'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎37] (78/590)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
37
following termsthat they were to share the plunder, and
that half of the Custom dues of Gombroon, on the mainland,
was to be guaranteed to them, as well as exemption from pay
ment of all duties at that port.
Dr. Fryer, a quaint writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. who visited India and the Persian
Gulf between the years 1672-1681, says:—"Shau Abbas the
Great, when he had enlarged his dominions from the Persian
Gulf to the Caspian Sea, and lastly, when he was about to
wage war with the sea itself, having not one port in the Bay
of Persia, sent down Imaun Cooly Caun, the famous warrior-
general of his forces, against Ormuz, and all the harbours the
Portuguese had in possession of this side the Gulf; and a ship
of our nation coming in, Captain Wedal was implored to assist
the Persians against his and their enemies, which, the general
asking, the sea-captain consented to, first stipulating that the
Persian soldiers should not meddle with the spoils before the
English mariners were satisfied." Dr. Fryer then enumerates
the terms of the treaty, the Company engaging " to keep two
men-of-war constantly to defend the Gulf," while they, in
return, 44 should have the first seat in the Council, and their
agents be looked on with equal grace to their prime
nobility."
The arrogant conduct of the Portuguese, in declining to
permit foreign ships to navigate those seas without a pass from
the captain of one of their forts, and then only under oppres
sive conditions, aroused the opposition of the Company's agents
at Surat, who, confident in the discipline and valour of their
sailors, resolved to take the earliest opportunity of wresting
from their rivals the supremacy of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
At a consultation held in Swally Roads, a Commission was
given by the President and Council at Surat, to Captains Blythe
and Weddell, who were bound for Jask, near the entrance of
the Gulf, with five good ships—the 4 London,' 4 Jonas,' 6 Whale,'
6 Dolphin,' and 6 Lion,' and four " pinnaces,which formed the
nucleus of the newly-formed local Marine. As the Portuguese
had disturbed the trade, and committed depredations upon our
ships, the commander of the British squadron was authorized
to capture any vessels flying the Portuguese flag, and make
reprisals on other ships. Information was received that the
enemy, under Ruy Frere de Andrada, was waiting on the coast
of Persia, probably to attack the Company's fleet, who were
directed to use u all advantage" against the Portuguese, even
in their own ports, if approved by a general council of war.
On the 23rd of December the squadron arrived in Costack
pp'
^ The pinnace of tliat day was a schooner-rigged vessel of two or three masts,
| which was also propelled with oars. Shakespeare, in his play of Henry VI.,
, makes the pinnace an independent vessel, though Falstaff speaks of it as a ten-
is: der • Tlie P innace w as used for war purposes and mounted guns.