John Saris and the China Captain - Map of China: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer - page 58

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John Saris and the China Captain
BythethirdweekofDecember1614thepublicityhadbecomeunbearable.Thomas
Smythe knew that he, as Governor of the East India Company (EIC), had to do
something to kill the rumours swirling around London. John Saris had arrived on
the Clove loaded to the gunwales with rich pickings from Asia, but he had the au-
dacitytoanchoratthesouth-coastportofPlymouthtotransactprivatebusinessbe-
forebringingtheshipuptheThamestoLondon.ThelongerhedalliedatPlymouth
-whichhiscommissionexpresslyforbadehimtodo-theloudercommercialLon-
don buzzed with nasty gossip about how the Company was being robbed blind by
its own servants. This was not to be borne. The EIC had existed for only fourteen
years. It was a canny blend of private capital and royal charter created by the grace
of the late Elizabeth I for the benefit of the merchants who supported her. James I
had replaced her, and so now the Company's survival as a monopoly depended on
keeping the present king happy and potential competitors out of the Asian trade.
The question of when Saris would actually get the Clove to London was the
most recent in a series of headaches that Smythe had had to deal with to keep the
EIC above political and financial water. Recently he had had to cave in to the Lord
Treasurer, who had insisted that the Company open a shop in the New Exchange,
which he had authorised to be built as a new commercial hub for the city (and
for which the opening night's entertainment in 1609 was penned by none other
than Ben Jonson). Smythe was supposed to furnish it with Chinese paper, fans, ink
boxes and porcelain, but such goods were expensive and hard to come by. Why
waste money displaying wares to idle gawkers? And would Saris's cargo make
good the £300 it had cost him personally to set up the shop? All Saris had forwar-
ded so far was a Malayan dagger worth £6 or £7. There were, in addition, rumours
of Saris beating his officers and starving his crew, but everyone whined about dis-
ciplineattheendofasuccessfulvoyagewhentheprospectsofapay-offwerehigh.
And there was also James I to be kept happy. Smythe had been reckless enough to
inform the king that he could expect a lavish present from the emperor of Japan
(in fact, it was from the far more powerful shogun, but that title meant nothing in
1614), but when would that be delivered?