The Pirates of Malabar, and An Englishwoman in India Two Hundred Years Ago byJohn Biddulph chapter 1

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RISE OF EUROPEAN PIRACY IN THE EAST
From the first days of European enterprise in the East, the coasts of
India were regarded as a favorable 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 intercoursewith Christians.

The authority of the Old Testament upheld slavery, andAfricans were regarded more as cattle than human beings; while Asiatics were classed higher, but still as immeasurably inferior to Europeans. ToPrey upon Mahommedan ships was simply to pursue in other waters theChronic warfare carried on against Moors and Turks in the Mediterranean.The same feelings that led the Spaniards to adopt the standard of theCross in their conquest of Mexico and Peru were present, though lessOpenly avowed, in the minds of the merchants and adventurers of allClasses and nationalities who flocked into the Indian seas in thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries. With the decadence of buccaneeringand the growth of Indian trade, there was a corresponding increase ofpiracy, 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 wereplaced in irons, in which condition they remained seven months. Thisgrievance was the greater, as it happened at the time that the crueltorture and execution of Captain Tower son and his crew by the Dutch tookplace at Amboyna. It was bad enough to be made responsible for the doingsof their own countrymen, but to be punished for the misdeeds of theirenemies was a bitter pill to swallow. In 1630, just as peace was beingconcluded with France and Spain, Charles, who was beginning hisexperiment of absolute government, dispatched the Seahorse, CaptainQuail, 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, butinternational arrangements in Europe were not regarded when the equatorhad been crossed. Quail captured a Malabar vessel, for which the Company'sservants at Surat were forced to pay full compensation. The Seahorsereturned to England in 1633, but in view of the new field of enterpriseopened up, Endymion Porter, Gentleman of the King's bedchamber, embarkedon a piratical speculation, in partnership with two London merchants,Bonnell and Kynaston, with a licence under the privy seal to visit anypart 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 lodgedin gaol; upon which Charles ordered his release on bail, saying he wouldtry the case himself at his leisure.

But Porter's views went beyond a single piratical voyage. Hardly had Cobbstarted on his cruise, when he entered into partnership with Sir WilliamCourten for an association to establish a separate trade to the EastIndies. A royal grant was obtained, and the King himself was creditedwith a share to the nominal extent of L10, 000. The grant was a flagrantbreach of faith, and was the inauguration of the system of interlopersthat in after years caused so much loss and trouble to the Company. Fourships were equipped and sent out, and before long it became known thattwo vessels from Surat and Diu had been plundered by Courten's ships, andtheir crews tortured. Again the Company's servants at Surat were seizedand thrown into prison, where they were kept for two months, being onlyreleased on payment of Rs.1,70,000, and on solemnly swearing to respectMogul ships.

The Civil War brought these courtly piracies to an end, and the decay ofthe Spanish power drew the more turbulent spirits of Europe and Americato the Spanish main, so that for a time there was a diminution ofEuropean piracy in Indian waters. As buccaneering became more dangerous,or less lucrative, adventurers of all nations again appeared in Easternwaters, and the old trouble reappeared in an aggravated form. The IndianRed Sea fleet offered an especially tempting booty to the rovers. Lobo, aJesuit priest, writing in the seventeenth century, tells us that so vastwas the commerce of Jeddah, and so great the value of the ships tradingto that place, that when, in India, it was wished to describe a thing ofinestimable price, it was customary to say, 'It is of more value than aJeddah ship.' Every year during the winter months, Indian traders, andPilgrims for Mecca found their wayin single ships to the Red Sea. Onthe setting in of the monsoon, they collected at Mocha, and made theirway back in a single body. All Indian trade with the Red Sea was paid for
in gold and silver, so that the returning ships offered many tempting
prizes to freebooters.

In 1683 John Hand, master of the Bristol, interloper, cleared his ship
with papers made out for Lisbon and Brazil, and sailed for Madeira. Therehe called his crew together, and told them he intended to take his shipto the East Indies. Those who were unwilling were overawed, Hand being amighty 'pastionate' man. He appears to have been half pirate and halftrader; equally ready to attack other traders, or to trade himself inspices and drugs. On the Sumatra coast, finding the natives unwilling todo business with him, he went ashore with a pistol in his pocket to bringthe 'black dogs' to reason. The pistol went off in his pocket andshattered his thigh and that was the end of John Hand.
In the same year, six men, of whom four were English and two Dutch, whileon passage in a native merchant's ship from the Persian Gulf to Surat,seized the ship, killing the owner and his two wives. The lascars werethrown overboard, six being retained to work the ship. Their cruise didnot last long. Making for Honore, they threw the six lascars overboardwhen nearing the port. The men managed to get to land, and reachingHonore, gave information of the would-be pirates to the local authorities,who seized the ship, and soon disposed of the rogues.

