The 29th, Came A Small Portuguese Frigate From The Admiral Of The
Armada, As They Term It, In Which Was One Portuguese And His Boy,
Bringing Me A Letter From The Captain-Major, In Answer To One I Wrote
Him The Day Before.
He expressed his satisfaction to hear that I
belonged to a king in friendship with his sovereign, and that
He and his
people would be ready to do me every service, provided I brought a
letter or order from the King of Spain, or the Viceroy of India,
allowing me to trade in these parts; if otherwise, he must guard the
port committed to his charge, in which the king his master had a
factory. I answered by word of mouth, by the Portuguese messenger, that
I neither had letters from the King of Spain nor the viceroy, of which I
had no need, being sent by the King of England, with letters and rich
presents for the Great Mogul, and to establish the trade already begun
in these parts. As for the Portuguese factory there, I meant not to harm
it, as both it and our factory might continue to trade, and I saw no
reason they had to oppose us, as the country was free for all nations,
the Mogul and his subjects not being under vassalage to the Portuguese.
I therefore desired him to tell his captain, that I expected he would,
in a friendly manner, permit any English who were at Surat to come on
board to confer with me, and hoped he would not reduce me to the
necessity of using force, as I was resolved to have intercourse with
them by one means or the other.
I went that day in the Darling to examine the bar, but seeing we could
not possibly go over the bar without a pilot, I returned in the evening
to the road. On going aboard the Increase, I found a letter from Surat,
written by Nicholas Bangham, formerly a joiner in the Hector. He
informed me that we had no factory in Surat, to which place he had been
sent by Captain Hawkins to recover some debts owing there, and had
likewise letters for me from Captain Hawkins, but durst not send them
aboard for fear of the Portuguese. He said nothing as to what had become
of our factory and goods; wherefore I wrote to him to send me Captain
Hawkins' letters, and information of all other particulars of our
affairs in that country.
The third October, Khojah Nassan, governor of Surat, and the governor's
brother of Cambaya, sent me a Mogul messenger with a present of
refreshments, offering to do me all the service in their power; saying,
they wished to trade with us, but could see no way of doing so while the
Portuguese armada rode there, and therefore advised me to go for
Gogo,[340] a far better place, where our ships could ride nearer the
shore, and where the Portuguese armada could not hinder our landing.
That place likewise was nearer Cambay, where there were more merchants
and greater store of merchandise for our purpose than at Surat. I told
this messenger, that till I knew what was become of our countrymen and
goods formerly left in the country, I could not determine how to
proceed, and desired him therefore to be a means that some one of our
people might come aboard to confer with me, and that I might have a
pilot to conduct me to Gogo, and then I would quickly resolve them what
I was to do. I dismissed this messenger and his interpreter with small
presents. The 5th, the interpreter, who was a bramin, or priest of the
Banians, came off with a letter from Bangham, and the letter from
Captain Hawkins, dated from Agra in April last, giving an account of the
fickleness of the Mogul, who had given a firman to the Portuguese, by
which our trade, formerly granted, was disallowed.
[Footnote 340: Gogo is a sea-port of Guzerat, on the west coast of the
Gulf of Cambay, in lat. 22 deg. 43' N.]
There were likewise two letters of a later date from Thomas Fitch, at
Lahore, giving the same account of the inconstancy of the Great Mogul,
and advising me on no account to land any goods, or to hope for trade.
On reading these letters, I grew hopeless of any trade here, yet
resolved to try all I possibly could before I would depart. I understood
by Bangham's letter, that Captain Sharpey, John Jordayne, and others,
were coming from Cambaya to Surat to go along with me: and although I
could have no trade, I yet resolved to do all I could to get them on
board. The Indian ships that rode beside me had given over their voyage
southwards for this monsoon, and the bramin desired me to allow them to
be carried into the river. This I would by no means grant; desiring him
to tell the governor and owners, that their ships should be detained
till I had all the English from Cambaya and Surat on board. If I had
permitted them to be gone, I should have lost all means of sending to or
hearing from our people ashore, as the Portuguese used their endeavours
to intercept all letters and messengers.
The 22d, the Portuguese laid an ambush to intercept some of my men that
were sent on shore, and, on seeing an advantage, broke out upon them in
great numbers, confusedly running towards my men and boats. They
discharged their shot at us, and we at them, both such of my men as were
on shore, and those also in my frigate,[341] which rowed close to the
land. All my men retired in safety to my boats and frigate, and the
Portuguese retired, with some hurt, behind the sand hills, out of shot,
and so, in worse case than they came, returned to their frigates.
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