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252 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY,

sailed, on the 22nd of May, for Samarang, in order to coerce the
Sultan of Matarani who aimed at subverting the British or
Dutch Government in Java. Colonel Gillespie, after quitting
Fort Nugent, first proceeded in the schooner ' Wellington ' to
Batavia, whence, accompanied by Mr. liafQes, he hurried overland
to join his little force. On the 17th of June they arrived before
Djoecarta, as the Craton, or residence, of the Sultan was called,
but the squadron, which had gone round by the island of Banca,
was nearly a month in making the passage. The Craton was
about three miles in circumference, surrounded by a broad wet
ditch, and defended with a high rampart and bastions, mounting
nearly one hundred guns ; the interior was strengthened by
other defences, and the whole was held by seventeen thousand
men. Some skirmishing occurred before the place, in which
several troopers of the 22nd Dragoons were killed and wounded,
and, on the 19th, when the King's and Company's ships had
arrived with all the troops, a heavy fire was opened on the
Craton from an old Dutch fort, about 800 yards distant.
Colonel Gillespie, with his usual daring, resolved to attempt
the capture of the works by a coup de main, and, accordingly, two
hours before dawn on the 20th of June, a strong column—con-
sisting of detachments of H.M. 14th, 59th, and 78th Regiments,
led by Colonel Watson of the 14th, supported by other columns
nnder Colonels McLeod of the 59th Regiment, and Dewar, of
the 3rd Bengal Volunteer Battalion— succeeded in effecting an
entrance, and this fortified palace was carried by assault after
some severe fighting. The British loss in this brilliant feat of
arms, numbered twenty-three killed and seventy-six wounded,
including Colonel Gillespie and eight officers, but the success
was complete, and the large number of dead lying in the works,
in which ninety-two guns were captured, attested the severity
of the conflict. The Commander-in-chief in India issued a
General Order, dated 30th of September, congratulating the
troops on the brilliant successes they had achieved in Palim-
bang and at the storm of the Craton of the Sultan of Mataram.
Major Mears, of the Madras Army, who was left in charge of
Fort Nugent with a small garrison, a few months after the
departure of Colonel Gillespie, undertook, in concert with the
'Aurora,' Captain Macdonald, an expedition against the ex-
Sultan of Palimbang, who, with a large body of his followers,
was stockaded in one of the many islands at the confluence of
the rivers, a few miles above Palimbang, whence he threatened
that city and intercepted supplies. Accordingly, two hundred
men were embarked in the ' Aurora,' the boats of which pro-
ceeded up the river. In the attack on the stockade, which was
carried in the most gallant style by the soldiers and sailors,
there were several casualties, including the gallant Major Mears,
who died of his wounds.