xiii th of November 1657. The Committee having deferred their resolution concerning the Anne Frigott her termes of Enterteynment untill this tyme; Capt Knox Maister of her presented himselfe to the Committee, and although his Demaunds touchinge the said ship (which hee made at the last Meeting) were too high, yet hee now declared, that his Owners are willing to cast themselves upon the Committee, to give them what they shall thinke fitt. Whereupon they Agreed that the ship Anne, burthen 230 tunns or thereabouts, should be at Gravesend by the 15th of December next, ready to saile thence for ye Coast & Bay with 20 gunns and 48 men. and to have 300 lb ymprest 2 20lb in leiw or primage & Average; 18lb per tunn for what course Goods shee shall bring home, and 22lb per tunn for Fine And if shee shall not be dispeeded thence for England by the 10th of January come twelve moneths, it shalbe at ye liberty of the Company to keep her upon demorage 12 moneths after the said 10th of January, or soe long tyme thereof as they shall thinke fitt, soe it be not lesse then 4 moneths of the said 12 moneths and shee is to have 6lbs. 10s. per diem for soe long tyme as shee shall be employed upon demorage as aforesaid by the Company after the said 10th of January untill she shalbe dispeeded for England: And that she shalbe dispeeded for England by the 10th of January come two yeere at the furthest: Which being made known to the Captaine, hee consented thereunto, and promised to subscribe theis conditions on behalfe of himselfe and the rest of the Owners. It was now thought fitt... That the ship Anne should goe for the Coast and Bay, and if shee be not dispeeded for England by the 10th of January come 12 moneths, shee shall then or at any tyme, at ye pleasure of the Company, Voyage for Persia. xixth of December 1657 It was now Ordered that the Anne should carry out 13,000 lb Stocke upon her; 5,000 lb whereof being to be left at the Coast or Bay; the other 8,000 lb for her Carga to Persia. The 'Ann' sailed, 21st January, 1658, on that fatall voiage in which,' says Knox, 'I lost my father & my1The Coromandel Coast and Bay of Bengal. 2 Advance. 3Despatched. selfe & the prime of my time for buisnesse & preferment for 23 years tell Anno 1680.' The date has been uniformly read by previous writers according to the O.S. calendar as 1657, the calendar year then beginning on 25th March. This mistake has been repeated in the inscription on the stone inset by Mr. Nevill, C.C.S., into the historic tamarind tree under which Knox was captured at Cottiar. The Ann's' first destination after arriving in India was Gumroone.1 The elder Knox appears to have fallen foul of the Company, and no less than three protests were lodged against him. From Gumroone he returned to Surat, the port of which was then known as 'Swalley Marine,' a possible transliteration of 'Swahili,' a port. He was quite right to refuse to go to Bantam, which was then being blockaded by the Dutch. It seems probable that he did go to Achin in Sumatra. In any case he was at Masulipatam on the 19th November, 1659, when the Ann' was dismasted in the cyclone. Southern India is a treeless country and to get a new mast, the 'Ann' had to go to Cottiar, where the father and son and sixteen of the crew were held in bondage, and where the father died in 1661 at the age of fifty-five. There was no imprudence to account for their falling into the hands of the Sinhalese, for in 1648 John Burford had stayed many days, finding a Christian town and travelling as much as thirty miles inward. The causes of their detention were: (i) a quaint whim of King Rajah Singho to make a sort of menagerie of European captives; (ii) the jealousy of the Dutch at the possibility of English intervention; 1 Bandarabas in the Persian Gulf. 2 Matlipatan. (iii) the disinclination of the captives themselves to make a determined effort to escape. They were evidently in a state of abject terror of the tyrant who held them in bondage, but it is also highly probable that most of them had fallen into a lotus-eating phase, and found Ceylon a sailors' paradise or Fiddler's Green after the hard life of a Cromwellian foc'sle. After their captivity the crew of the 'Ann' seemed to think that they were neglected by the Company. As a matter of fact much pains and trouble were taken, and considerable money spent in their behalf. An Accot of the Losse & Damage by sending a Vessel from Fort St George to Zeilon to Redeeme ye English Captives on sd Island wch Vessell was Impeeded & brought back by a Dutch Shipp, who mett her within six Leagues of her Port. As per Protestes etc. appeare. .....6 Feb. 1664. 100. Paid for a Boate being purposely bought to Pa Fa Ca |