194 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
his brother, who was left in command, to put them 
in possession of the fort. This political duplicity is 
always a leading principle in Mahratta policy, it being 
a maxim with them, that anything is honourable 
which is done for the advantage of a state. With 
all their cunning, however, they could not elude the 
vigilance of Admiral Watson, who, finding that the 
fort had been abandoned by Angria, and left under 
the command of his brother, sent to the latter a 
peremptory summons to surrender. His summons 
not being attended to, the admiral divided his fleet 
into two lines, one composed of the King’s ships, 
the other of those belonging to the East India Com- 
pany. Weighing anchor early in the morning after 
Angria’s flight from his capital, he stood in for the 
harbour in two divisions, the first being led by his 
own ship, followed by five others, — the second con- 
sisting of five frigates and four bomb-ketches. A 
smart fire was kept up from the enemy’s batteries, 
and from their grabs, which flanked the fort. When 
the united squadrons, under the command of the Bri- 
tish admiral, were brought into position, they opened 
a tremendous fire upon the fort and grabs, which soon 
silenced both. 
In the course of the cannonading, a bomb was 
thrown into an armed ship taken by Angria from 
the East India Company, which blew up with a dread- 
ful explosion, setting on fire the vessels in her imme- 
diate neighbourhood ; and so rapid was the communi- 
cation, that in a short time the whole of the pirate’s 
fleet was destroyed. During the night the British 
admiral landed all his troops, under the command of 