Three years later, two ships under English colours, mountingrespectivelyforty-four and twenty guns, were reported to havecaptured vessels in theRed Sea, to the value of Rs.600,000. The Seedee of Jinjeera, who styledhimself the Mogul's Admiral, received a yearly subsidy of four lakhs forconvoying the fleet, a duty that he was quite unable to perform againstEuropean desperadoes. Public opinion at Surat was at once excited againstthe English, and further inflamed by the Dutch and French, who were only
too anxious to see a rival excluded from the trade. Sir John Child, to
pacify the Governor, offered to send a man-of-war to look for the pirates;but the Dutch and French factors continued to 'spitt their venom' tillthe Governor laughed in their faces and asked why they did not join insending vessels to look for the rogues, since the matter seemed to themso serious.

In the same season a gallant engagement was fought against pirates,
though not in Indian waters. The Company's ship _Caesar_, Captain Wright,bound from England for Bombay, was chased off the coast of Gambia by fiveships, carrying each from twenty to thirty guns, under French colours.Wright had no intention of yielding without a struggle, so put his shipbefore the wind, to gain time for getting into fighting trim. TheCaesar was carrying soldiers, and there were plenty of men to fight theship. The boats were cut away, the decks cleared, ammunition and armsserved out, three thousand pounds of bread which cumbered the gun-roomwere thrown overboard, and the tops were filled with marksmen. As soon asall was ready, the mainsail was furled, and the ship kept under easy sail.Before long the two smaller ships came up, hoisted the red flag, andbegan firing, one on the Caesar's quarter and one astern. Soon thethree other ships, two of which Wright styled the Admiral andVice-Admiral came up. The Admiral ranged up on the quarter and tried toboard, but was obliged to sheer off, with the loss of many men and abowsprit shot away. The Vice-Admiral tried to board at the bow, but withno better success, losing a foreyard and mizzen-mast. For five hours theengagement lasted, but the small-arm men in the Caesar's tops fired sowell that the pirates could hardly serve their guns. The crew showed awonderful spirits cheering loudly at every successful shot, till thediscomfited pirates bore up, leaving the _Caesar_ to pursue her way toBombay, much knocked about as to hull, but having lost only one mankilled and eight wounded.

In the following year came news to Surat of two vessels, under Danish
colours that had stopped English ships and seized native ones between
Surat and Bombay. The Phoenix, a British man-of-war, was at Surat at
the time, so, together with the Kent, East Indiaman, it was despatched
to look after the marauders, taking with them also two small boys, sent
to represent the French and the Dutch. In due time Captain Tyrrell
returned, and reported that he had found a squadron of four vessels; thatafter a two days' chase he had brought them to, when they turned out tobe two Danish ships, with two prizes they had taken. They showed himtheir commission, authorizing them to make reprisals on the Mogul's
subjects for affronts offered to Danish traders; so he left themalone. Afew months later the Portuguese factory at Cong, in the Persian Gulf,wasplundered by an English pirate; another was heard of in the Red Sea,while Philip Babington an Irish pirate, was cruising offTellichery inthe Charming Mary.

By 1689 a number of sea rovers from the West Indies had made their
appearance, and the factory at Fort St. George reported that the sea
trade was 'pestered with pirates.' The first comers had contented
themselves with plundering native ships. Now their operations were
extended to European vessels not of their own nationality. In time this
restriction ceased to be observed; they hoisted the red or black flag,
with or without the colours of the nationality they affected, and sparedno vessel they were strong enough to capture.

