"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢] (١٧٨٢/١٥٥)

12
: f i
Eetablish-
ment of a
poaition in
India by the
English East
India Com
pany, 1600-
13.
"of Great Britain, with frank offer of free commerce unto all Hig
" Highness's subjects throughout all the Persian^ dominions, etc.-"
During- his stay in England, Sherley^s wife Teresia, a Circassian lady
received by him in marriage from Shah 'Abbas, gave birth to a son; and
to this child the Oueen of England became godmother and Prince Henrj
godfather. His political negotiations, however, failed; there was some
doubt as to the validity or scope of his commission; the East India
merchants were opposed to his projects, which they apprehended might
disturb the trade with Turkey; and in the end Sherley, who had
become Sir Robert Sherley, left England without having effected
anything. Sir Thomas Roe, who was soon afterwards to play a distin
guished part in the development of English commerce in the East, was
a witness of Sherley's manoeuvres, and formed of him the unfavourable
opinion that "as hee is dishonest, soe hee is subtile." Finally in January
1613, Sherley, accompanied by Sir Thomas Powel Avho held a military
command under the Shah, left Dover for Persia in the Company's ship
" Expedition/' on which he had been provided with a passage by King
James's orders; he was furnished apparently with royal letters, but only
of courtesy, to Shah 'Abbas. The voyage was protracted by bad weather,
which detained the ship for 28 days off Dhufar on the coast of Southern
Arabia; circumstances made it inconvenient to disembark at the
entrance of the Persian Gulf, as has been intended ; a plot to seize the
ship by the local governor of Gwadar, who was then in rebellion
against the Shah, was very nearly successful; but at last, in September
1613, Sherley landed on the coast of Sind, and, after visiting the
Mughal Emperor Jahangir at Ajmir, returned by land to the capital of
Shah 'Abbas,
Meanwhile the English East India Company had begun to acquire
for themselves a commercial footing in India, and, between 1600 and 1612,
twelve trading fleets or "Voyages" were despatched to the East by
merchant subscribers belonging to the Company. In 1608 the first
English ship arrived at Surat, and the commander, William Hawkins, who
brought a letter of recommendation from King James, was at tirst well
received by the Great Mughal; but he was again virtually dismissed in
1611, in consequence of Portuguese intrigues; and in the same year
permission to trade at Surat was refused to Sir Henry Middleton, the
commander of the Sixth Voyage, who consequently took Hawkins away
with him and made reprisals upon Surat traders in the Red Sea. In
1612 Thomas Best, arriving with another fleet, succeeded in obtaining a
hading agreement from the local authorities at Surat, which was confirm-