CHAPTER I

RISE OF EUROPEAN PIRACY IN THE EAST

Portuguese pirates—­Vincente Sodre—­Dutch pirates—­Royal filibustering—­Endymion Porter’s venture—­The Courten Association—­The Indian Red Sea fleet—­John Hand—­Odium excited against the English in Surat—­The Caesar attacked by French pirates—­Danish depredations—­West Indian pirates—­Ovington’s narrative—­Interlopers and permission ships—­Embargo placed on English trade—­Rovers trapped at Mungrole—­John Steel—­Every seizes the Charles the Second and turns pirate—­His letter to English commanders—­The Madagascar settlements—­Libertatia—­Fate of Sawbridge—­Capture of the Gunj Suwaie—­Immense booty—­Danger of the English at Surat—­Bombay threatened—­Friendly behaviour of the Surat Governor—­Embargo on European trade—­Every sails for America—­His reputed end—­Great increase of piracy—­Mutiny of the Mocha and Josiah crews—­Culliford in the Resolution—­The London seized by Imaum of Muscat.

From the first days of European enterprise in the East, the coasts of India were regarded as a favourable field for filibusters, the earliest we hear of being Vincente Sodre, a companion of Vasco da Gama in his second voyage.  Intercourse with heathens and idolaters was regulated according to a different code of ethics from that applied to intercourse with Christians.  The authority of the Old Testament upheld slavery, and Africans were regarded more as cattle than human beings; while Asiatics were classed higher, but still as immeasurably inferior to Europeans.  To prey upon Mahommedan ships was simply to pursue in other waters the chronic warfare carried on against Moors and Turks in the Mediterranean.  The same feelings that led the Spaniards to adopt the standard of the Cross in their conquest of Mexico and Peru were present, though less openly avowed, in the minds of the merchants and adventurers of all classes and nationalities who flocked into the Indian seas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  With the decadence of buccaneering and the growth of Indian trade, there was a corresponding increase of piracy, and European traders ceased to enjoy immunity.

In 1623 the depredations of the Dutch brought the English into disgrace.  Their warehouses at Surat were seized, and the president and factors 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