The Armenian merchants were loud in their complaints. An Armenian ship,
bound from Goa to Madras, with twenty thousand pagodas on board, was
taken by a pirate ship of two hundred tons, carrying twenty-two guns anda crew of sixty men. Another Armenian ship, with fifty thousandxeraphims,was taken near Bombay, on its voyage from Goa to Surat. Besides thosethat beset the Malabar coast; there were pirates in the Persian Gulf, atthe mouth of the Red Sea, and in the Mozambique Channel, while fivepirate vessels were cruising off Acheen. During the next ten years thelosses caused by the pirates were prodigious.
Ovington mentions that at St. Helena (1689) they were told, by a slaver,of three pirates, two English and the other Dutch, so richly laden withbooty that they could hardly navigate their ships, which had becomeweather-beaten and unseaworthy from their long cruises off the Red Seamouth. Their worn-out canvas sails were replaced with double silk.

"They were prodigal in the expenses of their unjust gain, and
quenched their thirst with Europe liquor at any rate this Commander
(the slaver) would put upon it; and were so frank both in distributing
their goods, and guzzling down the noble wine, as if they were both
wearied with the possession of their rapine, and willing to stifle
all the melancholy reflections concerning it."

Such an account was bound to fire the imagination of every seaman who
heard it.

The number of pirates was increased by the interlopers, merchant
adventurers trading without a licence, who, like John Hand, when they
failed to get cargoes, plundered native ships. Their proceedings were
imitated by the permission ships, vessels that held the Company's licencefor a single voyage. Not seldom the crews of interlopers and permissionships rose and seized the vessel against the will of their owners andcommanders and hoisted the Jolly Roger. Commissions were granted to theEast India Company's commanders to seize interlopers; but the interlopersas a rule, were remarkably well able to take care of themselves. As pirates and interlopers alike sailed under English colours, the wholeodium fell on the English. In August, 1691, a ship belonging to thewealthy merchant, Abdul Guffoor, was taken at the mouth of the Suratriver, with nine lakhs in hard cash on board. A guard was placed on thefactory at Surat, and an embargo laid on English trade. As the pirate hadshown the colours of several nationalities, the authorities were loth to
proceed to extremities. Fortunately for the English Company, a member ofthe pirate crew was captured, and proved to be a Dane; so the embargo onEnglish trade was taken off.

Though they plied their calling at sea, almost with impunity, the piratesoccasionally fell victims to Oriental treachery on shore. Thus, JamesGilliam, a rover, having put into Mungrole, on the Kattiawar coast, wasmade welcome and much praised for the noble lavishness with which he paidfor supplies. Soon there came an invitation to a banquet, and Gilliam,with some of his officers and crew, twenty in all, were received by therepresentative of the Nawab of Junaghur with excessive ceremony. Muchpolite curiosity was evinced about the noble strangers. "Why did theyalways go armed? Were their muskets loaded? Would they discharge them toshow their host the European method?" The muskets were discharged, andimmediately the banquet was announced. "Delay to reload the muskets wasinexpedient. It would be time to recharge their weapons after the feast."
And then, when seated and defenceless, there was an irruption of armed
men, and Gilliam, with his followers, were seized and fettered. For a
year they lay at Junaghur, where two of them died. In vain Gilliam
contrived to send a letter to the Surat factory, asking that they might
be claimed as British subjects. President Harris knew that the least
interest shown in the fate of the rovers would be fatal to the interestsof the Company, and was relieved when he heard that they had been sent toAurungzeeb's camp; after which they are heard of no more.
In the beginning of 1692, authority was given to the Company's commandersto seize pirates and hold them till the King's pleasure was known, butthe measure was of small effect. The pirates were prime seamen, whooutsailed and outfought the Company's ships; while among the Company'screws they had numerous sympathizers. The prizes to be gained were sogreat and the risks so small, that the Company could hardly restraintheir own men from joining the sea rovers. Thus, in 1694, John Steel [1]ran away with the long boat of the _Ruby_ frigate. Sixteen others who hadplotted to join him were detected in time, and clapped in irons. TheFrench and Dutch gave passes to all who applied for them, so Steel placedhimself under French protection, and for two years 'that rogue Steel'finds frequent mention in the coast letters. Four years later Steel wasarrested in England. But though the directors had been supplied with many
accounts of his misdeeds, no sworn evidence could be produced against him,so Steel escaped scot-free.

