son at Kishm was under the direct command of Ruy Freire.
The appearance of the English fleet off Kishm had an immediate effect. Before a shot had been fired, Ruy Freire sought an accommodation. Monnox, who was sent ashore to arrange matters, found the Portuguese conmaander willing to surrender if he could obtain an assurance of the safety of the lives of the Persians who had assisted him. Ruy Freire, on being told that the English could not interfere with this matter, gallantly replied that rather than hand his allies over to the tender mercies of the Persians he would die with them. Nor could he be moved from this determination by a promise subsequently obtained from the Persian General that their lives should be spared.
On the failure of the negotiations, the English ships commenced a bombardment of the fort, but the range proved too great to make their fire effective. To remove the drawback five guns were landed and mounted as close to the walls of the fort as practicable. They were in charge of William Baffin, famous in the annals of Arctic exploration for his bold enterprises in the then little-known region of the Frozen North. The fire was maintained from these pieces with such excellent results that a breach was soon made in the defences. Unhappily, Baffin, who had exposed himself a good deal in his anxiety to achieve successful results, attracted the attention of some Portuguese sharpshooter. As he was in the act of aiming one of the guns, he was shot in the stomach and died almost immediately. His is another example of the life of a navigator of distinction sacrificed on the altar of patriotism in the East in those early days when the history of English influence in Asia was in the making.
Ruy Freire speedily recognized that his position had
