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CHAPTER III. — —

1699—1754.

Contentions between the Old and New Companies —Precarious Condition of
Bombay—Gallant Conduct of the Company's Seamen at Surat and Bombay
Depredations of the Arab Pirates—Duties of the Indian Marine—Prowess of
the Company's Seamen at Carwar—Pise of the Pirate Chief Kanhojee Angi'ia
•—Expeditions against Angria in 1717 and 1722—Gallant Defence of the
' Morning Star'—Piratical Proceedings of the Angrias—TheMahrattas and the
Portuguese— Missions of Captains Gordon and Inchbird of the Marine to the
Pajah of Sattara and the Peishwa—Loss, with all hands, of three Ships of
the Marine—The Malwan and Cooly Pirates—The Bombay Marine at Telli-
cherry—Reduction of the Service in 1742, and Increased Depredations of the
Pirates—The War with France—Mutiny of the Crew of the ' Bombay'—In-
crease of the Marine.
IN 1699-1700 serious disputes arose at Surat and in the other
ports of the Company, whose charter did not expire until
September, 1701, between their agents and those of a newly-
formed rival association, styled " The English Company," in
contradistinction to the old, or " London Company ;" these quar-
rels were inexplicable to the Native governors, and would have
caused the ruin of the English interests in India, had the Por-
tuguese power been capable of effective rivalry. This particularly
applied to the unseemly disputes that took place at Surat, in
which Commodore Littleton—who, on the death of Commodore
Warren, succeeded to the command of the squadron—main-
tained a strict neutrality, notwithstanding the accusations of
breach of duty, and taking bribes, levelled at him by Sir Nicholas
Waite, the Agent of the English Company, and the violent
proceedings of the same official towards Mr. Colt— appointed
President of the London Company in place of Mr. Annesley
for which he pretended he had a warrant, as the King's Consul.
Not less intemperate were the proceedings of Sir William
Norris, who had been connnissioned by the King, as his Am-
bassador to the Mogul*— the English Company paying the
* Sir William Norris had an audience of the Mogul at his camp at Parnella on
the 28th of April, 1701 ; but, after receiving a Urman of the establishment of the
English Company's factories at Surat, Masuhpatam and Hooghly, and presenting
the Emperor with two hundred gold mohurs, negotiations were bi'oken off, owing
to his being unable to comply with the demand of the Mogul, that he should
Accordingly Sir William Norris struck his tents
teep the seas free from pirates.