This Ship Was Above 200 Tons Burden; But Her
Captain Was As Short Of Money In Proportion As We Were,
And was
therefore desirous of a chance of making some addition to his stock; and
as our general was content
To have his aid, he agreed to let him have an
eighth part of what might be taken. The general then went to take leave
of the king, to whom he presented two of the chief merchants, Messrs
Starkie and Styles, whom the king graciously took under his protection,
as they and some others were to remain behind to provide pepper against
the return of the ships.
We sailed on the 11th September, 1602, steering our course for the
straits of Malacca; but, before giving an account of this adventure, I
shall relate how the king dealt with the Portuguese ambassador after our
departure. Every day the ambassador urgently pressed for permission to
depart; but still, on one pretence or another, the king delayed his
voyage; till at last, twenty-four days after our departure, the king
said to him, "I wonder at your haste to be gone, considering that the
English ambassador is at sea with his ships, for if he meet you he will
do you some wrong or violence." "I care little for him," said the
ambassador, "for my frigate[113] is small and nimble, with sails and
oars; and if I were only her length from the Englishman, I could easily
escape all his force." The king then gave him his dispatch, and allowed
him to depart. This delay served well for us, for had he got away in
time, such advices would have been sent from Malacca into the straits by
frigates, that all ships would have had warning to avoid us: But by
detaining the ambassador, we lay within 25 leagues of Malacca, and were
never descried.
[Footnote 113: Frigates, in the present day, are single-decked ships of
war, of not less than 20 guns: The term seems then to have been applied
to a swift-sailing vessel of small size and force; and is frequently
applied to armed or even unarmed barks or grabs, small Malabar vessels
employed by the Portuguese for trade and war. - E.]
While we lay in the straits of Malacca, on the 3d October, the Hector
espied a sail, and calling to us, we all saw her likewise. Being towards
night, the general directed us to spread out in a line, a mile and a
half from each other, that she might not pass us in the night. During
the night the strange sail fell in with the Hector, which first espied
her. The captain immediately hailed her to surrender, firing two or
three shots to bring her to; so that the rest of our ships were apprized
of where she was, and all gathered about her, firing at her with their
cannon, which she returned. On the coming up of the admiral, which shot
off six pieces at once out of her prow, the main-yard of the chase fell
down, so that she could not escape. The admiral now ordered all our
ships to discontinue firing, lest some unfortunate shot might strike
between wind and water, and sink our expected prize; so we lay by her
till morning without any more fighting. At break of day, the captain of
the chase, and some of his men, went into his boat; on which the Hector,
being nearest, called to them to come to his ship. Mr John Middleton,
the captain of the Hector, being vice-admiral, brought the boat and
captain immediately aboard the general, to whom they surrendered their
ship and goods.
The general gave immediate orders to remove all the principal men of the
prize on board our ships, and only placed four of our men in the prize,
for fear of rifling and pillaging the valuable commodities she
contained, and gave these men strict warning, if any thing were
amissing, that they should answer for the value out of their wages and
shares, ordering them on no account to allow any one to come on board
the prize, unless with his permission. When the prize was unloaded, her
own boatswain and mariners did the whole work, none of our men being
allowed to go on board even to assist. They only received the goods into
our boats, carrying them to such ships as they were directed by the
general; by which orderly proceeding there was neither rifling,
pillaging, nor spoil, which could hardly have been otherwise avoided in
such a business. Within five or six days we had unladen her of 950 packs
of calicoes and pintados, or chintzes, besides many packages of other
merchandise. She had likewise much rice and other goods, of which we
made small account: And as a storm now began to blow, all their men were
put on board, and we left her riding at anchor. She came from San Thome,
[or Meliapour near Madras,] in the bay of Bengal, and was going to
Malacca, being of the burden of about 900 tons. When we intercepted her,
there were on board 600 persons, including men, women, and children.
The general would never go on board to see her, that there might be no
suspicion, either among our mariners, or the merchants in London, of any
dishonest dealing on his part, by helping himself to any part of her
goods. He was exceeding glad and thankful to God for this good fortune,
which had eased him of a heavy care, as it not only supplied his
necessities, to enable him to load his ships, but gave him sufficient
funds for loading as many more; so that now his care was not about
money, but how he should leave these goods, having so much more than
enough, till the arrival of other ships from England.
The 21st October, we began our voyage from the straits of Malacca to
return to Acheen; and by the way there came a great spout of water,
pouring from the heavens, and fell not far from our ship, to our extreme
terror.
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