Page 115 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

A GALLANT BUT UNFORTUNATE COMMANDER 115

overhauled in the course of his operations against the
Turks, made a tremendous impression in an age and a
region in which the rule of the sea was the might of the
strongest. Carried by the Indian nacodahs, or captains, to
India, the account of the mildness and fair dealing of this
great strong man, who did not hesitate to bring to book the
insolent minions of the dreaded Grand Seignor, excited a
lively feeling of friendship and gratitude and did much
beyond question to pave the way for that early concession
to the English of the full right to trade which was of such
vital importance to our nation in the subsequent struggle
for commercial supremacy on the Indian Peninsula.