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78 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
Castle,' which was sunk in the Channel hy a French man-of-war,
early in 1()94, while on her homeward voyage. But these losses,
which, coming' singly, were not felt so seriously, were dwarfed
.by the capture, in the following year, off the coast of Galway,
by a powerful French fleet, of their homeward bound sliij)s,
' Revolution,' ' Defence,' Princess Ann,' and ' Success.' Instead,
'
however, of yielding to despondency, the Company, consisting
of about twelve hundred proprietors, bore their loss, as they
wrote, " with a true Roman courage," and added ^300,000 to
their stock, and equipped eight ships for India.
In the year 1695, we have the first notice of the aggressive
character assumed by the maritime tribes of Arabs in the
Persian Gulf, who, subsequently, caused so much trouble to the
cruisers of the Indian Nav}^ and gave rise to expeditions directed
against Ras-ul-Khymah, in 1809 and 1819.
Speaking of these lawless Arabs, Captain Brangwin, one of the
Company's officers, gave his opinion " that they would prove as
great a plague in India as the Algerines were in Europe," a
prediction which was amply verified. The Company's agent at
Gombroon described the Arab fleet as consisting of five large
ships, cari-ying one thousand five hundred men, and twelve
Arab cruisers ; and reported that their depredations were so
great that it was supposed the King of Persia would march an
army against them ; and, he added, in accordance with a request
from the Governor of Gombroon, he had obtained the Company's
ship ' Nassau,' to assist in the defence of the town. So powerful
were these Arabs at this time that they ousted the Portuguese
from Mombaza, and, not only pillaged Diu, but, at the close of
the 17th century, seized their possessions on the African coast,
and founded the state which, until the year 1860, was united
with Muscat under the sway of the Imaums or Seyyids.
Surat, about this time, again became the scene of alarm, owing
to the advance of the Mahratta troops, within fifty miles of its
walls, when the English factory was put into a state of defence.
After the retreat of the enemy, the Mogul Governor received
news of the capture of several Surat merchant ships, and one,
carrying pilgrims, belonging to the Mogul, by an English pirate,
called the ' Fanny,' commanded by a notorious rover, named
Avory, and carrying forty-six guns, and one hundred and
thirty European seamen. This so exasperated the mob of Surat,
that the Nawab was compelled to throw into prison the President,
Mr. Annesley, and all the English, numbering fifty-three at
Surat and ten at Swally, to prevent their being torn to pieces
by the infuriated populace.*
* From the earliest times the West Coast of India has been derastatcd by
pirates. According to Pliny, the Eoman ships, when visiting these seas, carried a
number of archers for protection against these rovers. Ptolemy spoke of their
ferocity ; and Marco Polo, writing of them in 1269, said, " that with their wives
and children they passed all the mouths of fair weather at sea ; that each of