The Voyage of Nicholas Downton to the East Indies,1614–15 As Recorded in Contemporary Narratives and Letters Edited by SIR WILLIAM FOSTER First published by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Founded in 1846, the Hakluyt Society seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material. In partnership with Ashgate, and using print-on-demand and e-book technology, the Society has made re-available all 290 volumes comprised in Series I and Series II of its publications in both print and digital editions. For information about the Hakluyt Society visit www.hakluyt.com. ISBN 13: 978-1-4094-1449-0 (hbk) WORKS ISSUHD BY tltf)e _,aftlupt &otietp THE VOYAGE OF NICHOLAS DOWNTON SECOND SERIES No. LXXXII J:SSUI!.D FOR. 1938 COUNCIL OF THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY 1938 SIR WILLIAM FosTER, C.I.E•. , President. THE RIGHT HoN. THE EARL BALDWIN OF B.EWDLEY, K.G., Vice- President. ADMIRAL SIR WILLIAM GoODENOUGH, G.C.B., M.V.O., Vice-President. }AMES A. WILLIAMSON, EsQ., D.LIT., Vice-Presirknt. J. N. L. BAKER, EsQ. E. w. BOVILL, ESQ. SIR RICHARD BURN, C.S.I. PROP. SIR GEOFFREY CALLENDER, F.S.A. G. R. CRONE, EsQ. VICE-ADMIRAL Sm PERCY DouGLAs, K.C.B., C.M.G. E. W. GILBERT, EsQ., B.LITT. PRoP. VINCENT T. HARLow, D.LITT. T. A. }OYCE, EsQ .• , O.B.E. MALcoLM LETTs, EsQ., F.S.A. PROF. A. P. NEWTON, D.LIT. N. M. PENZ.ER, EsQ. PROF. EDGAR PRESTAGE, D.LITT. s. T. SHEPPARD, EsQ. PRoP. E. G. R. TAYLOR, D.Sc. R. A. WILSON, ESQ. EDWARD HEAwooD, ESQ., Treasurer. EDWARD LYNAM, EsQ., M.R.I.A., F.S.A., Hon. Secretary (British Museum, W.C.). THE PRESIDENT } THE TREASURER Trmtees. WILLIAM LUTL.EY ScLATBR, EsQ. SIR THOMAS SMYTHE THE VOYAGE OF NICHOLAS DOWNT~ON TO THE EAST INDIES 1614-15 As 1?.!corded in Contemporary :J(grrativ.;,es and Letters Edited by SIR WILLIAM FOSTER, C.. I.E.. In his forgotten grave lies a man starched and square-toed" touched with absurdities such as might grace a Sir Roger de Covedey or Baron of Bradwardine, but a fine seaman, a loyal servant of the Company, and a most undoubted worker on the foundations of the Empire in India. DAVID HANNAY LONDON PRINTED FOR THE\!iAKLUYT SOCIHTY 1 93'9 JIIIIMTD flit GD.&'I'' Bln"ADI BY w. HW_, M.A.t A"f 'I'HII CAMIBJBG!IVRiftiii'I'YHBH (ilbl t-\ \ ~ {'1o) CONTENTS Introduction page xi Fuller titles of works cited XXXVll Extracts from a journal kept on board the New Year's Gift by Nicholas Downton, I March 16I4 to 6 March I6I5 I Extracts from a journal kept on board the Solomon by Thomas Elkington, I January I6I4 to 25 November I6I5 39 Extracts from a journal kept on board the New Year's Gift by Martin Pring, I March I6I4 to 25 June I6I6 . Extracts from an anonymous log kept on board the New Year's Gift, 24 March to I4 September I6I4 A journal kept by Edward Dodsworth, 25 February 1614 to 2 November I6I5 An East-India Colation, by Christopher Farewell . IJO A narrative of the fight at Swally, by the Rev. Samuel Purchas I 55 Correspondence: Captain Downton at Swally to the Company, 20 November I6I4 I6o The same to Sir Thomas Smythe, 20 November I6I4 I66 William Edwards at Ahmadabad to the Company, 20 December I6I4 Edward Dodsworth at Ahmadabad to the Company, 30 December I6I4 [ ] to [ ], 27 February I6I5 . HND b viii CONTENTS Correspondence, continued Captain Downton at Swally to Sir Thomas Smythe, z8 February 1'6 15 . page 179 Memorandum by the same, I March 1615 18z Captain Downton to the Company, 7 March 1615 184 His note of articles desired for the Great Mogul 187 Samuel Squire at sea to Sir Thomas Smythe, 9 March 1615 t88 Thomas Elkington to the Company, as February and 10 March 1615 193 The same at Bantam to the Company, a October 1615 207 Edward Dodsworth in Killybegs Bay to the Company, S November 1615 . 211 Index . 