All other pirates, however, were destined to be eclipsed in fame by HenryEvery, alias Bridgman, [2] who now made his appearance in the Indianseas. His exploits, the great wealth he amassed by piracy, and hisreputed marriage with a Mogul princess, continued to excite the publicmind long after he had disappeared from the scene. Several biographies ofhim were written, one of them attributed to Defoe, all of them containinggreat exaggerations; and a play, The Successful Pirate, was written inhis honour. His biographers generally give his name as John Avery, but itwas as is here given. According to the account of Van Broeck, a Dutchman,who was detained on board his ship for a time, and was on good terms withhim, he was born at Plymouth, the son of a trading captain who had servedin the navy under Blake. Every himself served in the navy, in theResolution and Edgar, before he got the command of a merchant ship,in which he made several voyages to the West Indies. In May, 1694, he wasfirst mate of the Charles the Second, one of the small squadron ofEnglish ships hired from Sir James Houblon, by the Spanish Government, toact against French smugglers who were troubling their Peruvian trade.[3]

The Spaniards were bad paymasters, and Houblon's squadron was detained atCorunna three or four months, while the crews became more and more
discontented as their wages remained unpaid. As their sense of grievanceincreased, a plot was formed among the most turbulent spirits to seize aship and turn rovers, under Every's command. On the night of the 30th May,the captain of the _Charles the Second_ was made prisoner while in bed. Aboat-load of men sent from the _James_ to prevent the capture, joined themutineers; the cables were cut, and the ship ran out of harbour. Thecaptain and all who were unwilling to join were put into a boat, and theCharles, renamed the Fancy, was headed south for the coast of AfricaThe only man detained against his will was the doctor, as he was a useful
man.

Some months were spent on the Guinea coast, where some negroes were
captured, and five ships--three English and two Danish--were plundered
and burnt. Before the end of the year Every was east of the Cape, intenton the Red Sea traders. The first intelligence of him that reached Bombaywas in May, 1695, when three outward-bound merchantmen reported that theyhad seen him at Johanna.

"Your Honor's ships going into that island gave him chase, but he was
too nimble for them by much, having taken down a great deale of his
upper works and made her exceeding snugg, which advantage being added
to her well sailing before, causes her to sail so hard now, that she
fears not who follows her. This ship will undoubtedly (go) into the
Red Sea, which will procure infinite clamours at Surat."

Accompanying this report came the following characteristic letter from
Every:--

"February y'e 28th, 1695/4.

"To all English. Commanders lett this Satisfye that I was Riding here
att this Instant in y'e Ship fancy man of Warr formerly the Charles
of y'e Spanish Expedition who departed from Croniae y'e 7th of May.
94: Being and am now in A Ship of 46 guns 150 Men & bound to Seek our
fortunes I have Never as Yett Wronged any English or Dutch nor never
Intend whilst I am Commander. Wherefore as I Commonly Speake w'th all
Ships I Desire who ever Comes to y'e perusal of this to take this
Signall that if you or aney whome you may informe are desirous to
know w't wee are att a Distance then make your Antient Vp in a Ball
or Bundle and hoyst him att y'e Mizon Peek y'e Mizon Being furled I
shall answere w'th y'e same & Never Molest you: for my men are hungry
Stout and Resolute: & should they Exceed my Desire I cannott help my
selfe.

as Yett
An Englishman's friend

HENRY EVERY."

"Here is 160 od french Armed men now att Mohilla who waits for
Opportunity of getting aney ship, take Care of your Selves."[4]

According to Van Broeck, he was a man of good natural disposition, who
had been soured by the bad treatment he received at the hands of his
relations. The letter shows him to have been a man of some education, andduring his short but active career in the Indian seas he appears to haveattacked native ships only. The Company's records do not mention the lossof a single English ship at Every's hands, a circumstance that no doubttold heavily against the English in native opinion at Surat.

The same ships that brought Every's letter to Sir John Gayer brought
intelligence of a well-known French pirate having got aground at Mohilla.
The three Company's ships watering at Johanna, heard of the occurrence,
and proceeded to the spot, burnt the French ship after taking out what
treasure was on board, and captured six of the Frenchmen, who were
brought to Bombay. Every's friendly warning about the '160 od French
armed men' evidently referred to the wrecked crew.

