288pp+illus. VG in slightly chipped dust-jacket, red covers are very slightly marked. In the Preface Lieut.-Gen. George MacMunn states 'This account of the early merchant adventurers, whose daring and endurance finally brought about the great British-Indian Empire, has been compiled from obscure and often inaccessible resources, or rescued from old records by Mr Charles Grey of Lahore. Mr. Grey spent most of his years in the East and the story of the early adventurers, merchants, pirates and soldiers of fortune he has made peculiarly his own, in fact he had some of their own blood in his veins and their example in his own life'. He was also responsible for arranging the material in the volume in convenient form for publication. Chapters include The Merchants; The Mariners; The Story of William Adams (1598); The Amboyna Tragedy (1622); The Mission of William Hawkins to the Great Mogul (1608); Captain Andrew Shilling and his Victory over the Portuguese (1617); The Sea Fight in the Straits of Ormuz (1625); The Astounding Appearance of English Pirates (1632-37), etc. Includes six plates and Index.

British History the Empire Pirates Maritime Shipping Trade