In his early years he travelled widely through Europe, the
Barbary coast, the
West Indies,
India and
Southeast Asia. On his arrival in
Bombay in 1688 he was briefly
pressed into the employ of the
East India Company in a local war, and then set up as a private country trader, operating from
Surat, India. He was appointed commander of the
Bombay Marine in June 1717, in which post he suppressed
piracy. Confusingly, he used the English name
Canton to refer to both the walled city (
Guangzhou) and the province (
Guangdong), but used
Canton more often for the city and
Quantung occasionally for the province. ==Notes==