For The Provision That Should Have Been Sent In The Jelba, It Was My
Fault It Was Not Sent, In That I Did Not Urge It To The Aga.
After your
departure to-morrow, as I desire you to see performed, I will go in hand
with the lading of the goods in the jelba, which shall not be above
three days absent from you.
I have promised the ships shall not come
into the roads till the westerly winds be come, which will be a month
hence at the farthest; in the mean time you shall hear from me by
jelbas or boats, which I will send of purpose. I doubt not but there
will be good performance made with me by the Turks, in that my agreement
was made with the pacha and not with Regib aga. If I doubted any new
stratagem, I would have attempted to have escaped away by this time. I
have had, and still have means for my escape, were it not to leave my
people in danger of their lives: Doubt not, if they perform not with
me, when the westerly winds come, but I shall have good opportunity. I
had laid a plot to have escaped, if I could have persuaded Mr Femell,
but he will by no means be drawn to any thing, till he see whether the
Turks will perform or no, and he makes no doubt but to be sent aboard
with the first of the westerly winds, when you shall come to demand us.
You may ride in your quiet road-stead on the other side with all your
ships, till God send us that long-wished-for westerly wind, unless you
get a slatch of wind to carry one of your ships to the bab, to see
if all be well there, and so return back to you. I know that all sorts
of provisions waste apace in the ships; which, God sending me aboard, I
hope quickly to renew.
The 27th March I sent over the Darling to Mokha, at the general's
request, and she returned on the 6th April to Assab road, to deliver the
victuals and other provisions, which had so long been detained by the
Turks, and brought me a very kind letter from the general. The 21st, the
King of Rahayta sent me a present of a fat cow and a slave, by a
kinsman of his, who staid all night in the Trades-increase. At various
times the Budwees[359] brought us abundant supplies of bullocks, goats,
and sheep, which they sold to us for cloth, preferring that to money:
But by the beginning of May, our cloth fit for their use being all gone,
we could only purchase with money, after which our supply became scanty.
The 11th May, our general happily effected his escape from Mokha aboard
the Darling, with fifteen more of his people.[360]
[Footnote 359: Badwis, or Bedouins; the nomadic Mahometan tribes on the
African coast of the Red Sea, are here meant - E.]
[Footnote 360: The narrative of Sir Henry Middleton in the preceding
section, giving a sufficiently ample account of the incidents in the
voyage, till the return of the ships to Mokha, it has not been thought
necessary to continue the relation of Downton so far as regards the
intermediate transactions, for which we refer to the account of the
voyage already given by Sir Henry Middleton. But as his narrative breaks
off abruptly soon after the return to the Red Sea, we resume that of
Downton in the subsequent subdivisions. - E.]
Sec. 3. Account of Proceedings in the Red Sea on the second Visit.
The 1st April, 1612, on our return from India toward the Red Sea, we
were by estimation eighteen leagues short of Aden. It was now ordered by
the general, that I was to remain before or near the town of Aden, to
enforce any Indian ships that should arrive there to proceed into the
Red Sea, for which I received a commission, or written instructions,
from the general, who was with all expedition to proceed with the
Trades-increase to the bab, or gate of the Red Sea, both for the
safety of the company's ship, of which we had intelligence from
Masulipatam, that she was following our track into the mouths of the
wolves, from whom by God's mercy we had escaped, and there to take
revenge of the Turks and the subjects of the Great Mogul, for the wrongs
done to us, our king, and our country. The 2d we found the Darling at
anchor some eight leagues eastward of Aden, having got before us by
reason of our having lingered four days for her. She had completed her
business at Socotora, and had departed thence before we past it, going
by Saboyna, Abdal Curia, and Mount Feluk, where we lingered for her. She
brought from Socotora a letter left with the king, written by Captain
John Saris, general of the Clove, Hector, and Thomas, ships belonging to
our India company, signifying that he was gone into the Red Sea,
notwithstanding the letter of Sir Henry Middleton, giving an account of
the villanies there done to us. The general immediately departed toward
the bab, with the Trades-increase and Darling, leaving me in the
Pepper-corn at anchor, about eight leagues east from Aden.
Early in the morning of the 3d we set sail to the southwards, the better
to discover, and so all day we kept to windward of Aden. We soon
descried three sail bound for Aden, but they stood away from us, and we
could not get near them, as it blew hard. At night we did not come to
anchor, but lay to, to try the current by our drift, which I found to be
three leagues in ten hours. The morning of the 4th I came to anchor a
league or four miles from Aden, in twelve fathoms. Seeing a ship
approaching, we set sail very early in the morning of the 12th to
intercept her; and at day-light saw her at anchor about three miles
south of us.
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