The value of Perim, or Bab's Key, as it was then called by mariners, to
command the trade of the Red Sea, was at once perceived by Every, who
attempted to make a settlement there. After some unprofitable digging for
water, he abandoned the project, and established himself in Madagascar,
which had before this become known as a pirate resort. During the next
thirty years the only traders who dared show themselves on the Madagascar
coast were those who did business with the pirates, owing to the number
of pirate settlements that sprang up at different points; the best known
being at St. Mary's Island, St. Augustine's, Port Dauphin, and Charnock'sPoint. They built themselves forts and established a reign of terror overthe surrounding country, sometimes taking a part in native quarrels, andsometimes fighting among themselves; dubbing themselves kings, and living
in squalid dignity with large seraglios of native women. Captain Woodes
Rogers, who touched at Madagascar for slaves, sixteen years after Every's
time, described those he met as having been on the islands above
twenty-five years, with a motley crowd of children and grandchildren.

"Having been so many years upon this Island, it may be imagined their
Cloaths had long been worn out, so that their Majesties were
extremely out at the Elbows: I cannot say they were ragged, since
they had no Cloaths, they had nothing to cover them but the Skins of
Beasts without any tanning, but with all the Hair on, nor a Shoe nor
Stocking, so they looked like the Pictures of Hercules in the Lion's
Skin; and being overgrown with Beard, and Hair upon their Bodies,
they appeared the most savage Figures that a Man's Imagination can
frame."[5]

One remarkable settlement was founded in the north, near Diego Suarez, by
Misson, a Frenchman, and the most humane of pirates, with whom was allied
Tew, the English pirate. Misson's aim was to build a fortified town "that
they might have some place to call their own; and a receptacle, when age
and wounds had rendered them incapable of hardship, where they might
enjoy the fruits of their labour and go to their graves in peace." The
settlement was named Libertatia. Slavery was not permitted, and freed
slaves were encouraged to settle there. The harbour was strongly
fortified, as a Portuguese squadron that attacked them found to its cost.
A dock was made; crops were sown; a Lord Conservator was appointed for
three years, with a Parliament to make laws. The colony was still in its
infancy when it was surprised and destroyed by the natives, while Misson
was away on a cruise; and so Libertatia came to an end. Tew succeeded in
escaping to his sloop with a quantity of diamonds and gold in bars. On
Misson rejoining him, they determined to go to America. Misson's ship
foundered in a storm, while Tew made his way to Rhode Islands, and lived
there for a time unquestioned. But the fascinations of a rover's life
were too much for him. He fitted out a sloop and made again for the Red
Sea, and was killed in action there with a Mogul ship.

From their Madagascar settlements the pirates scoured the east coast of
Africa, the Indian Ocean as far as Sumatra, the mouth of the Red Sea,
where the Mocha ships offered many rich prizes, the Malabar coast, and
the Gulf of Oman. From time to time, ships from New England and the West
Indies brought supplies and recruits, taking back those who were tired of
the life, and who wished to enjoy their booty. European prisoners were
seldom treated barbarously when there was no resistance, and the pirate
crews found many recruits among captured merchantmen. Their worst
cruelties were reserved for the native merchants of India who fell into
their hands. They believed all native traders to be possessed of jewels,
as was indeed often the case, and the cruellest tortures were inflicted
on them to make them surrender their valuables. One unhappy Englishman we
hear of, Captain Sawbridge, who was taken by pirates, while on a voyage
to Surat with a ship-load of Arab horses from Bombay. His complaints and
expostulations were so annoying to his captors that, after repeatedly
telling him to hold his tongue, they took a sail needle and twine and
sewed his lips together. They kept him thus several hours, with his hands
tied behind him, while they plundered his ship, which they afterwards set
on fire, burning her and the horses in her. Sawbridge and his people were
carried to Aden and set on shore, where he died soon after.

Before long. Every made some notable captures. Off Aden he found five
pirate ships of English nationality, three of them from America,
commanded by May, Farrell, and Wake. In the Gulf of Aden he burned the
town of Mahet on the Somali coast because the people refused to trade
with him. In September, while cruising off Socotra with the _Fancy_, two
sloops, and a galley, he took the _Futteh Mahmood_ with a valuable cargo,
belonging to Abdool Quffoor, the wealthiest and most influential merchant
in Surat. A few days later he took off Sanjan, north of Bombay, a ship
belonging to the Emperor, called the _Gunj Suwaie_ (Exceeding Treasure).
This was the great capture that made Every famous. According to the
legend, there was a granddaughter of Aurungzeeb on board, whom Every
wedded by the help of a moollah, and carried off to Madagascar. But the
story is only the most sensational of the many romantic inventions that
have accumulated round Every's name. The native historian[6] who relates
the capture of the _Gunj Suwaie_, and who had friends on board, would
certainly not have refrained from mentioning such an event if it had
occurred; nor would the Mogul Emperor have failed to wreak vengeance on
the English for such an insult to his family.

