Nathaniel's nutmeg (32 page)

behind me. I remained as dead till such time as they had bound my hands behind me, and so straite that the extreame paine thereof brought me to my memorie. As soone as they saw me stirre they lifted me upon my feet, and led me betweene two of them to the Aga, where I found divers of my companie in like taking as I was my selfe. On the way the souldiers pillaged me and tooke from me such money as I had about me, and three gold rings, whereof one was my seale, the other had seven diamonds which were of good worth, and the third a gimmall ring.

This was only the beginning of his misfortune. When all the Englishmen in the town had been captured, including Nathaniel Courthope, they were herded together and clapped in irons; 'my selfe with seven more were chained by the neckes all together: others by their feete, others by their hands.' When this was done, the soldiers left them in the company of two heavily armed guards who 'had compassion for us and eased us of our bands, for the most of us had our hands so straite bound behind us that the blood was readie to burst out at our fingers' end, with pain unsufferable'.

Middleton still had no idea why he had been attacked, but he was soon to learn the scale of the Aga's treachery. Not only had eight of his men been killed in the 'bloudie massacre' and fourteen severely injured, he now heard that a band of one hundred and fifty Turks had put to sea 'in three great boats' with the intention of taking the
Darling -
now anchored off Mocha — by force. The attack caught the
Darling's
crew completely unawares. Knowing nothing of the treachery ashore they first realised something was amiss when dozens of Turks were seen boarding the ship, their swords unsheathed. The situation quickly became
desperate; three Englishmen were killed outright while the
rest of the company rushed below deck to gather their
weapons. By the time they had armed themselves the ship
was almost lost. 'The Turkes were standing very thicke in
the waist [of the ship], hollowing and clanging their swords
upon the decke.' It was a quick-thinking crew member
who saved the day. Realising their plight was helpless
he gathered his strength and rolled a huge barrel of
gunpowder towards the Turkish attackers, then hurled a
firebrand in the same direction. The effect was as dramatic
as it was devastating. A large number of Turks were killed
instantly while the rest retired to the half-deck in order to
regroup. This hesitation cost them their lives for the English
had by now loaded their weapons which they 'set off with
musket shot, and entertayned [the Turks] with another
trayne of powder which put them in such feare that they
leaped into the sea, hanging by the ship's side, desiring
mercy, which was not there to be found, for that our men
killed all they could fmde, and the rest were drowned, only
one man was saved who hid himselfe till the furie was
passed, who yielded and was received to mercie'.

The
Darling
had been saved but Middleton's situation
was now even more precarious. Still chained by the neck
he was led to the Aga to be told the reason for his arrest.
'He with a frowning (and not his wonted disembling)
countenance, asked me how I durst be so bold as to come
into this their port of Mocha, so near their holy citie of
Mecca.' Middleton remonstrated most strongly, reminding
the Aga that it was he who had invited the English to land
and persistently invoked them to be merry. The Aga chose
to ignore this last remark, telling him that the Pasha in
Sana'a had been given orders from the Sultan in
Constantinople to arrest all Christians who attempted to
land at any of the Red Sea ports. He also told Sir Henry
that the only way for him to gain his freedom was for him
to send letters to the
Trades Increase
and
Darling
ordering
them to capitulate. Middleton refused, and when the Aga
told him he would starve the ships into submission the
English commander gleefully informed Rejib that they had
enough supplies to last two years. 'He urged me againe to
write to will them to come all ashore and yeeld the ship or
he would cut off my head. I bade him doe so; for therein
he should doe me a great pleasure for I was weary of my
life; but write to that effect I never would.'

This answer did not find favour with the Aga. 'I was
taken out of my chaine and coller and a great paire of
fetters clapt upon my legges, and manacles upon my hands,
and so separated from the rest of my company: they stowed
me all that day in a dirty dogges kennell under a paire of
stairs .
.
. my lodging was upon the hard ground, and my
pillow a stone, my companions to keepe me waking were
griefe of heart and multitude of rats which, if I chanced to
sleep, would awake me with running over me.'

Sir Henry would soon find himself longing for that
'dogges kennell'.The Aga instructed him to send a letter to
the
Trades Increase
with the message that all the warm
clothing on board should immediately be sent ashore.
Middleton was perplexed and, asking the reason for such a
strange request, was told that the Pasha in Sana'a wanted to
interrogate the men and 'that we should find it very cold
in the mountain country'. Middleton, sweltering in the
heat of Mocha, scoffed at the Aga's talk of frost and snow
and dismissed the request for woollen clothing. And so, on
'the two and twentieth of December, our irons were
knockt off all our legges . . . and my selfe and foure and
thirtie persons more of us were appointed to goe up for Sana'a, the chief citie of the kingdome where the Pasha is
resident.'

