Page 210 - INDIANNAVYV1

178 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
of March without firing a shot. On the 29th of November the
fort was blown up and evacuated. During this year, also, a
Boraba}^ Marine squadron, consisting of the ' Bombay,' ' Dur-
ruck,' ' Eagle,' and ' Manchester,' with some armed pattamars,
were actively employed on the coast, the seamen and marines
assisting in the operations on shore conducted against Surdan
Khan, an officer in the service of Hyder Ally.
In the latter part of 1780, Sir Edward Hughes, while on the
AVest Coast of India, dealt a fatal blow to the rising maritime
power of Hyder Ally, against whom we were engaged in a life
and death struggle. On the 8tli of December, being with his
squadron oflF ]\Iangalore, the principal dockyard and naval
arsenal of Hyder Ally, the Admiral saw two ships, a large
grab, three ketches, and many small vessels, at anchor in the
roads with the Nawab's flag flying on board them. He imme-
diately stood in, and, finding them to be vessels of force, and
all armed, anchored as close to them as the depth of water
would allow, and ordered the boats of the squadron to destroy
them, under cover of the fire of two ships of the Bombay
]\Iarine. This service was conducted with the usual spirit and
activity of British seamen, and, in two hours, they took and
burnt two ships, one of twenty-eight, and the other of twenty-
one ketch
six guns ; of twelve guns was blown up by the
enemy at the instant the boats were boarding her; another
ketch of ten guns, which cut her cable, and endeavoured to put
to sea, was taken, and the third, with the smaller vessels, were
forced on shore, the grab only escaping into the harbour, after
having thrown everything overboard to lighten her.* For their
conduct in this affair the officers and crews of the Company's
«hips gained the commendation of the Admiral.f
* Vol. I. of E-alfe's " Naval Biography of Great Britain."
t The Indian Government not satisfied with engaging in hostilities again^
the French and Hyder Ally, undertook operations against Negapatam,
Ihe principal Dutch settlement on the Coromandel coast. On the 21st of
October, the seamen and marines of the fleet were landed, and, after some hard
lighting, dm-ing which the Governor made two desperate sallies, he sui-rendered
the fort, the garrison of wliich numbered over six tliousand five hundred men,
being considerably more than the besieging army. With Negapatam the whole
of the Dutch settlements near the Tanjore coast, feU into the hands of the
English, and the fleet, with five hundred troops on board, proceeded to Trinco-
malee, which was captured on the 11th of January, 1782.
Early in 1781 large naval reinforcements wei-e prepared by the British and
French Governments for tlie prosecution of the war in India. M. de SuSrein,
one of the best and bravest Admirals France has produced, left Brest with a
powerful squadron, and Commodore Johnstone also sailed for the East, with a
convoy of ships, having on board some troops under General Meadows. Tlie two
fleets fought a sanguinary action at Praya Bay, in St. Jago, one of the Cape de
Verd Islands, in which the Enghsh gained the advantage, and after escorting
tlie convoy to the Cape, the Commodore returned to Europe with the greater
portion of the sliips of war. Some of the transports, with troops, inider the
command of Colonel Mackenzie, proceeded to Bombay, and thence to Cahcut,
and General Meadows and Colonel Fullarton, with the chief part of the troops
in the men-of-war, sailed in quest of Sir Edward Hughes, and reached Madras on