The _Gunj Suwaie_ was the largest ship belonging to the port of Surat. It
carried eighty guns and four hundred matchlocks, besides other warlike
implements, and was deemed so strong that it disdained the help of a
convoy. On this occasion it was returning from the Red Sea with the
result of the season's trading, amounting to fifty-two lakhs of rupees[7]
in silver and gold, and having on board a number of Mahommedan ladies
returning from pilgrimage to Mecca. In spite of the disparity of force,
Every bore down and engaged. The first gun fired by the _Gunj Suwaie_
burst, killing three or four men and wounding others. The main mast was
badly damaged by Every's broadsides, and the _Fancy_ ran alongside and
boarded. This was the moment when a decent defence should have been made.
The sailor's cutlass was a poor match for the curved sword and shield, so
much so that the English were notorious in the East for their want of
boldness in sword-play. But Ibrahim Khan, the captain, was a coward, and
ran below at the sight of the white faces. His crew followed his example,
and the vessel was taken almost without resistance.

So rich a prize was not to be relinquished without a very complete search.
For a whole week the _Gunj Suwaie_ was rummaged from stem to stern, while
the crew of the _Fancy_ indulged in a horrible orgy, excited beyond
measure by the immense booty that had fallen into their hands. Several of
the women threw themselves into the sea or slew themselves with daggers;
the last piece of silver was sought out and carried on board the _Fancy_,
the last jewel torn from the passengers and crew, and then the _Gunj
Suwaie_ was left to find its way to Surat as it best could.

The vials of long-accumulated wrath were poured out on the English.
Instigated by Abdul Guffoor, the populace of Surat flew to arms to wreak
vengeance on the factory. The Governor, Itimad Khan, was well disposed to
the English, but popular excitement ran so high that he found it
difficult to protect them. Guards were placed on the factory to save it
from plunder. A mufti urged that the English should be put to death in
revenge for the death of so many true believers, and quoted an
appropriate text from the Koran. Soon came an order from Aurungzeeb
directing the Seedee to march on Bombay, and for all the English in Surat
and Broach to be made prisoners. President Annesley and the rest,
sixty-three in all, were placed in irons, and so remained eleven months.
To make matters worse, news arrived of Every having captured the
_Rampura_, a Cambay ship with a cargo valued at Rs.1,70,000.

"It is strange," wrote Sir John Gayer, "to see how almost all the
merchants are incensed against our nation, reproaching the Governor
extremely for taking our part, and as strange to see that
notwithstanding all, he stems the stream against them more than well
could be imagined, considering his extreme timorous nature."

The strangeness of the merchants' hostility is hardly apparent, but it is
not too much to say that Itimad Khan's friendly behaviour alone saved
English trade from extinction. The Dutch, always hostile in the East,
whatever might be the relations between Holland and England in Europe,
strove to improve the occasion by fomenting popular excitement, and tried
to get the English permanently excluded from the Indian trade. In the
words of Sir John Grayer, "they retained their Edomitish principles, and
rejoice to see Jacob laid low." But Itimad Khan knew that the pirates
were of all nationalities, and refused to hold the English alone
responsible. To propitiate the Governor, Sir John Gayer made over to him
the six French pirates taken at Mohilla, not without qualms at handing
over Christians to Mahommedan mercies. He fully expected that the
treasure taken out of the wreck would also be demanded of him; but Itimad
Khan was not an avaricious man, and no such demand was made. "His
contempt of money is not to be paralleled by any of the King's Umbraws or
Governors," Sir John wrote, a year later, when Itimad Khan was dead. To
forestall the Dutch with the Emperor, Gayer sent an agent offering to
convoy the Red Sea fleet for the future, in return for a yearly payment
of four lakhs a year. The offer was refused, but it served to place the
English in a more favourable light, and to procure the cancelling of
orders that had been given for attacking Bombay and Madras. Had it been
accepted, the Seedee would have been added to the number of the Company's
enemies. The Dutch, not to be outdone, offered to perform the same
service in return for a monopoly of trade in the Emperor's dominions.
This brought all other Europeans into line against the Dutch proposal,
and the intrigue was defeated. The embargo on all European trade at
Surat was maintained, while the Dutch, French, and English were directed
to scour the seas and destroy the pirates. It was further ordered that
Europeans on shore were not to carry arms or use palanquins, and their
ships were forbidden to hoist their national flags. The Dutch and French
hung back. They would not send a ship to sea without payment, except for
their own affairs. Sir John Gayer, more wisely, sent armed ships to
convoy the Mocha fleet, at the Company's charge, and so the storm passed
off.

