Thomas Best (navy captain)

Thomas Best (1570?–1638?), was a captain for the English East India Company and later the Royal Navy.

Best is thought to have been the son of Captain George Best, who travelled the Arctic with Martin Frobisher. Thomas Best is thought to have gone to sea when aged around thirteen and by 1598 he was a man of substance and repute, well known in Ratcliff and Limehouse. On 30 December 1611 he was appointed to command the Red Dragon, a ship of some 600 tons and 200 men, then fitting for a voyage to the East Indies. As well as Red Dragon, the full fleet consisted of the Osiander pinnace joined later by the James and Solomon., The ships sailed from Gravesend on 6 February 1611 (O.S.) 1612 (N.S.) and arrived at Surat, on the north west coast of India, at the beginning of September, much to the annoyance of the Portuguese, who had previously established themselves in the country. They collected a force of four galleons, each as large as the Red Dragon, and some twenty small craft, row-boats carrying many men, and on 29 October appeared off the mouth of the river, where they hoped to surprise the English. Best, in the Red Dragon, at once weighed anchor, stood out to meet them, and passed between two of their ships, firing into each. This caused the Portuguese to pause. The darkness closed in, and they had to anchor for the night. The next morning the Osiander also came out, and when three of the galleons, in trying to avoid the Red Dragon, got on shore, the Osiander, drawing little water, "danced the hay about them, and so payed them that they durst not show a man on their decks." The fight continued till dark of the second day. The third day was very similar to the second. Towards evening the Portuguese drew back and attempted to burn the Red Dragon by means of a hastily equipped fireship. This Best succeeded in sinking before she got dangerously near, and so the fight ended. The loss of the English was returned as three killed and one wounded; that of the Portuguese was certainly very heavy.

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