g wall, the building of which was to be paid for by
contributions from the native merchants.

At the same time he set to work to build fighting ships. Within a few
months of his arrival, the _Britannia_, eighteen guns, built at Carwar,
the _Fame_, sixteen guns, built at Surat, and the _Revenge_, sixteen guns,
built at Bombay, were flying the Company's flag. It was easier to build
ships than to get sailors to man them, in view of the miserable pay given
by the Company, and the attractions of service under native chiefs. Many
of the crews were foreigners, who were ready enough to take service with
Angria, if the inclination took them, and the bulk of the crews were
Indian lascars. A few months later, the _Victory_, twenty-four guns, was
launched, and two years after his arrival, Boone had at his disposal a
fine fleet consisting of nineteen frigates, grabs, ketches, gallivats, and
rowing galleys, carrying two hundred and twenty guns, besides a bomb
vessel and a fireship. With such a force much ought to have been
accomplished, but throughout his tenure of office Boone's efforts were
crippled by the incompetency and indiscipline of those on whom he depended
to carry out his designs: while the efficiency of the ships was diminished
by their employment to carry cargoes along the coast.

In March, 1717, Bombay was stirred by the arrival of a private ship, the
_Morning Star_, which had escaped the Beyt pirates after a long and severe
encounter. The affair is described by Hamilton; but he modestly conceals
the fact that he was himself in command of the _Morning Star_, of which he
was chief owner. The ship was on its way from Gombroon to Surat, with a
valuable cargo, of which the pirates had intelligence; and two squadrons
were fitted out to waylay her. On the 20th March she was assailed by eight
pirate ships, the largest of which was of five hundred tons, three others
being of nearly three hundred tons each, and the rest galleys and shybars,
or half-galleys. Between them they carried about two thousand men. On
board the _Morning Star_ there were only six Europeans, a number of native
merchants, and about thirty-five or forty lascars, about half of whom were
trustworthy. The first attack was made by the largest of the pirate ships
alone, and was beaten off with loss to the assailants. In the fight,
Hamilton had his thigh pierced through with a lance. For the rest of that
day and the whole of the following no further attack was made