Page 205 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

sword, so he was curious to know why he had come again. Loch
explained that he wanted to embark treasure for Bombay and
Calcutta, when he sailed for India on the 15th, and would take
as much as the Bushirc merchants wished to send. There was,
however, one point which he asked the Shaikh to explain to the
merchants. A new regulation had been issued to the Navy,
laying down that freight was to be charged according to the
distance which the goods were carried, this would result in an
increase of h% on treasure carried from Bushirc to Bombay, and
-J% on goods carried to Calcutta. The change had been made
‘in consequence of an Act of Parliament*. Loch says, ‘I could
not make him understand what an Act of Parliament was’, which
is not surprising! The Shaikh was convinced that the increases
in freight rates were due to changes in the personnel of the Naval
Command, probably suspecting that they would make something
out of it, and not to the decision of a Parliament in England, of
which he had never heard.
When Loch asked the Shaikh to do all that he could to encour­
age the merchants to ship their goods in the Eden, the Shaikh
promised to do so, and said that he would summon them, and
explain the matter to them. ‘This assurance I, of course, de­
pended on, it will be seen hereafter how well he kept it!’ By this
time, Loch ought to have known the Shaikh’s shifty character, m
and it is surprising that he put such trust in him.
The fme new ship which the Shaikh had bought was in the
harbour, ready to sail for India. The Shaikh sent for the mer­
chants, and told them that the British had raised their shipping
charges, saying at the same time that he was prepared to carry
their treasure in his own ship at the old rate. He also warned %
them that if anyone consigned treasure to the Eden, he would
suffer for it. The consequence was that when the Eden sailed,
she carried no freight.
After Loch left, he heard what finally happened. Having in­
duced the merchants to entrust their pearls and bullion to his ship,
because they were anxious to send their treasure to India as soon
as possible, the Shaikh told them that he now found it impossible
to allow specie and pearls to be carried at the former rate. They
would have to pay the same rate as Loch would have charged;
this they were forced to agree to, so their goods were carried in
the Shaikh’s ship without security of being in a British man-of-
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