Page 17 - Anglo Portuguese Rivalry in The Gulf_Neat

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replyed hee came not to treate of busynisses of such 5 but some friars dissuaded the men from following him
v ■S antequitye, but hee came to treate of sattisfaxione and and induced them to reopen negotiations with the
revenge for the warre begun and attempted by himselfe, English, after disarming their leader and imprisoning
the their present Rufrero, against our last yeares fieete him in his quarters. An agreement was speedily
111 ■V in the Roade of Jasques, to the losse of our worthy 1 concluded, whereby the Portuguese garrison was
v ':!i commander and our King’s sworne servante, besydes ! allowed to proceed to Ormuz after having been dis­
other of His Majistis subjects.” Ruy Freyre retorted
armed ; whilst the hapless Arab auxiliaries were handed
that he had only acted in accordance with his orders, over to the tender mercies of the Persians, “ who
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1 but after much dispute he seemed disposed to i formerly had promysed them mercie, but falsely
• i|! surrender on terms to the English. He demanded murthered them most unhumanly.” Ruy Freyre
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however, that the same conditions should be extended himseli was delivered by his men to the English who
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to his Arab auxiliaries, of whom there were some two shipped him on board the Lion, together with some
if hundred in the fort; but Monnox told him that these of his captains, as prisoners to Surat.1
would have to be handed over to the Khan of Shiras, in Ruy Freyre was well treated by his captors who
ii i accordance with the terms of the Anglo-Persian admired him unreservedly, which was hardly the case
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. agreement. " Then sayd Rufrero : ‘ Rather than wee . with some of his own countrymen. How these
. will doe that, wee will ende our lives together y yy and regarded his conduct at Kishm, is well shown by the
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so vehemently did he say this, that Monnox promised following extracts from a letter written by the
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i * to intercede on their behalf with Imam Quli Khan. • Archbishop of Goa, Dom Frei Christovao de Lisboa, to
u\ He did in fact obtain from the Persian General a verbal Fernao de Albuquerque on hearing of the loss of the
«;i promise that their lives should be spared, but Ruy fort. “ Your Worship should not despair nor become
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Freyre absolutely refused, to accept this, and broke off angered at the affair of Kishm, because it could have
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;s all further negotiations. The English thereupon *' come to no other end, since that fortress was founded
bombarded the fort, which they soon reduced to a at such an unseasonable time, as we always said ; whilst
sorry plight. Ruy Freyre now called on the garrison their Lordships of the Council in Madrid ever expected
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to sally forth and end their lives fighting to the last; more of it, than we here from our own experience and
knowledge. Neither do I blame the soldiers in what
in Portugal.) On the first appearance of the English fleet off Kishm, Ruy they did, according to what I have heard from Brother
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Freyre had also sent the commanders a letter couched in the same strain. J*
I After recalling the exploits of the English crusaders and of John of Gaunt in Mezanha ; for what Ruy Freyre wished to do, was
: the Peninsula, (Cf. Mr. C. H. Williams’ lecture on this last subject) he asked rather the deed of a barbarian than of a Christian, and
them to refrain from helping the Persians “ so that wee may reserve our the courage of despair rather than that of strength ; for
dissentions for other voyages, in which by valourous contending may be
r satisfied those wrongs that cannot well be remembered in such times as these every day we see positions evacuated and armies in
are,” and concluded defiantly by declaring that in the event of the English
persisting in their intentions, “ the first wee hope for is no more than to
i1 xThe best English account of the siege and fall of Kishm fort is contained
provide ourselves to die, defending that with Arms, wee have gotten by in the documents calendared on pp. 31-38 of Foster’s English Factories in
Arms.” (Ruy Freyre to the commanders of the English fleet, i/ii/1622; India, 1622-1623, whence most of the above quotations are taken. The
contemporaiy translation in Monnox* s History at large of the taking of Ormuz •only lengthy Portuguese account extant is that given in Chapters 24-29 of
; Castle; India Office, Original Correspondence, 1032;. the Commentaries, but this is a bombastic and unreliable version in the main.
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