Page 12 - Anglo Portuguese Rivalry in The Gulf_Neat

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I squadron threw the Portuguese at Ormuz into a I On arriving at Ormuz, Ruy Freyre made several
1 shameful panic, which Don Garcia de Silva did his best 1 additions and alterations to his fleet, and then sailed

to allay, but without much success. His description
\ t of the consternation caused by the news of the presence to Jask in November, 1620, with the intention of
intercepting the English ships expected to arrive there
of the English ships at Jask, i3 confirmed by Monnox i
WW who jubilantly reported : “ As we increase so doth in December, to fetch the 520 bales of silk contracted
; i Ormuz decrease ; for the very report of the arrival of for by Monnox. His force comprised the galleons
W five English ships in Jask did strike such terror and c * Sdo Pedro (64) which served as flagship ; Sdo Martinho
w amazement into these hen-hearted inhabitants,. that f (48) second-in-command ; the fataxo, or pinnace, Sdo
Lourengo (24) and the urea, or hulk, Nossa Senhora da
even their own houses and churches escaped not the f Conceifdo (22), these two last vessels being Flemish-
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fury of their mattocks and pick-axes, fearing lest the • built ships. In addition, there were a number of
English in landing should possess themselves of the said
i galliots and other oared craft to serve as despatch
churches and houses, and therein lay siege and battery : boats and scouts, whilst the whole Armada was manned
into their invincible fort.”1 :
* by over 1,000 men, the majority of them soldiers, for
From this panic mood the Portuguese were delivered the European sailors and gunners were few and far
by the arrival of the long-expected squadron of Ruy i.
\ between. With this fleet the Captain-Major took up
Freyre at Ormuz in June, 1620, after a disastrous his appointed station off Jask.
voyage, during which one vessel had been lost off i Ruy Freyre had been at sea for exactly a month, *
Melinde, whilst the remainder of the squadron had when two English vessels hove in sight on the 16th
wintered at Mozambique where many of the crew !! December, with a Portuguese prize they had taken on
died. Further time was lost in cruising off the the voyage. These were the Hart and Eagle, which
entrance to the Red Sea, for Indian or Arab vessels 1 - Captain Andrew Shilling, commander of this year’s
unprovided with Portuguese passes; and the condition outward-bound fleet, had detached from his squadron
of the survivors on reaching Ormuz was such as to : in accordance with the Company’s instructions, a few
justify the English sneer that they were only “ fightable days before reaching Swalley Hole with his two
till they fly.” Nevertheless the factors at jask reported < remaining vessels, the London and Roebuck. The
that with the arrival of Ruy Freyre’s squadron, “ the f Portuguese at once weighed to attack the English, who
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Portugals are grown great men, and begin to look big,” thinking themselves no match for the four galleons,
and it speedily became apparent that the English \ ■- abandoned their prize and put about for Surat under
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would not be able to fetch their silks away this year ' cover of darkness.1 Meanwhile Shilling had arrived
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without a struggle.*
J *Idem, P- 353. L Ambassade de D. Garcias de Silva Figeroa en Perse, 5 1 The anonymous author of the True Relation of that worthy sea-fight, etc.,
(Paris, x6 67), PP- 37I-39I- 11 not very complimentary about the behaviour of the Hart and Eagle,
alleging: “ But the truth is, they were very rich themselves, and loath to
%Cal. S.P. East Indies. 1617-1621, p. 379. The outward voyage of Ruy * ■ lose all by any misadventure, which they might escape, and not wilfully run
Freyre’s fleet is described in full in Chapters I to III of the Commentaries of into; and yet I must confesse, they had many motives to fight with them,
; j Ruy Freyre £ Andrade. (London,' 1929). Cf also Foster, English Factories and daring hearts to the encounter; [yet] for all their great burthen ana
1 in India, 1619-1621, pp. xxvii-xxix. 1 preparation, well, they did not ...
! 66 67
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