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The English Pirates of the British East India Company
Compiled by: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On September 7, 1695 AD, the English pirate of British East India Company, Henry Every, in one of the most profitable raids in history, attacked the Mughul fleet of India in the Arabian Sea and captured the treasure-laden ship “Ganj-e Sawai” – anglicized by the British pirates as ‘Gunsway’.
In response, Emperor Aurangzeb threatened to end to all the trading of the British East India Company in the Indian subcontinent, and made London officially apologize and launch a wide scale hunt for the British pirates, who seemed to have escaped to the safety of the Caribbean.
Ganj-e Sawai, along with its escort the Fateh Mohammad, was en route from present day Mocha in Yemen to Surat, India. The six British pirate ships which had been hovering in the Bab al-Mandeb Straits surprised the two Mughal Indian ships, after a 25-ship Mughal convoy bound for India had gone well ahead.
They first attacked Fateh Mohammad, whose crew to the utter surprise of the English pirates of British East India Company, put up little resistance, and as a result the pirates sacked the ship for 50,000 pound sterling worth of treasure. Henry Every now sailed in pursuit of the Ganj-e Sawai, overtaking it about eight days from Surat.
The Ganj-e Sawai had 62 cannons and a musket-armed guard of four to five hundred, as well as six hundred other passengers. No sooner did the British pirates launch their attack, one of the cannons of the Indian ship exploded, killing some of its gunners and causing great confusion and demoralization among the crew. The British pirate ships drew alongside the Ganj-e Sawai and clambered aboard. A ferocious hand-to-hand battle ensued, in which a score of British pirates were killed.
The superior Indian force was, however, let down by its cowardly captain, Ibrahim Khan, who rushed below the deck. After two hours of fierce but leaderless resistance, the Indians made the mistake of surrendering to the British pirates, who now subjected them to several days of horror, raping of the Indian Muslim women passengers, and murdering prisoners which included the passengers at will. Some of the women passengers committed suicide by jumping into the sea. The loot obtained by the English pirates of British East India Company from the Ganj-e Sawai totalled around 600,000 pound sterling including 500,000 gold and silver pieces, besides gemstones whose value was never estimated.
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