ive and his troops, and of a squadron
which had arrived under Admiral Watson, the work commenced by
Commodore James should be completed, by the capture of Gheriah and the
entire destruction of the pirate power.

The peishwar had already asked them to aid him in his attack upon
Angria, and Commodore James was now sent, with the Protector and two
other ships, to reconnoitre Gheriah, which no Englishman then living
had seen. The natives described it as of enormous strength, and it was
believed that it was an Eastern Gibraltar.

Commodore James found the enemy's fleet at anchor in the harbour.
Notwithstanding this, he sailed in until within cannon shot, and so
completely were the enemy cowed and demoralized, by the loss of
Suwarndrug, that they did not venture out to attack him.

After ascertaining the position and character of the defences, he
returned, at the end of December, to Bombay; and reported that, while
exceedingly strong, the place was by no means impregnable. The
Mahratta army, under the command of Ramajee Punt, marched to blockade
the place on the land side; and on the 11th of February, 1756, the
fleet, consisting of four ships of the line, of seventy, sixty-four,
sixty, and fifty guns; a frigate of forty-four, and three of twenty; a
native ship called a grab, of twelve guns; and five mortar ships,
arrived before the place. Besides the seamen, the fleet had on board a
battalion of eight hundred Europeans and a thousand Sepoys.

The fortress of Gheriah was situated on a promontory of rock, a mile
and a quarter broad; lying about a mile up a large harbour, forming
the mouth of a river. The promontory projects to the southwest, on the
right of the harbour on entering; and rises sheer from the water in
perpendicular rocks, fifty feet high. On this stood the
fortifications. These consisted of two lines of walls, with round
towers, the inner wall rising several feet above the outer.

The promontory was joined to the land by a sandy slip, beyond which
the town stood. On this neck of land, between the promontory and the
town, were the docks and slips on which the pirate vessels were built
or repaired; and ten of these, among which was the Derby, which they
had captured from the Company, lay moored side by side, close by the
docks, when the fleet arrived off the place.

Charlie Marryat had been sent, by Clive, as commissioner with the
Mahratta army. A party of Mahratta horsemen came down to Bombay to
escort him t