Page:Early English adventurers in the East (1917).djvu/251

 Shah Abbas was greatly incensed at the nature of the demands that were made upon him. With passionate gestures he tore up the letters of recall presented to him by the ambassador and roundly declared that instead of restoring what he had already taken, he would drive the Portuguese from their factory at Ormuz. To accentuate his contempt for the practical ultimatum which had been delivered to him, he gave orders forthwith for the preparation of a firman granting the sole trade in silks to the English. There was now but a step to be taken to get into the region of actual warfare.

Upon the English fell the first serious blow in the contest. In November, 1620, Captain Shilling arrived in Swally roads with two ships, the London and the Roebuck'. Two other vessels of the same fleet, the Hart and the Eagle, had at an earlier period of the voyage been detached to proceed to the Gulf and were at the time well on their way to their destination. As soon as Shilling realized from the news which he gathered at Surat the danger which threatened from this division of his forces, he made all haste to follow the Hart and the Eagle. He came up with the ships in due course, and the reunited fleet made for Jask with the full determination of the commander to assert the English right to trade, even if he had to fight for it.

About the middle of December the Portuguese fleet was encountered off Jask, lying close in shore. Lack of wind delayed the engagement for a couple of days, and then a gallant, but unsuccessful, attempt was made to burn Ruy Freire's flagship. After this there was a lull in the operations, which lasted until December 28, when issue was joined in earnest. The brunt of the fight fell for a time upon the London and the Hart, the other two ships being becalmed