Page 205 - PERSIAN 2B 1883_1890_Neat

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RESIDENCY AND MUSCAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR 1834-85.

to tlio cast of the town on the site of an ancient lower. It was completed in 1587 and called
Sara Jao, now known to the Arabs as Jclali.
The fort left unfinished by daLisboa thirty years before, on the wett sido of the town, was
brought to completion in the following year, 1588, and was named Fort Capitan. Its present
name is Merani. In the year 161C a force was despatched from Goa against Sohar to act in
co-operation with an Arab Chief, the Ameer Umeyr-bm-IIimyar,who had sought the Portuguese
alliance and had probably instigated the enterprise. Besides a land force from Muscat, the
expedition was joined by a number of ships from Hormuz laden with stores and munitions of
war. After some indecisive skirmishing between the Arabs in frout of Sohar, the Portuguese
landed their men and guus and commenced to bombard the fort, using gabions stuffed with
cotton for the 6eige batteries. The walls were soon breached, and the fort was then carried by
assault, the Arab garrison routed and dispersed, and the town burned to the ground. The
Portuguese henoeforward remained in undisputed possession of the place, and the Araser
Umeyr, having gained his object, retired to Xakhl. This took place ou the 16th March.
The Portuguese now found themselves confronted by foes of a different calibre to the
Asiatics they had hitherto had to deal with. The Dutch and English had appeared in the
East to contest the supremacy by the sea, to grasp their share of the commerce, and eventually,
as it turned out, to overthrow their Eastern Empire.
Many and revere were the engagements that ensued between these three nations, hut the
Portuguese power had already begun to wane aud could not long sustain the unequal contest.
The oriental navigations cf the English corar-cnccd towards the close of the sixteenth contary,
and it was not very long before they felt strong enough to venture into the Gulf as mats
with the Portuguese for the Persian trade. In 1613, the ship Expedition, of 260 tons,
with the Ambassador to Persia, Sir Thomas Shirley, on board, arrived at Gwadur, from whence
Sir Thomas proposed to march up to the capital, Ispahan, overland. A plot of the treachemus
Belooches to murder the whole Embassy an d crew of the Expedition was, however, fortu­
nately discovered in time, and the vessel pro ceeded on to India. On the way they captured a
terada of 15 toua having a pass from the Governor of .Muscat, which was transcribed as show­
ing to what subjection the Portuguese had re duced the maritime trade of the Gulf, allowing no
vessel, large or Email, to navigate the sea without their pass.
The first encounter between the English and Portuguese, in the Gulf of Oman, appears to
have taken place in 1620, in which year a fleet, consisting of the London 800 tons, llart 500
tons, Roebuck 200 tons, and the Eagle 230 tons, sailed from Tilbury Hope for Surat, from
wheuce two of the ships, the Hart and Eagle, set out for Jask. Here they found the Portuguese
fleet, scut purposely from Lisbon to oppose the English trade with Persia, waiting to intercept
and attack them, uud, judging themselves unable to cope with it, were returning to Surat
for reinforcements, wheu they met the London and Roebuck on the way to join them.
The four ships together then steered for Jask, where they arrived on 15th December 1620,
having captured oq the road, ou the 21st November, a Portuguese ship of 200 tons bound from
Muscat to Chaul with a cargo of horses. The Portuguese fleet consisted of two galleons, oao of
which was larger than the London,two galleots aud ten frigates under the command of General
Dom Ruy Frere daAndrada, the Vice-Admiral being JoafL Boralho. There were also two
Dutch galleou8,one commanded by Ant. Mesqaitta and the other by Balthazar deChaves. On
the 16th the English were engaged in fitting up their prize as a fire-ship, bat as it fell calm
during the day, they were only able to exchange long shots with the enemy. The breeze
springing up the following morning, the Portuguese, who had the weather gage, weighed and
closed. The battle began at 9 a.M., and continued without intermission for nine hour*; the
two fleets raanoeuvering and exchanging broadsides until night coming on, the smaller Dutch
ship, pressed by the Roebuck, turned tail and fled, and was 6oon followed by the rest of the
Dutch and Portuguese fleet, which disappeared in the darkness. The English ships anchored
for the night in the road. The prize that had been fitted up as a fire-ship had becu fired early
in the day, but had failed through mismanagement. The advantage, however, remained with
the English, who lost only one man, aud had but little damage done to their ships, while the
Portuguese lost their Admiral Boralho aud thirty men iu one ship alone. The next morning the
Portuguese were discovered in the offing, to the eastward! from whence they made no attempt
to reuew the engagement, but remaiued there during the next ton days watching the English,
and occupied in obtaining supplies and reinforcements from Muscat, their objoet being to
arass and delay the English and prevent them prosecuting their trade with Persia. Thi*
abiau policy suited them well, as Hormuz, their base of operations,
was near at hand, while
the English had no port nearer than Surat to retire to.