"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٨] (١٧٨٢/١٥١)

thi Pbi -Bians
of Lav, 1582.
J ourney
of the
Englishmen
Fitch
N ewberie,
Deedes,
and Story
down the
Euphrates,
Tigris, and
Pers : an Gulf,
1583.
Portuguese
disaster at
Nakhilu,
1585.
Fort erected
at Masqat
by the
Portnguese,
1586.
occupied Shamil and bloukaded the island of Hormuz. The Shaikh and
the Portu^uesa however disembarked a force on the mainland, recaptured
the fort of Shamil, and drove the Laris with slaughter out of the district.
The year 1583 was remarkable for an adventurous journey* mHxle by
four Englishmen, Ralph Fitch and John Newberie, merchants, William
Deedes, jeweller, and James Story, painter, from Tripoli in Syria
Brejik, thence by the Euphrates to Fallujah, and so by Baghdad, the
Tigris, Basrah, and the Persian Gulf to Hormuz, where they were
arrested by the Portuguese authorities on suspicion of being here tics
and spies. From Hormuz they were sent as prisoners to Croa and there
remained in captivity for some time. Newberie had made the journey
via Aleppo and Basrah once before in 1581.
In 1585 the Portuguese suffered a serious reverse at Nakhilu, upon
the Persian Coast, in attempting to punish the place for obstructing
the despatch of supplies to Hormuz. Taken unawares after landing
they were driven to their ships with a loss, native auxiliaries probably
included, of 250 man.
In the following year warned by experience, the Portuguese erected a
strong fort at Masqat.
General situation in 1600.
The general situation in the Persian Gulf, as it existed at the close
of the 16th century, may now be described in a few words.
* See anmxure 1 to chapter IX. The original account of the journey there given
bea'8 witness to the extraordinary unchangeableness of life and travel in the East.
N ote .—The sources affording information in regard to tbe history of the Persian
Gulf from 1600 to 1722, the latter part of the period during which Persia was ruled oy
the Safavi dynasty, are very nuinerous ; we shall confine ourselves to an enumeration of
the more important only.
The followirg auth Titles treat of events from an English and more or legs official
standpoint: Mr. VV. Foster's Letters received hy the East India Company from
their Servants in the East, 6 volumes, 1896-1902, covering the period 1602-17;
Calendar of State Papers, East Indies, for 1513-1616, 1617-21, 1622-
24 and 1625-29, 4 volumes; do. East Indies and Persia, for 1630-34, 1 volume5
Bruce s A nnals of the Honorable East India Company, 3 volumes, 1810, covering
the period 1600 to 1708 ; and Mr. J. A. Saldanha's Selections from State Papers,
Bombay, regarding the hast India Company's Connection with the Persian GulJ,
with a Summary of Events, 1600-1800, printed in 1905, which contains (p^ge ii) an
account of the huge mass of Bombay records from which the Selections are taken.
In the History of the Indian Navy, 1874, by Lieutenant 0. R. Low, late I. N., the
na\aland militarj operations of the English in the Persian Gulf during the wlioie