followed by a brief relaxation period from 1792 to 1797, during which a few Catholic families managed to escape to Coorg, Cannanore, and Tellicherry. The persecutions resumed in 1797. British and modern eras In the Battle of Seringapatam on 4 May 1799, the British army, under officers George Harris, David Baird, and Arthur Wellesley, stormed the fortress and breached the town of Seringapatam, with Tipu being killed in action. After his death in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, the Mangalorean Catholics were freed from his captivity. Of the 60,000–80,000 Mangalorean Catholics taken captive, only 15,000–20,000 made it out as Christians. Historian Alan Machado Prabhu mentions that only 11,000 survived the captivity as Christians. British general Arthur Wellesley helped 10,000 of them return to South Canara and resettle on their lands. Of the remaining Christians freed, about a thousand went to Malabar, and some hundreds settled in Coorg. According to Francis Buchanan, 15,000 of them returned to Mangalore and its vicinity, while 10,000 of them migrated to Malabar. The Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (1883) mentions that 15,000 persons returned, of which 12,000 were from South Canara and 3,000 from North Canara. According to genealogist Michael Lobo, the present Mangalorean Catholic community is descended almost entirely from this small group of survivors. Later, the British took over South Canara. In 1800, they took a census of the region. Of the people living in South Canara, 10,877 were Christians. Thomas Munro was appointed the first collector of Canara in June 1799. He passed three orders in respect of the estates of the Christians, which were taken over by non-Christians during the captivity. Through the assistance of the church and with the support of Munro, the Christians were able to recover their lands and estates. Fr. José Miguel Luis de Mendes, a Goan Catholic priest, was appointed Vicar of Our Lady of Rosary of Mangalore on 7 December 1799. He took interest in the re-establishment of the community from 1799 to 1808. Later, British general John Goldsborough Ravenshaw was appointed collector of South Canara. He took an active part in the restoration of the Catholic community's former possessions and the recovery of its estates. He constructed a church for them, which was completed in 1806. In 1800, there were 2,545 Catholic households with a population of 10,877. Their population almost doubled by 1818. According to various parish books, Mangalorean Catholics numbered 19,068 in South