Meanwhile, Every, glutted with booty, made up his mind to retire[8] with
his enormous gains. According to Johnson, he gave the slip, at night, to
his consorts, sailed for Providence in the Bahamas, where his crew
dispersed, and thence made his way to England, just at the time a royal
proclamation offering L500 for his apprehension was published. The reward
was doubled by an offer of four thousand rupees from the Company; eight
rupees being the equivalent of a pound at that time. Several of his crew
also straggled home and were captured; but before he left the Indian
coast, twenty-five Frenchmen, fourteen Danes, and some English were put
ashore, fearing to show themselves in Europe or America. This fact would
seem to throw some doubt on the account of his having left his consorts
by stealth.

On the 19th October, 1696, six of his crew were tried and sentenced at
the Old Bailey, and a true bill was found and an indictment framed
against Every himself, though he had not been apprehended. According to
Johnson,[9] Every changed his name and lived unostentatiously, while
trying to sell the jewels he had amassed. The merchant in whose hands he
had placed them, suspecting how they had been come by, threatened him.
Every fled to Ireland, leaving his jewels in the merchant's hands, and
finally died in Devonshire in extreme poverty. But the authority for this,
as for most of the popular accounts of Every, is extremely doubtful. That
he was cheated out of some of his ill-gotten gains is probable enough,
but it is in the highest degree improbable that he was known to be living
in poverty, and yet that the large reward offered for his apprehension
was not earned. What is alone certain is that he was never apprehended,
and that in a few months he carried off an amount of plunder such as
never before was taken out of the Indian seas by a single rover. For long
he was the hero of every seaport town in England and North America;
innumerable legends gathered round his name, and an immense impulse was
given to piracy.

A few months after his departure, there were five pirate ships in the Red
Sea, under English colours; two more, each mounting fourteen guns, were
in the Persian Gulf, and another was cruising off Tellicherry. At
Madagascar others were coming in fast. The news of Every's great booty
had spread from port to port, and every restless spirit was intent on
seeking his fortune in this new Eldorado, as men nowadays flock to a new
goldfield. The Company's sailors were not proof against the temptation.
While on the way from Bombay to China the crew of the _Mocha_ frigate
mutinied, off the coast of Acheen, killed their captain, Edgecombe, and
set afloat in the pinnace twenty-seven officers and men who refused to
join them. The _Mocha_ was then renamed the _Defence_, and for the next
three years did an infinity of damage in the Indian Ocean. At the same
time, the crew of the _Josiah_ ketch from Bombay, while at anchor in the
Madras roads, took advantage of the commander being on shore to run away
with the ship. The whole thing had been planned between the two crews
before leaving Bombay; their intention being to meet off the coast of
Sumatra, and cruise in company. The piratical career of the _Josiah_ did
not last long. Making first for the Nicobars, the crew flocked on shore,
and were soon involved in quarrels with the natives; leaving on board
only two men, one of whom was James Cruffe, the armourer, who had been
forced to join them against his will. The other man was but a lukewarm
pirate, and Cruffe prevailed on him to join in an attempt to carry off
the ship. They cut the cable, and by great good fortune, without any
knowledge of navigation, succeeded in carrying the ship into Acheen.

Stout's command of the _Defence_, once _Mocha_, quickly came to an end.
According to one account, he was put to death by his comrades, at the
Laccadives, for trying to desert them; according to another account, he
was slain by some Malays. His place was taken by Culliford, who had been
the leader of the mutineers of the _Josiah_. He changed the ship's name
to the _Resolution_, and proved himself one of the most daring rovers of
his day.

