S.2. Voyage from Surat towards Jasques.
The 19th November, having dispatched our business at Swally with all expedition, we set sail towards Jasques. The 21st we chased a ship, which surrendered without resistance, being the Nostra Sennora de Merces, of 200 tons, bound from Muscat for Chaul, having on board forty-two Arabian horses, her principal loading, and for which trade she was built. The residue of her cargo consisted of dates and raisins. The name of her captain was Francisco de Mirando.
The 5th December, when in latitude 24° 55' N. we met the Hart and Eagle coming from Jasques for Surat, because not of sufficient strength to encounter the Portuguese force which was waiting for them with the intention of ruining our Persian trade. Thus happily rejoined to our former consorts, we shaped our course for Jasques to accomplish our purpose. The 8th, at the earnest desire of the Portuguese and Moors taken in the prize, we set them on shore, except some Moor seamen whom we detained in our service, and the Portuguese pilot, who entreated to stay, as he feared some hard usage from his own people. On the 12th, certain volunteers who had engaged to set fire to our prize, and run her aboard the Portuguese admiral, were put on board of her, and she was fitted as a fire-ship. The 15th we had sight of the east point of Jasques roads, having upon it a tomb or old square flat-roofed house, which bore W.N.W. by compass, twelve miles off. From Diu head to this point, I make the longitude, by the ordinary plain chart, 9° 55' 36" W. but by Mercator's projection, 10° 51'. From where we were, we could see the Portuguese men of war sent from Lisbon to oppose our trade with Persia, consisting of two Portuguese galleons, one of which was larger than the London, and two Dutch ships, one as large as the Hart, while the other was less than the Eagle. Their general was Don Ruy Frere de Andrado; the vice-admiral, Joam Boralio; and the two Dutch ships were commanded by Antonio Musquet and Baltazar de Chaves.[298]
[Footnote 298: According to a special account of this and the succeeding sea-fight, appended to the present relation in Purchas, the Portuguese fleet on the present occasion, besides the four galleons, consisted of two gallions and ten frigates or armed barks, none of which are here mentioned except the four galleons.--E.]
S.3. Account of the first Fight with the Portuguese.
In the morning of the 16th December, our admiral and all the masters of our squadron went on board the prize, carrying two barrels of powder, some tar, and other combustible materials, to fit her up as a fire-ship, intending to lay her on board the Portuguese admiral athwart his hawse, that both might burn together. After she was fitted, we bore up for the Portuguese squadron, but it fell calm, and the current set us so near them, that they reached us with their shot. We kept under sail all night, and in the morning of the 17th, being to leeward of them in consequence of the land breeze, they weighed and made toward us, when we waited their approach, although they preserved the advantage of the weather-gage. The fight began about nine in the morning, and continued without intermission for nine hours. In the afternoon, a fine gentle sea-breeze sprung up from the westwards, which gave us the weather-gage; and the Portuguese admiral anchored, either of necessity to repair some defect about his rudder, or of policy to gain some expected advantage. His vice-admiral and the large Dutch ship anchored to the eastwards, and the lesser Dutch ship to leeward of them all, stopping his leaks. We were now in great hopes of putting our fire-ship to a good purpose; but being too soon fired and forsaken by those who had her in charge, she drove clear of them all, to their joy and our disgrace. Seeing them remain at anchor, and keeping to windward of them, we turned to and again close a-head of them as they rode at anchor, raking them as we passed, through and through, fore and aft, especially the admiral, receiving only in return their prow and bow-chases. By these, as I passed to the north, two unfortunate shots cut asunder the weather leech ropes of the Roebuck's foresail and fore-topsail, in the middle depth of both sails; owing to which we could not bring her into stays, and were forced, for repairing these sails, to bear down to leeward, between the enemy and the shore; in which course, the three great ships plied their whole broadsides against us, but with less hurt than I could have imagined, God be praised. Having compassed the three large ships, I luffed up to rejoin our squadron, which still held the advantage of the wind, and plied their great guns on the Portuguese like so many muskets. When I had got to windward of the smaller Dutch ship, which stood off as I did till he had our fire-ship directly between him and me, he turned tail, and steered right before the wind along shore to the eastwards, with all the sail he could carry. The other three now set sail to his rescue, and were now so tame, that as the Hart passed along their broadsides, she received only a few shots great and small from any of them, and from some none at all. The night now coming on, and our people being all wearied by the long continuance of the fight, we all desisted from any farther chase, and came to anchor in our usual road.
In this fight, the London and Hart had very little harm in their hulls and tackling, and less, or rather none, in their men. The main-mast of the Eagle was hurt in five places, four of which were quite through, and one of her men lost his right arm. In the Roebuck, I had one man slain by a cannon ball striking his head. A piece of his skull and some splinters of the ball wounded one of my mates in the forehead, and destroyed his left eye; and two others of my men lost the use of their right hands. God be praised for our good fortune; for I never heard of so small loss in so long a fight as we now sustained. I cannot truly state the loss of the enemy: but, by the report of our merchants, their vice-admiral and another captain were slain, and thirty or forty men in the admiral's ship alone, the rest as yet unknown. As to their Moors, they do not count them among the num her of their men.
In the morning of the 18th, the day after the action, we could see the Portuguese at anchor ten miles to the east of us, having the wind fair to have come down, but they did not. We then held a consultation, whether it were better for us to take the first of the sea breeze, which usually begins about noon, to stand towards them and try it out for the mastery, before they could receive supplies from Ormus, Muskat, or Goa, or else to make sail for Jasques roads, on purpose to land our goods and money, in case of the worst, these being the prize they sought to obtain and we to defend. Accordingly, the London got that night into Jasques road, but the rest could not get in before the 20th, by reason of contrary winds. On the 21st and 22d most of our goods were landed.
S.4. Second Sea Fight with the Portuguese.
On the 22d, seeing the Portuguese galleons open the road of Jasques, and supposing they might intend to come in with the sea breeze, we set sail and stood off for them. At first, they made a shew of giving us battle, but soon afterwards made off upon a tack; and till the 28th, they were either to windward, or so favourably placed at anchor, that we could not attempt to attack them without manifest disadvantage. During this time, they were joined by two or three frigates, or barks, from Ormus, bringing them a supply of men and ammunition. We made one attempt on Christmas day, but were forced back by a sudden flaw of wind; on which occasion, some blacks aboard of us, said the Portuguese had brought a witch from Ormus, to supply them with favourable winds.