The Pirates of Malabar, and An Englishwoman in India Two Hundred Years Ago | Page 5

were placed in irons, in which condition they remained seven months.
This grievance was the greater, as it happened at the time that the cruel
torture and execution of Captain Towerson and his crew by the Dutch
took place at Amboyna. It was bad enough to be made responsible for
the doings of their own countrymen, but to be punished for the
misdeeds of their enemies was a bitter pill to swallow. In 1630, just as
peace was being concluded with France and Spain, Charles I., who was
beginning his experiment of absolute government, despatched the
Seahorse, Captain Quail, to the Red Sea to capture the ships and goods
of Spanish subjects, as well as of any other nations not in league and
amity with England. There were no Spaniards in the Red Sea or the
Indian Ocean, but international arrangements in Europe were not
regarded when the equator had been crossed. Quail captured a Malabar
vessel, for which the Company's servants at Surat were forced to pay
full compensation. The Seahorse returned to England in 1633, but in
view of the new field of enterprise opened up, Endymion Porter,
Gentleman of the King's bedchamber, embarked on a piratical
speculation, in partnership with two London merchants, Bonnell and
Kynaston, with a licence under the privy seal to visit any part of the
world and capture ships and goods of any state not in league and amity
with England. Two ships, the Samaritan and Roebuck, were fitted out
with such secrecy that the East India Company were kept in ignorance,
and sailed in April, 1635, for the Red Sea, under Captain Cobb.

The Samaritan was wrecked in the Comoro Islands; but Cobb,
continuing his cruise with the Roebuck, captured two Mogul vessels at
the mouth of the Red Sea, from one of which he took a large sum of
money and a quantity of goods, though the vessel had a pass from the
Surat factory. Again the Company's servants at Surat were imprisoned,
and not released till they had paid full compensation. Some small
satisfaction was experienced when it became known that John Proud,
master of the Swan, one of the Company's ships, had encountered the
Roebuck in the Comoro Islands, and had attacked the freebooter. He
was unable to capture it, but succeeded in procuring restitution of the
captured goods; the treasure, however, was carried off to London,
where it must have seemed as if the days of Drake and Hawkins had
come again.
The Company laid their grievance before the King, who expressed
much concern, promising to write to the Great Mogul and explain
matters; so the Company commenced an action against Bonnell and
Kynaston in the Admiralty Court. Porter was too highly placed to be
struck at. Bonnell evaded arrest and escaped to France, but Kynaston
was arrested and lodged in gaol; upon which Charles ordered his
release on bail, saying he would try the case himself at his leisure.
But Porter's views went beyond a single piratical voyage. Hardly had
Cobb started on his cruise, when he entered into partnership with Sir
William Courten for an association to establish a separate trade to the
East Indies. A royal grant was obtained, and the King himself was
credited with a share to the nominal extent of £10,000. The grant was a
flagrant breach of faith, and was the inauguration of the system of
interlopers that in after years caused so much loss and trouble to the
Company. Four ships were equipped and sent out, and before long it
became known that two vessels from Surat and Diu had been plundered
by Courten's ships, and their crews tortured. Again the Company's
servants at Surat were seized and thrown into prison, where they were
kept for two months, being only released on payment of Rs.1,70,000,
and on solemnly swearing to respect Mogul ships.
The Civil War brought these courtly piracies to an end, and the decay

of the Spanish power drew the more turbulent spirits of Europe and
America to the Spanish main, so that for a time there was a diminution
of European piracy in Indian waters. As buccaneering became more
dangerous, or less lucrative, adventurers of all nations again appeared
in Eastern waters, and the old trouble reappeared in an aggravated form.
The Indian Red Sea fleet offered an especially tempting booty to the
rovers. Lobo, a Jesuit priest, writing in the seventeenth century, tells us
that so vast was the commerce of Jeddah, and so great the value of the
ships trading to that place, that when, in India, it was wished to
describe a thing of inestimable price, it was customary to say, 'It is of
more value than a Jeddah ship.' Every year during the winter months,
Indian traders, and pilgrims for Mecca, found their way in