. Roberts fought
with desperation when he discovered the ruse. Dressed in rich crimson
damask, a scarlet feather in his hat, a gold chain with large diamond
cross round his neck, he made a resistance worthy of his reputation,
determined to blow up his ship rather than yield. At the main he hoisted a
black flag, on which were displayed a skeleton and a man with a flaming
sword; the jack was black, showing a man standing on two skulls, and St.
George's ensign was at the ensign staff. After a desperate encounter,
Roberts was slain by a grape-shot, and the _Royal Fortune_ carried by
boarding, the pirates resisting to the last. Out of two hundred and
seventy-six men captured in the two ships, fifty-two were executed, all of
them Englishmen. Ogle was knighted for his able and gallant conduct.

The re-establishment of authority at the Bahamas had led to an increase in
the numbers of the Madagascar pirates; so Commodore Thomas Matthews was
despatched to the East Indies with a strong squadron, consisting of the
_Lyon_, 50 guns; _Salisbury_, 40 guns; _Exeter_, 50 guns; and _Shoreham_,
20 guns. The Company's ship _Grantham_ was also placed under his orders,
to act as a store-ship. In Byng's successful action with the Spanish, off
Cape Passaro (August, 1718), Matthews had commanded the _Kent_ with credit;
but with the exception of courage, he apparently failed to possess a
single quality for independent command. Irascible, domineering to his
subordinates, and insolent to all others he was brought in contact with,
he was entirely devoid of judgment or discretion. Twenty years later, when
he became better known, Walpole wrote of his 'brutal manners,' and Horace
Mann nicknamed him 'Il Furibondo.' There could not have been a worse
selection for the work in hand.

The desire of the Directors was that the squadron should, before going to
Bombay, proceed to St. Augustine's Bay and St. Mary's. Thence, that a ship
should be detached to Bourbon, where it was supposed a new pirate
settlement was being formed; after which, they wished the squadron to
proceed to the mouth of the Red Sea, where pirates would in all
probability be found waiting for the Indian ships in July and August. But
Matthews had views of his own, and was not much concerned with the wishes
of the Directors, who had designs of opening up trade with Madagascar, and,
as a preliminary step, desired to see the pirate settlements rooted out.

In February, 1721, the squadron saile