FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73  
74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   >>   >|  
_ Arrival of Mr. Boone as Governor--He builds ships and improves defences of Bombay--Desperate engagement of _Morning Star_ with Sanganians--Alexander Hamilton--Expedition against Vingorla--Its failure--Hamilton made Commodore--Expedition against Carwar--Landing force defeated--Successful skirmish--Desertion of Goa recruits--Reinforcements--Landing force again defeated--The Rajah makes peace--Hamilton resigns Commodoreship--A noseless company--Angria recommences attacks--Abortive expedition against Gheriah--Downing's account of it--Preparations to attack Kennery. On the 26th December, 1715, Bombay was _en fete_. The East Indiamen _Stanhope_ and _Queen_ had arrived from England, bringing the new Governor, Mr. Charles Boone, and three new councillors. His predecessor, Mr. Aislabie, had sailed for England in October. At the landing-place the new-comers were met by the late council and the principal inhabitants and merchants of Bombay. Thirty-one pieces of ordnance greeted them with a salvo, and, as they put foot on shore, three companies of soldiers saluted them with three volleys of small arms. Boone was a man of very different stamp from his predecessors. The quarrels, intrigues, and self-seeking that had been so disastrous a feature during the tenure of office of Child, Waite, and Gayer were abhorrent to him. He was a zealous servant of the Company, whose interests he did his best to promote with the inadequate means at his disposal. In coming up the coast he had touched at the places where the Company had factories, and by the time of his arrival in Bombay he had fully realized that the pirate question demanded serious treatment. Bombay was then an open town, only the factory being fortified. Soon after receiving Bombay from the Crown, the Directors had ordered it to be fortified, but had refused to employ skilled officers, because "we know that it is natural to engineers to contrive curiosities that are very expensive." The only protection to the town was such as was afforded by a number of martello towers along the shore. Nineteen years before Boone's time the Muscat Arabs had made a descent on Salsette, ravaging, burning, and plundering as they pleased, killing the Portuguese priests and carrying off fourteen hundred captives into slavery. Since then the formidable power of Angria had arisen, but nothing had been done to improve the defences of the settlement. Boone's first care was to trace out an enclosin
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73  
74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Bombay

 
Hamilton
 
Angria
 

fortified

 
England
 
defences
 
Company
 

Governor

 

defeated

 

Landing


Expedition
 

treatment

 

Directors

 

receiving

 
factory
 
inadequate
 

promote

 

disposal

 

zealous

 
servant

interests
 

coming

 

realized

 

pirate

 
question
 

demanded

 

arrival

 
factories
 

touched

 
places

ordered
 

engineers

 

carrying

 

fourteen

 

hundred

 
captives
 

priests

 

Portuguese

 

burning

 
ravaging

plundering

 

pleased

 

killing

 

slavery

 
enclosin
 

settlement

 

improve

 
formidable
 

arisen

 

Salsette