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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 203

action now ensued. The piratical craft boavLled one on eacli
quarter and on each bow, and, for some hours, the g'aUaut crew
of the ' Vigilant,' animated by the bearing and example of
their leader, resisted the overwhelming odds brought against
them. In a document I have before me regarding this brilliant
feat of arms, one is impressed with the belief that the dauntless
and obstinate valour of the British sailor never received a more
striking illustration. For three entire hours, the enemy's vessels
were lashed alongside the ' Vigilant,' wliile the pirates made the
most desperate efforts to carry the little craft. But the long
protracted resistance was at length rewarded with complete
success, and the enemy, casting oft" their lashings, made sail and
left the victorious handful of British seamen in the enjoyment
of their hardly earned triumph.
At the close of the action Lieutenant Hayes received a ball
from a jingall which was pressed against the face, and lost a
part of the jawbone and the lower lobe of the right ear. lie
escaped death by a miracle, for his own musket having flashed in
the pan at the critical moment, he was quite at the merc}^ of his
antagonist. The wound was of so serious a nature that his life
was despaired of, and his ultimate recovery was a work of time
—indeed, he suffered from the effects of the wound fo his death,
for the u|)per jaw was com}iletely shattered, and for years pieces
of bone were discharged from it, while through life he suffered
excessive pain in that part of his face. This, however, was not
his last brush witli pirates, for, in the following year, Lieutenant
Hayes, in an armed boat, boarded and captured two [)irate
vessels, each carrying one 9-pounder forward and two LS-
pounders aft.
A\'hile a young officer, he had served under General Matthews
in 1782, and under Generals Meadows and Abercrombie in 17i)0,
and he was now again employed, in 1799, on active service ashore
against Tippoo Sultan, and was with Colonel Little's detachment
till the reduction of Seringapatam by General Harris. On his
return to Bombay he was immediately appointed to the conunand
of the 'Alert,' schooner, of fourteen guns, and ordered to proceed
to Kenery—which, at that time, was strongly fortified round its
circumference, and mounted two hundred ])ieces of cannon—
for the purpose of demanding restitution of some merchant
vessels and property carried on shore.
Accordingly Lieutenant Hayes, having brought the 'Alert'
close up to the enemy's gateway on the north-east side of the
island, which presented the only access to it, landed with ])art
of his crew, and brought off the vessels and property, at the
same time causing Angria, a descendant of the (celebrated
pirate chief of that name, to pay 500 per cent. ui)un the cargo
deficient through plunder.
In 1800 he was in command of the brig 'Fly," carrying ten