The Sea lion of India- Part 2

In the previous part of this series, we saw at the different political and trade players that were present on the western coast of India in the 18th century. These were the British, the Portuguese, the Siddis of Janjira and the Marathas. 

In 1713, Kanhoji Angre was one of the most prominent maratha general present on the coast. Now, let us move towards the main subject of this series of blogs that is the heroics of Kanhoji Angre, the Sea lion or the Sea hawk of the Indian coast. 

Kanhoji was such an Admiral that the Marathas kept the British, Portuguese and the Siddis in check under his leadership of navy. No one would dare to go against him; such was the weight of Angre on the coastal Maharashtra at that time. 

Now let us move towards the battle where the Marathas had badly humiliated the British Navy for the first time and the British never again dared to go against the Marathas directly through the sea for a very long time. 

TREATY WITH THE BRITISH-

In the 1710s, Marathas ruled almost all of the western coast from Surat till Goa. However, the British had their strongholds in Surat and Mumbai; the Portuguese in Vasai and Goa and the Siddis had their stronghold on Janjira. 

Still, the Maratha navy led by Kanhoji Angre had kept a hawk eye on all these miscreants. The Marathas had old beef with the Siddis of Janjira and skirmishes had continued between the Siddis and the Marathas for a long time. Skirmishes of smaller scale also continued with the Portuguese and the British.

In 1719, under the leadership of Mankoji Suryavanshi, the Marathas had badly defeated the British at Khanderi in one such skirmish. Kanhoji Angre had by then joined Shahu Maharaj. The British, who had friendly relations with Shahu Maharaj requested Shahu Maharaj for a treaty with Kanhoji so that smaller skirmishes between Marathas and the British would be checked and trade would flourish. Therefore, in 1719, a treaty was signed between the British and Kanhoji Angre. This treaty forbade either party to attack the other party's cargo and ships and the British also sought protection from Kanhoji against pirates and other competing traders like Arabs and Portuguese if needed. 

However, the British, despite the treaty, continued double dealing with the Marathas when it came to Siddis of Janjira. The English help to Janjira was always a matter of irk for Kanhoji. 

                            Khanderi Fort

In all these developments, the Governor of Mumbai was changed and Charles Boone, the new governor entered the scene. 

Boone was determined to check the Maratha influence on the western coast and establish and increase the British dominance on the trade of the western coast. The governor was determined to avenge the British loss at Khanderi. 

Therefore under Boone, the British navy began increasing the number of their ships and started bringing reinforcements from England. The main highlight and the golden goose as perceived by Boone of all this preparation of the navy was the floating fortress that was being built by the English. 

This fortress was called as "Fraam". 

The Fraam was being built in such a way that it would tolerate not only bullets but big cannonballs and still penetrate the enemy naval ranks. It was a massive investment which Boone had got sanctioned from the Board of the East India Company. 

With Fraam boosting his confidence, Boone's plan was to capture Vijaydurg fort or Gheria from Kanhoji Angre. Vijaydurg was the main base and stronghold of the Angres. Boone was waiting for the right opportunity to strike and avenge the loss at Khanderi!

THE NAVAL BATTLE BEGINS-

In March 1719, Kanhoji had captured an English ship named Charlotte. Boone did not respond immediately but saw this as an opportunity to strike. The Board had sent Boone huge help in form of a ship named St. George with 60 cannons, however, this ship was damaged and was deemed useless for the Vijaydurg campaign. Apart from this the navy had ships like London, Chados, Revenge, Pelham, Defiance, Victory and Terror Bomb with cannons numbering more than 100. 

Walter Browne, an able soldier, was made the Admiral of the navy for the Vijaydurg campaign. 

On 13th September 1720, the march towards Vijaydurg had begun.

The Killedar of Vijaydurg, Rudraji Anant, was one of the most toughest soldiers the Marathas had at that time. He had prepared Vijaydurg for any calamity and the stage was set for a huge showdown on Vijaydurg between the Europeans and Indians. 

At first, Browne commanded the ship Terror bomb to drop some bombs on Vijaydurg, but to his dismay, the bombs could not reach the fort from a safe distance. If the Bombs had to reach the fort, they would have to face the Maratha fire from the fort. 

Now the only viable option left before Browne was to charge the fort via land. But first Browne requested the dispatch of the golden goose Fraam from Mumbai as soon as possible. However, as soon as the floating fortress hit the sea, the British realized that it was not possible to drag the ship fast enough towards Vijaydurg due to its sheer weight. This made the British nervous. Some small ships were attached to the Fraam to drag it faster. 

With great difficulty, the Fraam finally reached Vijaydurg and the British navy was in great hurry and excitement to see balls being fired from this huge ship. As the fog settled, the Marathas were able to see this mammoth sized ship and were in awe. 

Finally, the first shot was fired from the Golden Goose! The British and the Marathas could not see what was going on for a few seconds due to the smoke created by the huge cannon that had fired the ball towards the stronghold of the Angres!

After the smoke settled, the British to their utter disbelief were fully frustrated as their huge fortress had not managed to reach Vijaydurg at all! The balls had landed only 20-30 yards away in a mammoth failure!

Frustrated, the British navy filled even more gunpowder in the cannons and fired again hoping to reach the fort this time. 

Again to the disbelief of the English the cannons could not even touch Vijaydurg.

However, a maratha cannon had reached the Fraam and hit but could not cause damage due to the Fraam's strong build. 

Browne was totally disappointed as Fraam was a huge investment and it was proven useless against the Marathas. 

It was his main strategy which had failed spectacularly. 

Now the only option Browne had left was to charge at Vijaydurg by land. But for that he would have to go near the coast and attack the fort. 

                           Kanhoji Angre

This decision of the British Admiral was to lead to utter humiliation of the British Navy. The Fraam would eventually have to burnt to prevent it from falling into the hands charging Maratha navy while the British navy ran away hiding their faces in the face of a humiliating defeat. 

Let us see this humiliation of British in the next part of the blogs, till then, peace! ✌🏻✌🏻

Sources-

1) The Era of Bajirao by Dr. Uday S. Kulkarni

2)https://youtu.be/ZIrs-mc_gdo?si=LnQwE3bYQud0kV80