'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎10] (51/590)

10
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
to repel force by force. When he gave this answer, he was in
the belief that an extensive and lucrative trade had been, or
was about to be, established by the Company at Surat;
but the information which he shortly after received, convinced
him that for the present all idea of establishing such a trade must
be abandoned.* Captain Hawkins, by the information he
Imparted on his return from Agra, made it evident that no
trading privileges were to be expected from Jehangire while
the Portuguese, being able to support their pretentions by
force, appeared to him the European Power whom it was most
conducive to his interests to propitiate. If he had any doubts
as to the impossibility of trading at Surat in the present posi
tion of affairs, it would have been dissipated by the natives
themselves, who confessed that so long as the Portuguese
retained their ascendency, they durst not venture to incur
their displeasure. Their advice, therefore, was that the
English vessels should quit Surat for the port of Gogo, in the
Gulf of Cambay, where it was said the Portuguese would be
less likely to interfere. Sir Henry Middleton had another
plan in view; and, after taking on board Captain Hawkins and
his wife, who had arrived from Agra, and the Englishmen
who had been left at Surat, he called a council for the purpose
of determining their future course. 64 At this council," says
Sir Henry, " I propounded whether it would be best to goe
from hence directly for Priaman, Bantam, &c., or to returne
to the Red Sea, there to meet with such Indian shippes as should
be bound thither; and for that they would not deal with us at
their owne doores, wee having come so far with commodities
fitting their countrie, nowhere else in India vendable, I
thought we should doe ourselves some right, and them no
wrong, to cause them barter us; wee to take their indicoes
and other goods as they were worth, and they to take ours in
lieu thereof." The latter proposal was carried unanimously,
and Sir Henry Middleton returned to the Red Sea and con
tinued his course of compelling the traders to barter their
goods for those he could not dispose of at Surat; and it is
very probable that many acts of violence were committed
under the pretence of legitimate trading. But seamen of the
school of Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins, were not likely to
be very squeamish; as the Scotch proverb has it, 44 it's a far
cry to Loch Awe," and there w T as small chance of their being
called to account on their return to England.
In the meantime the Company fitted out another expedition
consisting of three vessels, the 4 Clove/ 'Hector,' and
' Thomas,' which sailed from England on the 18th of April,
1611, under command of Captain John Saris. As his destina
tion was the ports in the Red Sea, a firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). was obtained from
=* See Beveridge's " History of India," Tol. L, page 248.