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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 115

be brewing ; the alarm spread, and, in a short time, became a
panic. Numbers of the inhabitants of Bombay fled, carrying
away their valuables, or hiding them underground. It now
became a question whether the ships of-war of the Company
should be used as convoys, or whether necessity did not
require the sacrifice of the trade of Bombay in order that the
island itself might be preserved. In this dilemma Government
received intelligence of a sad disaster.
On the 9th of November the southern coast was devastated
by a frightful storm, in which three of the linest grabs of the
Bombay Marine, completely armed and equipped, and com-
manded by three experienced captains, Kigby, Sandilands, and
Nunn, foundered, leaving not a fragment to tell of their f\ite.
Instantly Sambhajee Angria seized the opportunity, and, sally-
ing out, carried away fourteen fishing boats, with eighty-four
men, from the mouth of the harbour. Remonstrances were
made in vain, and retaliation was for the present out of the
question.
At this time the coasts of India swarmed with native pirates,
aud, in 173o, a Dutch ship turned rover and captured two mer-
chant vessels. The native pirates were called by the English
,-^ Sevajees, Kempsaunts, Malwans, and Coolies. ^ Under the
"TiaiTje^of S^evajees were included Mahrattas of all descriptions,
but chiefly the subjects of the two Angrias. The word Kemp-
saunt is a corruption of Khem ISawunt, a name given to several
of the Bhonslay family who had l>een rulers of the Waree
State. The first Khem Sawunt with whom the Government
of Bombay had any correspondence, was succeeded, in 1701), by
his nephew, Phond Sawunt, with whom, in 1730, that Govern-
ment made a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, against
Angria ; but it does not appear to have been respected for any
length of time.* With the Malwans the Governmc))t had a
* Memoir of the Sawunt, Waree State, by Mr. Courtney and Major J. W. Auld.
Of the piratical tribes iniiabiting tlie coast to the nortliward of Uouibay, Hamil-
ton says —All the country between \)m and ])and point, wiiicli is about thirty
:
leagues along shore, admits of no tradick, being inhabited by freebooters, called
/^WarieTs^and often associate with tlio Sanijanians in exercising piracies and depre-
^-^^atirnrer^They confide mucli in their numbei's, as otliers do, and strive to board
their prizes, and, as soon as they get on board, they throw in showers of stones
on the prize's decks, in order to sink them that way if they don't yield ; and they
have earthen pots, as big as a six-pound Granadoe shell, fidl of unquenched lime,
well sifted, which they throw in also, and the pots breaking, there arises so great
a dust, that the defendants can m-ither see or breathe well. They also use wick^
of cotton, dipt in a combustible oyl, and firing the wick, and tlirowing it into
the opposer's ship, it burns violently, and sets fire to the parts tliat it is thrown
on. They have no cities, and f heir villages are small. The best of them stands
about sixty miles to the eastward of Diu, and is called Chance. It is built about
a league witlnn the moutli of a river, which has a small island lying athwart it,
about two miles into the sea. The ishind has good springs of fresli water, but no
inhabitants. In anno 1716, the English went to burn that village and their
pirating vessels, bvit were unsuccessful in tlieir undertaking. The Warrels
occuijy aU the sea coast as high as Goga, which lies about twelve leagues witbiu
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