56 THE STRUGGLE WITH THE PORTUGUESE we agreed to join with him in an attack on Ormuz. The blow was delivered early in the following year. Five ships and four pinnaces of the English Company defeated the Portuguese fleet in the Persian Gulf, and in concert with a Persian land-force captured Ormuz. On April 27, 1622, the 2500 survivors of the Portuguese garrison were shipped off to Goa in vessels compassion- GOMBBOON, OB BUNDEB ABBAS, ON THE PEBSIAN GULP. ately given by the English, who with difficulty pro- tected them from the vengeance of the natives. In spite of our efforts, the unfortunate men were stripped and maltreated by the Persians. Shah Abbas rewarded the English by a settlement on the mainland of Persia at Gombroon, afterwards called Bunder Abbas in his honour, and gave them a patent for half the customs duties, the first of those revenue grants which were to end in the transfer of great Indian provinces to British administration: Thus went down the power of Portugal in 1622 in
