Page 247 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

TI-IE ENGLISH IN THE PERSIAN GULF 247

Shah Abbas was greatly incensed at the nature of the
demands that were made upon him. With passionate
gestures he tore up the letters of recall presented to him
by the ambassador and roundly declared that instead of
restoring what he had already taken, he would drive the
Portuguese from their factory at Ormuz. To accentuate
his contempt for the practical ultimatum which had been
delivered to him, he gave orders forthwith for the prepara­
tion of a firman granting the sole trade in silks to the
English. There was now but a step to be taken to get into
i the region of actual warfare.
Upon the English fell the first serious blow in the contest.
In November, 1620, Captain Shilling arrived in Swally
roads with two ships, the London and the Roebuck.
Two other vessels of the same fleet, the Hart and the
Eagle, had at an earlier period of the voyage been detached
to proceed to the Gulf and were at the time well on their way
to their destination. As soon as Shilling realized from the
news which he gathered at Surat the danger which threat­
ened from this division of his forces, he made all haste to
r
follow the Hart and the Eagle. He came up with the
ships in due course, and the reunited fleet made for Jask
with the full determination of the commander to assert the
.. English right to trade, even if he had to fight for it.

About the middle of December the Portuguese fleet was
encountered off Jask, lying close in shore. Lack of wind
delayed the engagement for a couple of days, and then a
gallant, but unsuccessful, attempt was made to burn Ruy
Freire’s flagship. After this there was a lull in the opera­
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tions, which lasted until December 28, when issue was joined
in earnest. The brunt of the fight fell for a time upon the
London and the Hart, the other two ships being becalmed

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