Page 67 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

LIFE AT SEA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 67

with pepper and, having dispatched them home, proceeded
with the other two to the Moluccas, where he, in the face
of some Dutch opposition, did a brisk trade and established
what seemed then likely to prove profitable relations with
the native powers. He returned home in May, 160G, with
cargoes wrhich brought to the investors a clear return of
95 per cent, on their capital, although one of the four ships
had been lost on the voyage back.
In quick succession three other ventures were launched
by the Company in the period immediately following
Middleton’s return. The first of the trio, which figures
in history as the third voyage, was commanded by Captain
William Keeling, who had as his chief lieutenant David
Middleton, a brother of Henry. This voyage is chiefly
interesting from the fact that it established the first con­
nexion of the Company with India, one of the three
ships of which the fleet was composed—the Hector—pay­
ing a flying visit to Surat prior to proceeding to Bantam,
and leaving there in circumstances to be related in a sub­
sequent chapter William Hawkins with instructions to
proceed as envoy to the Court of Jehangir at Agra. An­
other of its features was the opening of a factory at Banda,
an important seat of the spice trade in the Eastern seas,
writh a consequent further development of the rivalry be­
tween English and Dutch in that region. The venture
which followed upon this, known as the fourth voyage, with
Captain Alexander Sharpeigh as commander, established
relations with Aden and Mocha and further extended the
Indian connexion. But its course was so marked with
misfortune that it did little to promote the cause of Eng­
lish trade expansion in India. First, Sharpeigh, on landing
at Aden, was taken prisoner by the Turkish governor and