during second war was to oust British from South India and conquer whole of South India . Malabar was under continuous occupation of Hyder ' s troops since 1774 and whole country of Malabar was in a state of constant rebellion . The British supplied arms and ammunition to rebels and this displeased Hyder . Also Tellicherry was a major naval base of the British in south west coast of India . Hyder ' s conquest of Tellicherry will be a big blow to British naval position in waters of Peninsular India . So in order to block flow of guns and ammunition to rebellious Rajahs and chiefs of Malabar as well as to cripple British naval power , Hyder Ali decided to conquer Tellicherry as part of his larger plan to oust British from South India . So Hyder ordered his vassal Rama Varma , Rajah of Chirakkal to besiege Tellicherry in 1778 . Rajah did so with a large army but Hyder ' s opponent , Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja , acting Rajah of Kottayam ( Thalassery ) and an ally of British then , took to field and surrounded the besiegers of Tellicherry and cut off all their supplies and communications and forced them to retreat . But in 1779 , Chirakkal army of 4 , 000 supported by a Mysore contingent of 2 , 500 men defeated Kottayam army and then invaded the neighboring pro - British kingdom of Kadathanad and installed a puppet Rajah on throne who put that part of Kadathanad army ( 2 , 000 men ) which supported him at Hyder ' s disposal . This large host once more besieged Tellicherry in 1779 and as British garrison was perilously short on men and food , Pazhassi Rajah sent 1000 men and his entire surplus harvest to Tellicherry fort . This bought time for the beleaguered garrison . Soon siege progressed and British bought reinforcements and artillery . At the beginning , British had only two battalions in Tellicherry . But 1000 men of Pazhassi Rajah was soon supplemented by another four battalions and a good train of artillery . British and their ally Kottayam contingent fought a desperate defense for months - each assault of the Mysore army was repelled and the siege went on till 1782 . Then British command pondered over the plan suggested by Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja . British garrison must launch a sortie to break the besieger army into two and link up with another of his army who will strike enemy in rear . Soon they decided to adopt this plan . As British and Kottayam troops launched a furious assault on besiegers in 1782 - as planned sudden appearance of another 1000 men of Kottayam Rajah in rear proved fatal to Mysore army and their allies who were split into two halves . Enemy retreated in confusion and panic and a considerable number was taken prisoner . Sirdar Khan seriously wounded and sick fell prisoner and breathed his last in captivity . This disaster for Mysore army roused rebels all over Malabar into a massive rebellion and decimated all the Mysore regiments of occupation and recovered their freedom for a short period . See also . Anglo - Mysore Wars