discovery of Baffin became at length entirely ignored and discredited. Baffin, on his return from his great discovery in 1616, had made five voyages to the Arctic regions. The fjords and islets of west Greenland, the glaciers and ice floes of Spitsbergen, the tidal phenomena of Hudson Strait, and the secrets of the far northern bay which he unveiled, were all familiar to him. He had practically investigated, and deeply pondered over the absorbing questions of polar discovery. As an astronomical observer and navigator his unwearied diligence was as remarkable as his talent. If he was an untaught man who had risen from a humble origin, he had so far educated himself as to be able to write letters which are not only well expressed, but graced with classical allusions. Baffin, who was probably past middle age when he returned from his great discovery, then entered the service of the East India Company, being rated as Master’s Mate, under Captain Shilling, on board the _Anne Royal_, one of the fleet which was got ready in the winter of 1616. His most important service during the voyage 1617–1619 was the survey of parts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. There is the following entry in the Court’s minutes on the 1st October, 1619, “William Baffin, a master’s mate in the _Anne_, to have a gratuity for his pains and good art in drawing out certain plots of the coast of Persia and the Red Sea which are judged to have been very well and artificially performed.” In the following year Captain Shilling was selected to command the Company’s fleet. He was on board the _London_, and, at his special recommendation, Baffin was appointed Master. The Company’s fleet encountered the Portuguese off Jáshak, near the entrance of the Persian Gulf in December 1620, and the fight continued without intermission for nine hours. The Portuguese ships then anchored to repair damages. The English, after raking them, put into Jáshak Roads on the coast of Mekran. A second and more decisive encounter took place on the 28th December, when the Portuguese were defeated, but the victory was dearly bought by the death of Captain Shilling, who was interred at Jáshak on the 9th January 1621. Captain Baffin remained in command of the _London_, and the fleet returned to Surat. The English then made a treaty with Abbas the Great, Shah of Persia, to drive the Portuguese out of Ormuz, a Persian port which they had occupied since 1515. The English fleet, consisting of five ships, arrived at an open roadstead on the Persian coast near Ormuz, where news was received that the Portuguese had erected a fort on the island of Kishm to protect some wells. It was necessary to take it before investing Ormuz. The Kishm fort was already beleagured by a Persian army, and the English fleet arrived there on the 20th January, 1622.