English sailors.  It was then found that, by mismanagement, the Governor of Gova had been allowed to escape over to Severndroog, and gallantly reoccupied it, with a small body of sepoys, hoping to hold out till assistance could reach him from Dabul.  So the Protector’s guns were set to work again, and, under cover of their fire, a party of seamen was landed, who hewed open the sally port with their axes and made themselves masters of the fort.  Thus, in a few hours, and without losing a single man, had “the spirited resolution of Commodore James destroyed the timorous prejudices which had for twenty years been entertained of the impracticability of reducing any of Angria’s fortified harbours.”

The whole success of the expedition had been due to James, and the Peishwa’s officers ungrudgingly acknowledged the fact, as well as the bad behaviour of their own people.  “I have learnt with particular satisfaction that the fleet your Honor sent to the assistance of Ramajee Punt have by their courage and conduct reduced Severndroog, the suddenness of which transcends my expectations; and I allow myself incapable of sufficiently commending their merit,” wrote the Peishwa’s Commander-in-Chief to Bourchier.  Ramajee Punt wrote in similar terms, and sent a dress of honour to James.  In their elation, the Peishwa’s officers wished to complete the destruction of Angria without delay.  Bankote was surrendered to them without firing a shot, and a demonstration was made against Rutnaghiri.  But the Council was cautious, and forbade James to risk his ships.  The Mahrattas offered him two lakhs of rupees if he would support them in attacking Dabul, but he dared not exceed his orders again, and returned to Bombay.  The success of a second coup-de-main could not be relied on, and a repulse would have restored Toolajee’s drooping spirits, and made future success more difficult.  The soldiers Bombay had lent to Madras were no longer required, so James was sent there in the Protector, to bring them back after the monsoon.

In the end of October, an unexpected accession of force, from England, reached Bombay.  In the suspension of arms that had been concluded at Madras between the English and French, Carnatic affairs alone were made the subject of agreement.  Bussy, with a French force, remained in the Deccan, engaged in extending the Nizam’s influence, a proceeding that was viewed with alarm by the Peishwa.  With the object of expelling the French from the Deccan, the English Government sent out to Bombay a force of seven hundred men, to act against Bussy, in concert with the Mahratta Government.  The command was to be taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, the Company’s engineer-general at Madras.  The Directors had also sent Clive to Bombay to act as second in command to Scott.  But Scott had died, in the mean time, and the Doddington, East Indiaman, bringing the Directors’ instructions to the Bombay Council, had been wrecked near the Cape.