The untrustworthiness of his crews placed Sir John Gayer in an awkward
dilemma. He had to report to the Directors that he dared not send ships
to convoy pilgrims lest the crews should mutiny; that a boat could not be
manned in Bombay harbour for fear of desertion, while, on shore, he had
not a soldier fit to be made a corporal. A powerful French squadron had
appeared on the coast, and the Surat President calculated that the
Company's recent losses on captured ships sailing from Surat amounted to
a million sterling. The losses of the native merchants were even more
serious; trade was almost at a standstill, while three more pirate ships
from New York appeared in the Gulf of Cambay, and captured country ships
to the value of four lakhs of rupees. Every letter along the coast at
this date speaks of the doings of the rovers: every ship coming into
harbour told of pirates, of chases and narrow escapes, and of reported
captures.

"These pirates spare none but take all they meet, and take the Europe
men into their own ships, with such goods as they like, and sink the
ships, sending the lascars on rafts to find the shore."

So bold were the marauders that they cruised in sight of Bombay harbour,
and careened their ships in sight of factories along the coast.

To avenge their losses, the Muscat Arabs, in April, 1697, seized the
_London_, belonging to Mr. Affleck, a private merchant. The Arabs were
engaged in hostilities with the Portuguese at the time, and forced the
crew of the _London_ to fight for them. Those who were unwilling were
lashed to masts exposed to Portuguese fire, from which they did not
escape scatheless. In vain the commanders of two of the Company's vessels
assured the Imaum that the _London_ was not a pirate.

"You have sent me a letter," he wrote, "about my people taking one of
your ships. It is true that I have done so, in return for one you
English took from me, so now we are even and have ship for ship; for
this one I will not surrender. If you wish to be friends, I am
willing to be so; if not, I will fight you and take all the ships I
can."

One pirate ship was reported to have chased two Cong ships, capturing one
and forcing the other ashore, where it became a total wreck. "What
influence this may have on the Rt. Hon. Company's affairs, God alone
knows," wrote the Surat President, mournfully. Soon he was in better
spirits. The same pirates had landed and plundered Cong; but, allowing
themselves to be surprised, fifty-six of the crew had been set upon and
killed.

With few exceptions, the English pirates came from the American colonies.
Every year, from New York, Boston, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, ships were
fitted out, nominally for the slave trade, though it was no secret that
they were intended for piracy in the Eastern seas. Whatever compunction
might be felt at attacking European ships, there was none about
plundering Asiatic merchants, where great booty was to be gained with
little risk. Sometimes the Governors were in league with the pirates, who
paid them to wink at their doings. Those who were more honest had
insufficient power to check the evil practices that were leniently, if
not favourably, regarded by the colonial community, while their time was
fully occupied in combating the factious opposition of the colonial
legislatures, and in protective measures against the French and Indians.
The English Government, absorbed in the French war, had no ships in the
Indian seas; but the straits to which English trade in the East had been
reduced, and the enormous losses caused by the pirates, at last forced
some measures to be adopted for coping with the evil that had assumed
such gigantic proportions.

[1] It appears likely that this was the John Steel mentioned by Drury as
his uncle in Bengal. There is very little doubt that much of Drury's
alleged slavery in Madagascar was spent among the pirates.

[2] It would appear that he assumed the name of Every on taking to piracy.

[3] Sir James Houblon was an Alderman of London, and a Governor of the
Bank of England at the time.

[4] The letter appears to have been left by Every with the natives of
Johanna, who gave it to the merchant captains who brought it to
Bombay.

[5] The quotation is taken from Johnson's History of the Pirates. In his
cruising voyage round the world Woodes Rogers did not touch at
Madagascar. On that occasion (1711) he met two ex-pirates at the Cape,
who had received pardons, and told him that the Madagascar
settlements had dwindled to sixty or seventy men, "most of them very
poor and despicable, even to the natives," and possessed of only one
ship and a sloop. But, he adds, "if care be not taken, after a peace,
to clear that island of them, and hinder others from joining them, it
may be a temptation for loose straggling fellows to resort thither,
and make it once more a troublesome nest of freebooters."

[6] Elliot's History of India as told by its own historians. Muntakhabu-l
Lubab of Khafi Khan.

[7] Equal to L534,000 at that day.

[8] According to the statement of a lascar, taken in the _Futteh Mahmood_
and carried to Madagascar, Every sailed for the Bahamas in the autumn
of 1695, so that his career in the Indian seas lasted only six months.
On reaching Providence, Every presented the Governor with forty
pieces of eight and four pieces of gold for allowing them to come and
go in safety.

[9] Johnson's "General History of the Pyrates," 1724.

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