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110 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.

have been of service to the English in the struggle with
Angria. which dail}' became more inevitable.
In 1731 Tanna was threatened by the Mahrattas, and the
Government of Bombay, disposed at the time to assist the
weaker side, sent three hundred men to garrison it, but, soon
afterwards, withdrew their aid and rather countenanced the
aggressors. How little the English knew on that occasion of
a people who were soon to be the terror of the whole peninsuhi,
may be inferred from the fact that the factory of Surat, when
forwarding a dispatch, under date April 20, 1737, to their
friends at Bengal, deemed it necessary to explain who the
Mahrattas were. " The Portuguese territories adjacent to
Bombay," they wrote, " have been suddenly invaded by the
Mahrattas, a people subject to the Sow Rajah, who have pro-
secuted their attempts so successfully as to render even our
Honourable Master's island in danger." In 1737 the Mahratta
army sat down before Tanna, and, although the Portuguese
repulsed two assaults with bravery, the third struck them with
a panic, and the place was taken. The English anticipated
that they would be the next objects of attack ; but, fearing to
provoke the invaders by any resolute effort to protect their
victims, were satisfied with dispatching fifty men and some
ammunition to assist in the defence of Bandora. At tlie same
time they declared their intention of remaining neutral in other
respects, and were so inconsistent as not only to apprize the
Mahrattas when the Portuguese were making great preparations
for the recovery of Tanna, but even to supply the garrison with
powder and shot ; in consequence of which the expedition
failed, and its brave Commander, Don Antonio Frois, was slain.
In extenuation of such conduct, the English Governor made
the ungenerous excuse that thej'^ were but retaliating on the
Portuguese for the information which they had communicated,
and the supplies they had furnished, to the Seedee when he in-
vaded Bombay.
Soon after Tanna had fallen, Tarrapoor shared its fate. The
Mahrattas scaled its walls, and entered sword in hand ; but it
is recorded that the commandant of the victorious army in-
formed his superior that the garrison " fought with the bravery
of Europeans," until they were overwhelmed by numbers.
Early in 1739, Chimnajee Appa;" the Mahratta general, and
brother of the Peishwa, invested Bassein, and having, on the
9th of February, taken possession of Versova, which had been
abandoned by the Portuguese, pressed the siege with the
greatest eagerness. John Xavier de Pinto, the commandant,
endeavoured to appease the enemy by humble messages and an
offer of tribute, but nothing short of absolute submission would
be accepted. Soon after operations had been commenced in
earnest, De Pinto was killed, and was succeeded in his com-