The Globe, a trading vessel of the East India Company, arrived at 'the roade of Siam' on 15 August in 1612. It was the first attempt to engage in trase with Siam. A party was sent upriver to Bangkok - six days' travel round-trip - and returned with the governor of that town who then received a letter brought from King James I to present to King Song Tham. On 17 September the Thai King gave an audience to the English party and promised them free trade and a fine 'howse of brick.' Since damage to the ship by worms necessitated repairs, the English hired a junk for the price of 96 rupees to carry their trade goods against the monsoon flow of the river to Ayutthaya, which they finally reached only in late October.
The Dutchman Peter Floris wad the writer of this account of the voyage and a capital in it. He complains bitterly of the 'very greate knaverye' of greedy Siamese officials who seized their trading goods taking out all the best merchandise for themselves. Bribes were the extracted before the remaining goods could be sold.
In fact the East India Company gad little success at trading at the Thai capital and abandoned the trade post in 1623, though it was sporadically resumed later in the century. The journeys were extremely dangerous; of the Globe's crew of over 70 men, one-third died of various illnesses or drowned in storms during the voyage.
