On the 29th November, the expedition left Bombay, and anchored off Chaul, where the Portuguese force had already assembled.  The English force consisted of 655 Europeans and topasses, a troop of 40 horsemen, and 1514 sepoys.  Matthews also contributed 200 seamen, of whom 50 were to serve the guns.  The artillery consisted of two 24-pounders, two 18-pounders, four 9-pounders, six small field guns, two mortars, and eight coehorns.  The Portuguese force consisted of 1000 Europeans, 160 horsemen, 350 volunteers, and 2400 sepoys, with six 24-pounders, six 18-pounders, ten field pieces, and eight mortars, commanded by the General of the North.  The Viceroy was also present.  Such a force, combined with the men-of-war, was sufficient, under proper direction, to have destroyed all Angria’s strongholds along the coast.

Some delay was caused by the necessity of building a bridge over the Ragocim river, and then the army advanced, to be quickly brought to a standstill again till sufficient transport could be brought from Bombay.  On the 12th December, after marching round the head of the Alibagh river, the army encamped close to Alibagh fort; while the men-of-war anchored in the roads.  During the march, a few of Angria’s horsemen had been seen from time to time.  On one occasion, while the Viceroy, accompanied by Matthews, Cowan, and other commanders, was riding to view the country, a horseman approached them under cover of a cactus hedge, and threw his lance, wounding Matthews in the thigh.  Matthews vainly pursued him, beside himself with rage at his wound and at his pistols missing fire.

On the 13th, an assault was made on the fort, though the heavy guns had not been landed.  Outside the fort there were fifteen hundred horse and a thousand foot sent by Sahoojee to Angria’s assistance.  The Portuguese were to face them, while five hundred English soldiers and marines, led by naval officers, were to force the gateway and scale the rampart.  Common sense demanded that Sahoojee’s force outside the fort should be disposed of, and the heavy guns that had been brought with so much labour from Chaul should be mounted and used, before any attempt at an assault was projected; but there was a woeful absence of ordinary capacity among the commanders.  At four in the afternoon, the little force under Brathwaite, first lieutenant of the Lyon, who held the rank of colonel for the occasion, advanced to the assault.  The gateway was blocked, and could not be forced; many of the scaling ladders were too short, and the affair resolved itself into a struggle, by a small number who had gained the rampart, to maintain themselves, while the rest remained exposed to the fire from the walls.  In the midst of it, Sahoojee’s force advanced on the Portuguese, who broke and fled in wild confusion, leaving the English, force to their fate.  The assaulting party, seeing their danger, drew off, leaving many of their wounded behind them, the whole force gave ground, and soon there was a