George Oxenden (governor) - Battle of Surat

Battle of Surat

Sir Abraham Shipman, the commander of the royal troops, found himself powerless to take or hold Bombay, and therefore proposed to cede it to the company. Meanwhile the government of Achin offered the whole of the trade of that port to the company, in return for the company's aid against the Dutch. Both these offers were under Oxenden's consideration when, in January 1664, Surat was suddenly attacked by a force of Marathas, consisting of some four thousand horse under the command of Shivaji. The inhabitants fled, the governor shut himself up in the castle, while Oxenden and the company's servants fortified the English factory.

One Englishman named Anthony Smith, was captured by the Marathas, he was forced to witness cruel methods of torture inflicted upon prisoners who were ordinary and innocent subjects of the Mughal Empire, Anthony Smith even mentioned how Shivaji's raiders punitively maimed and executed those prisoners by cutting off their hands and heads. When the Mughal Army finally approached on the fourth fateful day, Shivaji and his bandits galloped southwards into the Deccan.

Only the well organized British led by George Oxenden (governor)|George Oxenden and the Portuguese survived the onslaught, but the city itself never recovered.

Oxenden and his party defended themselves successly but Shivaji took away an immense booty. Oxenden received the gratitude of Aurangzeb, and an extension of the privileges of trade to the English, with an exemption of the payment of customs for one year.