Page 26 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

successfully mined by the Persians with gunpowder, provided by
the English. Finally, after a two-days’ truce the Portuguese sur­
rendered to the English rather than wait for the final assault by
the Persians, which would certainly have led to the massacre of
the defenders. There is a description by an English sailor of the
appalling conditions inside the fort at the time of surrender. The
small amount of water left in the cisterns had been contaminated,
and the dead were lying unburied in the intense heat, being
devoured by dogs and cats.
The surrender of Hormuz gave rise to bitter disagreements
about the spoil. Both Persians and English seem to have behaved
badly. The Persians got away with enormous quantities of booty
which they did not share with the English, as had been agreed,
and the English captains and crews seized as much plunder as they
could and took it away in their ships. For the English Company
the affair was not a material success though, in a wider sense, it
was of the utmost value. The Portuguese failed in their many
attempts to recover Hormuz and, with its loss their influence in )
the Gulf decreased.

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