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278           HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.

         out that they have never again l)een able to make head there.
           In 181;^,  xMr. Grant, now First-Lieutenant of the  ' Prim-e of
         AVales,' again distinguished himself by cutting out, with a
         party of seamen and marines i'roin his ship, a pirate vessel that
         had taken shelter in the Ranpeer River, Scinde. In consequence
         of his meritorious  services, Captain Carnac  (afterwards  Sir
         James Rivett Carnac, Governor of Bombay) Political Resident
         at Baroda,  strongly recommended him to Government, and
         Lieutenant Grant  was  appointed  to  the command  of the
         Guicowar's naval force, which was no sinecure in those days, as
         the Joasmi pirates were at the height of their power, and their
         well-armed and manned dhows, sailing in squadrons, swept the
         Arabian Gulf and the coasts of India, almost as far south as
         Bombay.  Within a year of his appointment Lieutenant Grant,
         when on a cruise, recaptured off Damaun, a ship under English
         colours that had just been seized by a large pirate vessel, which
         he drove off.  In 1815, during the course of the military opera-
         tions in Kattywar, Lieutenant Grant landed with his men and
         took command of the  artillery  at the  siege of the  fort  of
         Kundorna.  The Guicowar lost upwards of one thousand five
         hundred men killed and wounded during the investment of this
         important fortress, and Lieutenant Grant effected the breach
         in a short time by the accuracy of the fire of the guns which he
         himself served.  For  this service he received the thanks of
         Government, and the Political Agent at Kattywar, writing on
         the 8th of July, 1815, from the camp, bore testimony to the
         "indefatigable zeal" he displayed, and added, "the professional
         exactness and  skill with which the shots were thrown, and the
         general effect of the ordnance, were such as frequently to  call
         for the marked commendation and applause of the superior
         officers, as well as the troops in genei-al of this force."
           In the same year Lieutenant Grant was convoying twenty-
         four trading vessels with two armed pattamars, when a fleet
         of Joasmi pirates hove in sight and began to attack the convoy
                                                               ;
         a sharp action now ensued, and Lieutenant Grant succeeded in
         beating the enemy off.  He also captured a pirate vessel out of
         Cutch, which had been harassing the trade along the Kattywar
         coast, and a little later in this year (1815) captured, off Pore-
         bimder,* a pirate  vessel commanded by the notorious  chief,
         Hussein Nurreadah, who had, for a long time, preyed on the
         trade of the Gulf of Canibay.  For these services he received
           * Porebuiider, on the Kattj'war coast, in tlie district of Jetwar or Biirda, is a
         place of considerable commercial importance, and the town, which is within tlie
         fort, is surrounded by walls one and a half miles in circmnference.  The Rajpoot
         Eana of Porebuuder is subordinate to the Guicowar of Baroda, to whom he pays
         tribute, as well as to the British Government, to whom a portion r)f the customs'
         dues was ceded in 1809 for tlie maintenaiu-e of a small military force.  Fifteen
         miles from Poi-ebunder  is Novee Bunder, the capital of the district, a place of
         commercial note.
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