32 THE STRUGGLE WITH THE PORTUGUESE gate capital employed. 1 The return would have been much larger but for the hostility of the Dutch and Portuguese. The two voyages of 1613-1614 are said to have yielded a profit of 120 per cent., and one cargo bought for £9000 in the East sold for £80,000 in England. By the beginning of 1614 what is officially reckoned as " the voyage of 1613 " was ready. It consisted of four vessels; the flagship having been launched on January 1st under the name of the New Year's Gift, 550 tons— armed and strongly built for trade or war. The command-in-chief was given to a captain of proved capacity for both. Nicholas Downton had been " Lieu- tenant-General, ,, or second in command, under Sir Henry Middleton in the sixth voyage of 1610, which came to blows with the Turks in the Red Sea, and left a record of reprisals not soon forgotten by the Moslem world. After many adventures and long trading in the East, Downton brought home his ship, the Pepper- corn, with her timbers strained and gaping, in the au- tumn of 1613, most of his crew dead, the remainder rot- ting with scurvy, he himself stricken by disease, and his half-sinking craft with difficulty making the Downs. His unconquerable endurance won for him the com- mand of the great expedition then being fitted out, and in March, 1614, he sailed as " General " of the first Joint Stock voyage. He carried with him the amplest powers which the Company could desire or the Crown grant. For the 1 For statistics concerning the four voyages see Appendix II, D.
