I Left Letters With The King, Which He
Promised To Deliver To The First English Ship That Came There.
Having
finished all my business, I had much ado to get a simple fellow from the
ship of Diu to pilot me on the coast of India, who pretended to be a
good coaster.
We set sail from Delisha on the 3d September, with a
favourable wind, which brought us by the 26th into the road of Surat,
where we came to anchor in seven fathoms near three India ships. A mile
from us rode at anchor seven sail of Portuguese frigates or men of war,
there being thirteen more of them within the river of Surat.[339]
[Footnote 339: These twenty Portuguese frigates, as then called, were
only barks, grabs, or praws of the country, armed with small guns. - E.]
Long before our arrival, the Portuguese had intelligence that we were in
the Red Sea, and bound for Surat, so that these frigates were sent
purposely to prevent us from trading at Surat, or any other place on
that coast. Don Francisco de Soto-major was captain-major of this
flotilla, being what is called captain-major of the north, and reaped
great profit from granting cartasses, or passports, to all ships and
barks trading on that coast, all being confiscated that presumed to
navigate without his licence. I discharged my pilots that night, paying
them well, and sent by them a letter to such Englishmen as might be in
Surat, as I could not learn how many or who were there resident.
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