Storia do Mogor 281.12.1

281.12.1

Near eight o'clock in the evening of December 24, 1701, there was a great noise in the air along with a bright light, which was seen even at Pondicherry, where I then happened to be, although it is distant thirty leagues from this town of Madras. At the end of my Third Part (III. 30) I have reported that the Chevalier Norris, Ambassador of the New English Company, had left Masulipatam on his way to Surat. He had made magnificent preparations for his journey to the court. Now I must add that he arrived there in the month of March, 1701, exactly at the time when the king was occupied with the campaign against Shivā Jī (the Mahrattahs), as I have just stated (IV. 33). On his arrival this diplomatist spread the rumour that the pirates who, during seventeen years past, have captured many merchant vessels belonging to Surat, used ships belonging to the old company. This statement having come to the ears of the principal ministers, they demanded proof of what he had asserted. Unable to produce any, he denied the statement, and only got out of it by a considerable payment. The merchants of Surat had complained to the court several times of the great losses they had suffered by this miserable scum of the ocean. This complaint had compelled the king to imprison the English merchants and the officers of the Old Company who were resident at Surat, and they were released only by dint of argument and the payment of money.