The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.92

v4.c20.92

They ranged over the sea from Mozambique to Sumatra. The most famous of these pirates was Henry Bridgman *alias* Evory, of the *Fancy*, forty guns. After many notable captures in the Gulf of Aden, he took the *Fath-Muhammadī*, a richly laden ship of 'Abdul-Ghafūr, the prince of Surat merchants, and then the *Ganj-i-savāī*, eighty guns, a ship belonging to Aurangzīb and the largest vessel of the port of Surat, being employed in conveying Indian pilgrims to and from Mecca. On its return voyage in September, 1695, between Bombay and Damān it was attacked by the *Fancy* and another pirate. The artillery of the Europeans was most effective; in a short time the Mughul vessel had lost forty-five in killed and wounded and was set on fire. Then the pirates boarded the ship; the crew made no resistance, the captain having hidden himself in a lower cabin. For three days the pirates looted the ship at leisure; the women on board (many of them belonging to the Sayyid and other respectable families) were outraged and several of them flung themselves into the sea. When the ship, left by the pirates, reached Surat, the people were furious, ascribing the attack to Englishmen closely connected with Bombay. But I‘timād Khān, the governor of Surat, an upright man friendly to the English, saved them from being lynched, by occupying their factory in force. Their trade was totally stopped.