One of the men, William Pemberton, managed to give
his guards the slip and it was many hours before his absence
was noticed. He eventually reached the
Trades Increase
by
trekking back to the coast, stealing a canoe and putting to
sea. With no food and nothing to drink except his own
urine he rowed for several days through choppy waters
until a look-out on the flagship spied him in the far
distance and sent a pinnace to the rescue. His arrival was
invaluable to Downton for it provided him with
information about the guards and sentries travelling with
Middleton and enabled him to carry on a regular, though
clandestine, correspondence with the commander using
secret envoys and middlemen. Pemberton twice sent letters
to Middleton urging him to plan an escape, suggesting that
he could easily pass himself off as an Arab if he disguised
himself in Oriental dress, cut the hair from his face, and
took to 'besmutting' his skin. He added that he had fully
intended to 'besmut' himself but decided that his 'pock-
eated' face would have given him away.

The correspondence between Downton and Middleton
at times betrays the great stress they were under. When
Middleton refused permission for Downton to raid local
craft on the grounds that his life would be placed in even
graver danger, Downton wrote a strongly worded reply
suggesting that he alone could judge what was best in the
situation. Sir Henry was most upset at the petulance of his
erstwhile friend and replied in what Downton described as
'a very carping and most distasteful letter'. But just as
relations between the men seemed in danger of rupturing
completely, Downton came to his senses and sent a note
with the message that while he was hurt by the tone of Middleton's letter he would write no more angry words for
their mutual enemies to 'cant, construe and cavil at'. In
reply, Sir Henry wrote a 'very kind letter' asking forgiveness
for his 'melancholie letter' which, he explained, was written
while suffering from acute depression.

That depression was soon to get worse as the weather
grew ever colder during the enforced march to Sana'a.
Middleton now realised his mistake in refusing the woollen
gowns, recording that 'I would not beleeve at Mocha, when
I was told of the cold we should have upwards, and that
made me go but thinly clothed my selfe.' With the little
money he still possessed he now bought his men fur
gowns, without which they would all have perished. Few
can have expected to see a white Christmas in the
blistering Arabian Peninsula but as the English prisoners
stumbled into the city of Taiz on Christmas Day 1610, the
first few flakes of snow began to fall. William Pemberton's
'boy', who had failed to escape with his master, fell sick
from cold and was lodged in the governor's house; the rest
continued up into the mountains where 'every morning
the ground was covered with horie frost, and
...
we had ice
a finger thick.'

At last they came to Sana'a, 'a citie somewhat bigger
than Bristol,' where their fur gowns were confiscated and
they were forced to march barefoot through the city like
common criminals. Middleton was in no mood for
diplomacy. Dragged by 'two great men' to an audience with
the Pasha he gave vent to his fury, accusing Rejib Aga of
duplicity, falsehood and murder. The Pasha listened 'with
frowning and angry countenance', blamed Sir Henry for
causing him numerous problems, then led the Englishmen
to a common prison where they were once again 'clapt in
waightie irons'.

They had spent almost a month in jail when the Pasha
suddenly called Sir Henry into his presence and told him
that all the men would be released without delay and were
free to return to Mocha. What induced the Pasha's sudden
clemency is far from clear but it was rumoured that an
influential merchant from Cairo, to whom the Pasha was
indebted, had intervened on behalf of the Englishmen.
Their release came just in time, for 'many of our people in
the meane while fell sicke and weake through griefe, cold,
naughtie aire, bad diet, evill lodging, and waightie irons.'

The chameleon-like Pasha now transformed himself
into a kindly and avuncular figure, providing the men with
a large mansion, suggesting a tour of the city's sights, and
even presenting them with six cows on which to feast
themselves. Middleton was singled out for special
treatment, receiving a purse of 150 gold coins as
recompense for his sufferings. In return he was obliged to
listen to one of the Pasha's insufferable speeches in which
he gave fulsome praise to his own wisdom, insight and mild
temper. The English commander was bemused by the turn
of events but not altogether surprised; he was fast learning
of the inconstancies of these Turkish governors who could
flick from friend to foe without even losing their smile.