Henry Every captures a Mughal treasure ship

The English pirate Henry Every captured the Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai in the Indian Ocean. The haul was huge, and the raid caused a diplomatic crisis for England.

The value of the loot is an estimate that varies by source.

Context

Every was an English seaman who mutinied aboard the Charles II at La Coruña in May 1694, renamed her the Fancy and sailed for the Indian Ocean. In September 1695 his ships caught up with the Mughal convoy returning from Mocha, taking the Fateh Muhammad first and then the Ganj-i-Sawai, the emperor's largest vessel.

The Ganj-i-Sawai carried dozens of guns and several hundred musketeers, yet the pirates won. Early fire is said to have brought down her mainmast, and one of her own guns reportedly burst, which threw the defenders into disarray. Contemporary Indian accounts describe a week of plunder and abuse of the passengers.

Estimates of the loot start at about £325,000 and run higher, depending on how the gold, silver and jewels are counted. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb blamed the English East India Company, and English traders at Surat were detained. The Company paid compensation and, with the Crown, put a bounty on Every's crew.

Every was never confirmed captured. His crew scattered in the Caribbean in 1696, and several were tried in England, with six hanged. His fate remains unknown, and legends about his later life are unverified.