Indian Antiquary Vol 52

SR No.: 032544
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1985
Total Pages: 568
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 24 MB

Page 465

AUGUST, 1923]
NOTES ON PIRACY IN EASTERN WATERS
31
para. 92 above), Chin-tung and Mayeh. Large piratical squadrons were formed, the crows using Japanese dress, flags and signals (Chin. Repos., XIX, 138-40). According to Mr. George Philip (Early Portuguese in China Review, XIX, 50), the pirates who had raided Kiangnang and Chehkiang first appeared in Changchow district in 1550. Their bands contained only 30 per cent. of Japanese, and their chief rendezvous was the island of Gawseu at the entrance of Amoy harbour.
185. In 1549 St. Xavier set sail for Japan in a Chinese junk belonging to one Neceda, the most noted pirate in those seas, his ship being known as the “Thief's Junk." The possibility of this expedition appears to have been suggested by the fact that a Japanese gentleman named Angeroo3? (see para. 58 above), having been expelled from his country for an accidental homicide in 1541, had come to Malacca to see the holy man, of whom he had heard many extraordinary things. He was instructed, converted and baptised, accompanied his teacher to Japan and was there left as the head of the new Church in Japan, but the jealousy of the priosts drove him into a second exile. (Charlevoix, Histoire....du Japon, I, 187-191).
Turks. 186. Piri Reis or Pirbec ("an old pirate," Faria, II, 163), Kapudan of Egypt, was a nephew of Kemal Reis, 3? a celebrated Mediterranean corsair in the reign of Bajazet. In 1550 (or 1551, see Dames, p. 20, or 1552, see Danvers, Persian Records, pp. 10-11) he took Muscat from the Portuguese and made slaves of the Portuguese garrison. Next he attacked Ormuz, but having received a heavy bribe withdrew to Basra. Thence, fearing a Portuguese attack, he fled with three galleys and his treasure. One galley was wrecked at Bahrein, but two arrived safely at Suez. He went to Cairo, where he was arrested and executed by order of the Sultan. The treasure was sent to Constantinople and, its return having been refused to envoys from Ormuz, was placed in the Treasury. Piri Reis compiled a Maritime Atlas of the Aegean and Red Sea (Haji Khalifeh, p. 71 ; Von Hammer, II, 119; Danvers, I, 497). Piri Reis was succeeded as Kapudan by a famous corsair, Murad Beg, who was very badly beaten off Ormuz in August 1553 by the Portuguese under Diego da Noronha, losing his best ships and captains, but himself escaping to Basra (Haji Khalifeh, p. 72). He was beheaded for his defeat and Sidi Ali bin Husain, who had served under Khairuddin Barbarossa and was known as Katibi Rumi, was sent overland to replace him. Sailing from Basra, Sidi Ali was also badly beaten by the Portuguese under Fernandez de Menezes on the 25th August 1554, and then driven by storms to Daman, but not receiving protection from the native authorities, proceeded to Surat. Here the Portuguese demanded his surrender. The Gujaratis refused this, but destroyed his shipe. After some delay in Gujarat, during which he compiled his great work the Muhit or Ocean (a guide to the navigation of the eastern seas), he made his way overland through India and Central Asia a three years' journey-to Turkey (Haji Khalifeh, p. 73). Hearing of the defeat of Sidi Ali, the Sultan sent the ex-Janissary Jafar to take command. He arrived in 1864 only in time to hear of the destruction of the Turkish fleet, so, having taken four merchant ships carrying rich oargoes, he returned to Suez (Faria, II, 167-9, 173, 175).
English and French. 187. The earliest English voyages to Guinea of any importance were those of Captain Tbomas Wyndham in 1551 and 1553, John Lok in 1564, William Towerson in 1555, 1566, and 1658, William Rutter in 1862, Robert Baker in 1563 and David Carlet in 1664. In 1566 33 Hildreth (Japan as it was and 1) calls him "Anjino."
in 35 Camali or Kamal Rois was captured at Santa Maura in 1502 by tho Papel Commissary Bishop Posaro and the Venetians. (Cornhill Magazine, Sept. 1882.)