Page 240 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

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CHAPTER XVI f
The English in the Persian Gulf

Portuguese supremacy in the Gulf challenged—Goa, the Portuguese
capital in the East—Sir Robert Shirley, the Shah of Persia’s
ambassador—English open a trading factory in Persia—Shah l
Abbas’s hatred of the Portuguese—His gift of Jask to the i
English—Ruy Froire de Andrade, the Portuguese commander,
conducts a fleet to the Gulf—Portuguese ultimatum to the !
Shah—Action between the Portuguese and the English off I
Jask—English fleet under Captain Shilling drives off the
Portuguese—English fleet under Captains Blyth and Weddell,
assisted by a Persian land force, attacks and defeats Portuguese .
at Kishm—Baffin, the Arctic explorer, killed in the fight— I
Surrender of Ruy Freire—Ormuz attacked and occupied— ;
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Downfall of the Portuguese power in the Gulf .
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A LL the time that English and Dutch were contend-
-IJL ing in deadly rivalry in the Eastern Islands, the
historic fight against the Portuguese had been proceeding
practically without interruption. Though heavily beaten,
with some of her best centres of trade captured, her com­
merce crippled and her prestige shattered, Portugal
fought on with all the energy of despair. Driven out
of the Eastern seas by Dutch ships she concentrated
her resources on the defence of her possessions in India.
These were still a splendid heritage worthy of a mighty
effort. The capital, Goa, on the West coast, was “ no
mean city.” It sheltered a large and opulent population i
drawn from every part of the East. The great Cathedral
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