215 ILLUSTRATIONS Sir Thomas Smythe, Governor of the East India Company Frontispiece From an engraving by Simon Pass. Natives at the Cap~e opposite p. 54 From a sketch made by Thomas Herbert in I 627, published in his Relation (1634). Signatures of Downton, Aldworth, Elkington, and Dodsworth opposite p. 122 From 1.0. Records: O.C. 255· Coins used in Western India From specimens in the British Museum. No,, I represents the 'old • and No. 4 the 'new' rial of eight (see p. xii tz.). No. 2 is a mah11U2di (see p. IJ), bearing the name of Muzaffar III, King of Gujariit, and the date .A.H. 978 (A.D. 157o-1). No.3 is aJahangiri rupee, minted at Lahore in the first year of the Emperor's reign (A.D. z6os-6). The Emperor Jahangir opposite p. 176 From a miniature in the British Museum. MAPS Sumatra page xxix The Outward Voyage opposite p. xxxviii Western India opposite p. 4 • INTRODUCTION HE present volume may be regarded as a sequel to the one published by the Society four years ago, describing Tthe voyage of Captain Thomas Best to the East Indies in 1612-14. Although it started more than three months before Best returned to England, Downton's fleet was in fact despatched expressly to follow up the achievements of its predecessor, especially as regards the establishment of trade in Western India. In both cases this objective involved the English in fierce fighting with the Portuguese, and their success on both occasions demonstrated the powerlessness of that nation to prevent our countrymen from exercising their right to trade in Indian ports without interference from Goa. It may be added that, just as the volume on Best leads up to the present work, so Downton's voyage was succeeded by that of the fleet commanded by William Keeling, which carried out in 1615 Sir Thomas Roe on his memorable embassy to the Great Mogul, as chronicled in two earlier volumes of the Society's series. The three works cover the whole of the critical period during which the English were making good their position in Western India. The gap in the Court Minutes of the East India Company between January 1610 and December 1613 leaves us much in the dark as to the proceedings of that body between those dates. We know, however, from other sources that during the period an important change was made in the financial methods of the Company. The system of separate subscriptions (with a few exceptions) for each voyage, which had produced undesiraQle competition in the East and some confusion in the accounts at home, was abandoned-now that the Company was well estab- lished-in favour of a series of Joint Stocks, each spread over several years. Thus came into existence the First Joint Stock, based upon a subscription which was to be paid in instalments for four successive years, and realized 106,oool. in 1613 and 107,oool. in each of the three years following. Out of the pro- xii INTRODUCTION ceeds of the first levy five ships were provided and fitted out in the autumn and winter of 1613. The first of these, the Concord, sailed for Bantam about the beginning of the new year; while the remaining four constituted the fleet whose fortunes we are now to follow. This fleet consisted of four vessels: the New Year's Gift, newly built and of the burden of 650 tons: the old Hector (sao tons), which had taken part in so many of the previous voyages: the Merchants' Hopei (300 tons), which now appears for the first time among the Company's ships and may also have been new: and the Solomon ( 200 tons), which had gone to Bantam in 1612 and returned in the following year. Of the cargoes carried out by these four ships a detailed account will be found in 1.0. Factory Records, Miscellaneous, vol. xxv, p. 34· The total cost is given as 33,489l. Of this sum nearly two-thirds (21,262l.) went in the provision of Spanish rials of eight, to be used in the purchase of return cargoes l. As regards actual merchandise, the most expensive items were ivory (' elephants' teeth') (3077l.) and broadcloth (3oool.). Then camelead(1774l.), quicksilver (1752l.), tin and pewter (424l.), iron (354l.), apparel, largely shirts and shoes for sale to the seamen and others ( 283l. ), looking-glasses (204l.), swordblades (184l.), and vermilion (I s6l. ). Miscellaneous headings included knives, strong waters, Russian hides, and fowling-pieces. The expenditure on articles for presents was high (6s9l.), and of this 2551. went in pictures. Some of them (mostly biblical or classical subjects) came from Rouen; but there were also portraits in oils of King James and 1 Usually called in the text 'the Hope,' just as the New Year's Gift is often abbreviated to 'the Gift.' 2 The Spanish dollar or rial of eight (more correctly, the piece of eight rials) was at that time the only European coin in general esteem throughout the East Indies, owing chiefly to its uniformity of weight and the purity of its silver.