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HISTORr OF THE INDL^N NAVY. 177 ;

She was commanded by the following officers —Captains
:
Bendy, Hail, Penny (while in the Marine), Anderson, Curtis,
Clifton, and Luard ; and, during the period she was employed as a
packet, the following public characters were passengers on board
her:—Lord Macartney, when returning to England from his
Government of Madras ; Lord Cornwallis, on his appointment
to India as Governor-General, and on his return from Calcutta;
Sir John Shore, on retiring from the office of Governor-General
Mr. Petrie, from the Council at Madras ; and various other
functionaries of rank. About the year 1800, the ' Swallow,"
not being required as a packet, was sold to the Danes, fitted in
London, and went to Copenhagen, whence she is supposed to have
proceeded to the West Indies ; but while there, was seized by
a British man-of-war for a breach of treaty, and condemned as
a prize. She was cut out from her anchorage by a sloop-of-
war after a severe action, in which the British ship lost a
number of her crew. She was then purchased into the King's
service, became the ' Silly ' sloop of war, and was latterly com-
manded by Captain Sheriff; after serving some time in the
West Indies, she was, on her passage home, dismasted, and
received other damage, in a violent gale of wind. On her
return to England, she was sold out of the King's service, and
bought by some merchants in London ; made three voyages to
Bombay, her parent port, as a free-trader, and was lost on
the James and Mary shoal in the Hooghly, on the 16th June,
1823.

During the course of the war between France and England,
the two countries, not content with carrying on hostilities in
Europe and America, also strove for the mastery on the con-
tinent of Asia, and very severe, but generally indecisive,
engagements were fought at sea, in which we find occasional
mention of the Company's ships as participating, though, from
their size, they were, necessarily, unable to fight in line of
battle.
Early in 1799* the Bombay Government resolved to nnder-
take an expedition against Malie, the only settlement now
remaining to the French on the Malabar coast. Accordingly,
a combined military and naval force, the latter drawn from the
Bombay iMarine, was despatched from Bombay, and, though the
place was of considerable strengh, it surrendered on the 19th
* In July of the preceding year, a Britisli squadron, wliich included a Com-
pany's ship, sailed ibr Madras, under commancl of Sir Edward Vernon, for the
object of blockading Pondicherry, and, on tlie lUth of August, encountered a
superior French squadron, under M. Troujolly, wlien a hardly-contested action
ensued, which was concludid by the retreat to I'ondiclierry of the French
squadi-on. On the Britisli pi'oceeding thilher, M. Troujolly withdrew with his
ships, when the siege was prosecuted with great rigour, all the ilarines and two
hundred seamen being lauded from the tleet. The French Groveruor defended
the town with resolution, but capitulated the day before the intended assault.
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