"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٧] (١٧٨٢/١٧٠)

2?
^ No orderly division of the spoil of Hornmz, as contemplated in the
^ -f fiiiv; Anglo-Persian agreement^ ever took place ; but on the contrary there was
mication^.; indiscriminate pillage by the allies, beginning on the 24th of April, in
which the Persians were supposed to have secured the lion's share of he
plunder. The number of captured guns assigned to the English was appa
rently 165 ; but their value was estimated at only one-third of those
retained by the Persians.
Simao de Mello was subsequently sentenced to death by the courts
of his own nation for the loss of Hormuz; but, as he had escaped to
a foreign country, the punishment was inflicted on him in effigy only.
Ruy Freire was exonerated from blame for the surrender of Qishm
chiefly, it would seem, because his services were required j his name was
a terror to the Arabs.
The participation of the English in the attack upon Hormuz was
evidently irregular from an international point of view,* for England
and Spain were at peace when it was made. Complaints were addressed
by the Spanish to the English Crown, and at first hopes of redress
were held out by King James; and it even seemed possible that the
Company's action might be repudiated, and their servants treated as
pirates, by the English Government. The Company, however, resolved
" to stand on their innocency," and various grounds of defence were
suggested by Monox, who had meanwhile returned to England in
the " Lion/ , —principally " His Majesty's commission to defend and
offend, " the aggressions of the Portuguese on English commerce in the
Gulf, and compulsion by the Shah, who had not hesitated to place an
embargo on English trade in Persia. In the end satisfaction was refused
to the King of Spain; but the Companyj probably in consideration of
the behaviour of their representatives being condoned, were obliged to
pay £10,000 to King James and the same to the Duke of Buckingham
as Lord High Admiral. As the English share of the spoil of Hormuz,
apart from what may have been secreted and carried off by individuals,
was estimated at £20,000 to £25,000 only, it appears that the expedition
lifi: against Hormuz, of which the expenses were no dotibt considerable, must
j) [jjii:' have resulted, in the first instance, in financial loss to the company. But,
v; on the other hand, the position of the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf
had been totally destroyed by the fall of Hormuz, while the English had
obtained a free port, and one more convenient than J ashk, for the prose
cution of their trade. The Shah, moreover, now confirmed the Farman
* Equally so, however, was the Portuguese attack on Shillinge's fleet at J ftshk in
1620.
Immediate
reBults of the
capture of
Hormuz,