t allowed to leave the country till the
Company's claims were settled. In case of death, their estates were taken
possession of for the same reason. Two months later, Mr. Thomas Chown, the
late supercargo of the _Godolphin_, was sent down to Carwar as a factor,
and, a few weeks after his arrival, he married the young widow.
Application was now made to the Council at Bombay for the effects of her
late husband to be made over to her, and orders were sent to Carwar for
the late Mr. Harvey's effects to be sold, and one-third of the estate to
be paid to Mrs. Chown, provided Harvey had died intestate. The Carwar
factory chief replied that the effects had realized 13,146 rupees 1 fanam
and 12 budgerooks; that Harvey had left a will dated the 8th April, 1708,
and that therefore nothing had been paid to Mrs. Chown. It was necessary
for Chown and his wife to go to Bombay and prosecute their claims in
person. The short voyage was destined to be an eventful one.

On the 3rd November (1712), Chown and his wife left Carwar in the _Anne_
ketch, having a cargo of pepper and wax on board, to urge their claim to
the late Mr. Harvey's estate. The coast swarmed with pirate craft, among
which those of Conajee Angria were the most numerous and the most
formidable. It was usual, therefore, for every cargo of any value to be
convoyed by an armed vessel. To protect the _Anne_, Governor Aislabie's
armed yacht had been sent down, and a small frigate, the _Defiance_,[4]
was also with them. The day after leaving Carwar they were swooped down
upon by four of Angria's ships, and a hot action ensued. The brunt of it
fell on the Governor's yacht, which had both masts shot away and was
forced to surrender. The ketch tried to escape back to Carwar, but was
laid aboard by two grabs, and had to surrender when she had expended most
of her ammunition. In the action, Chown had his arm torn off by a
cannon-shot, and expired in his wife's arms. So again, in little more than
three years from her first marriage, Mrs. Chown was left a widow when she
could hardly have been eighteen. The captured vessels and the prisoners
were carried off; the crews to Gheriah and the European prisoners to
Colaba. To make matters worse for the poor widow, she was expecting the
birth of an infant.

Great was the excitement in Bombay when the news of Mrs. Chown's capture
arrived. The Governor was away at Surat, and all that could be done was to
address Angria; so a letter was written