The 2d October We Embarked Our Goods And Provisions, Gave A Present To
Schekh Abdel-Reheime, And Got A Dispatch
For our departure; but the
customers refused a licence till they should search our ship, yet
meeting with some frigates
In their own river, which they supposed to be
Malabars, they durst not venture down to our ship. These frigates
[grabs] were Portuguese, who desired that no one should come to talk
with them; yet Mr Buck rashly went on board and was detained.[218]
[Footnote 218: At this place is given a confused relation of several
incidents at Surat, obviously garbled and abbreviated by Purchas, so as
to be difficultly intelligible. As these are already contained in the
journal of Hawkins, they are here omitted. - E.]
At this time I was ill of the bloody flux, of which Mr Dorchester died,
but I was cured under God by an Englishman, named Careless.[219] From
him I learnt many things respecting India; and particularly of the great
spoil done by the Hollanders to the Portugals at Malacca the last year.
The Hollanders were lying before Malacca with sixteen ships, besieging
that place by sea and land, in conjunction with several native kings,
when news were sent to the Portuguese viceroy, then before Acheen with
all the gallants of India, having with him a very great fleet of ships,
gallies, and frigates, with 4000 soldiers, having been commanded to
conquer Acheen and to build a castle there, and afterwards to plunder
Johor, and to chastise the Moluccas for trading with the Hollanders.
Upon notice from Andrea Hurtado, who then commanded at Malacca, of the
distress to which that place was reduced, the viceroy set sail from
Acheen to attack the Hollanders. The Dutch general got timely notice of
his motions, and having re-embarked his men and artillery, went forth to
meet the viceroy. After a long and bloody fight, the Dutch had to draw
off to stop the leaks of their admiral; on which the Portuguese let slip
the opportunity, and fell to rioting and merriment, with great boasts of
their victory, not looking any more for the Hollanders. But they, having
stopped their leaks and refitted at Johor, came unexpectedly on the
Portuguese, most of whom were feasting ashore, and sunk and burnt all
their ships; insomuch, if the viceroy had not previously detached six
ships on some other service, the Portuguese naval power in India had
been all utterly destroyed. After this, the Portuguese in Malacca were
infected by a heavy sickness, in which most of them died, among whom was
the viceroy, and the governor of Manilla, who had brought a
reinforcement of 2000 Spanish troops, so that their power was laid in
the dust.
[Footnote 219: He seems to have been resident in Surat; but the
particulars are omitted by Purchas. - E.]
This year a new viceroy was expected from Portugal with a strong fleet,
to drive the Hollanders out of India. This fleet consisted of nine ships
of war, and six others for trade; which were all separated in the gulf
of Guinea, and never met again afterwards.
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