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Company gave a great banquet, at which the dishes were of china-ware, then a novelty in England. With these vessels, and a victualling bark of one hundred and eighty tons, and the Darling, of ninety tons, Sir Henry Middleton, who had been placed in command, set sail for Mocha, on the Red Sea, where, ensnared on shore by the Muhammedans, eight of his crew were massacred, sixteen others disabled, and he himself severely wounded. Proceeding thence to Bantam, the Trades' Increase was unfortunately wrecked, and here Middleton, broken down by misfortunes and disasters, died, thus closing one of their most unfortunate expeditions on record.

The Company, however, persevered in their Eastern undertakings, and in 1611 despatched two other expeditions to the Indies; one consisting of a single ship, the Globe, which, though absent for nearly five years, owing to the artifices of their opponents, realised two hundred and eighteen per cent. on the capital invested; the other, consisting of the Clove, the Hector, and the Thomas, comparatively small vessels, which, though absent only three years, was even more successful: another expedition, which immediately followed, though absent only twenty months, earned in that time a profit of no less than three hundred and forty per cent.

Having opened negotiations with the Moghul emperor of India, Jehangir, the Company obtained the privilege of establishing a factory at Surat, and in return for the payment of certain fixed custom duties, secured their vessels and property against the hostility of the