The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.94

v4.c20.94

Then a most redoubtable pirate, William Kidd, of the *Adventure*, thirty guns, came to the east, and his success brought him many allies. With a fleet mounting 120 guns and manned by 300 Europeans (the great majority of them being English), he dominated the Indian Ocean, having his base for munitions and stores in Madagascar. In 1698 he captured the *Queda Merchant* with a rich cargo belonging to Mukhlis Khān (a high grandee), and Chivers (a Dutch pirate) captured a fine ship with a cargo worth a million and a half rupees belonging to Hasan Hamīdan of Surat. The English, French and Dutch factories in Surat were again beleaguered and their friends were punished by the governor. Finally an agreement was arrived at: Aurangzīb withdrew his embargo on European trade, while the Dutch agreed to convoy the Mecca pilgrims, patrol the entrance to the Red Sea and pay 70,000 rupees as compensation, and the English paid 30,000 rupees and patrolled the South Indian Seas, and the French paid a similar sum and policed the Persian Gulf.