Page 204 - INDIANNAVYV1

172 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
year Iinaurn vVlniied recaptured it, for which the Sultan of
Turkey paid him a kharaj, or annual subsidy, which was con-
tinued up to the time of his grandson, Seyyid Said.
Before commencing the narrative of the part taken by the
Bombay Marine in the wars waged with Hyder Ally and his
son, Tippoo Sultan, and in the struggle with France, when
that fine seanian Sir P]dward Hughes met with his match in
the Bailly de SutlVein, perhaps the greatest Admiral France has
produced, we will briefly recapitulate the condition of the
materiel of the Service, from the time of its formation up to
the year 1776.
When the Company's relations with the Portuguese became
more amicable, Mr. Methwold, the President at Surat, in the
year 1636, entered into a commercial convention with the Vice-
roy of Goa, whereby the English were permitted to build four
" pinnaces," two at Damaun, and two at Bassein, for the protec-
tion of their local trade. Upon the acquisition of Bombay by
the Company, the Commissioners appointed b}' Sir George
Oxenden to report upon the island and port, reconjmended that
a dry dock should be built for the purpose of constructing ships
of war; and the Court of Directors, in furtherance of this pro-
posal, despatched, in 1670, Mr. Warwick Pett, a naval architect
of repute, to construct two vessels for the defence of the island,
and to instruct the natives in the art of shipbuilding. Orders
were likewise given for two brigantines to be armed for the
protection of the Malabar coasting trade.
In 1671 Mr. Aungier, President of the factory at Surat, fore-
seeing the probability of an attempt by the Dutch, with whom
we were at war, to capture the island of Bombay, which, indeed,
they made in the following year, and alarmed at the strength
of the fleets of the Seedee and other Powers, as compared with
his own almost defenceless state, urged the Court of Directors
to permit him to build and maintain a respectable naval force.
The Court consented to this proposal, so far as to sanction
the construction and equipment of two frigates, and three
sloops. In 1673, Captain Shaxton had trained one hundred
men of his military force, to serve as marines on board the
Company's vessels intended for the defence of the island, and
Fryer,* who arrived here at this time, speaking of the ships of
—
war then in the harbour, remarks : " Under the castle, besides
innumerable little vessels, as hoys, ketches, and the like, lay
three men-of-war, with tlieir top armour out, waste cloths and
pennants at every yard-arm ; to wit, the ' Revenge,' twenty-two
guns; the 'Mayboon,' taken from the Dutch, 220 tons; and
* See Mr. John Frjer's "work styled •' A new account of East India and
Persia, in eigiit letters, being unie jeurs' travels, began in 167-, ami liuished
1G81."