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204 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.

guns and seventy-five men, and was emploj'ed in harassing the
l'()nnidal)le stronghold of Oheria, which had been surrendered
to the ]\hihrattas, after its captin'e in 175(), and, with other forts
on the coast, had again become a retreat for pirates. Among
other phices whence they preyed on Indian commerce, was
Melundy Ishind, or Sindeedroog, near Malwan, and Karee,*
also known as Yestwnntgnrh.
Lieutenant Hayes performed one of those daring feats for
which he was distinguished in the Service, at Vingorla, also one
of the chief pirate haunts. On appearing before it in the brig 'Fly,'
he immediately landed his men, and, capturing the principal
battery, dismantled it at noonday, and threw the guns into the
sea in the face of the enemy, forcing the chief of the freebooters
to restore what British property was in hands, and, for what
was deficient to pay the exorbitant interest, the gallant officer had
always enforced, 500 per cent, on the value of the articles.
On the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1793, measures
were immediately taken by the Governments of the three
Presidencies for the capture of the French possessions in the
East Indies. Chandernagore, Karical, and Mahe were surren-
dered without resistance, but the strong fort of Pondicherry
stood a siege, and only capitulated on the 23rd of August, after
heav}^ losses had been sustained on both sides. During the
siege the ' Minerva,' thirty-eight gun frigate, bearing the flag of
Rear-Admiral the Hon. W. Cornwallis, assisted by three of the
Company's ships, effectually blockaded Pondicherry by sea, and
chased away from the coast the French frigate ' Cybele' and three
smaller vessels, supposed to be bringing suj)plies and reinforce-
ments for the garrison.
The colours captured at Pondicherry were sent to England
in the Hon. Company's cruiser ' Scorpion,' but she was captured
by a French fleet in January of the following year, when nearing
her destination, and the officers and crew were taken to America,
whence, after a captivity of six months, they were released and
permitted to find their way to England.
Soon after the surrender of Pondicherry, Admiral Cornwallis
having quitted the East India station with the whole of his
squadron except a twenty-gun ship, the valuable interests of the
Company became exposed to the ravages of the enemy, who,
besides the 'Cybele' and the thirt^'-six gun frigate ' Prudente,'
Captain Renaud, and two or three corvettes, possessed some very
formidable privateers, which had recently been fitted out in the
Isle of France. On the 27th of September, 1793, the Company's
outward-bound China ship ' Princess Royal' was captured off
* Raree is a fort on a rocky eminence, abont seven miles from the Vingorla
river, and situated on the coast near Goa ; being a stronghold of the pirates, it
was taken by a British force in 1765, but restored in the following year, though
it passed into our hands permanently in the year 1818, as did also Gheria, Malwan,
and Severndroog.