A British East India Company factory in Siam had in 1684 been forced to close because of Phaulkon’s pro-French direction of Ayutthayan foreign policy.

A royal proclamation in 1686 had withdrawn the right of Englishmen to serve on foreign ships, and, to re-implement the policy and press for compensation for the closed factory, two English frigates have been sent to Ayutthaya, arriving in 1687 on the Tenasserim coast at Mergui.

The English, after routing the inferior French fleet, demand sixty-five thousand pounds in damages from Ayutthaya for giving shelter to pirates that had attacked English shipping.

At Phaulkon's urging, the Siamese open fire on the ships overnight, sinking one English ship, killing sailors ashore, and forcing the second to flee.

To forestall an Anglo-Siamese war (declared but not pursued), ...