Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/649

 ("HAP XI.] OPEKATIONS AGAINST MASULIPATAM. 61. 5

it was inclosed by the morass, and on the south by a sound partly formed by ad its ■. the discharge of an arm of the Kistna. The only hard ground within a mile of the fort, on the north and west, was formed by a few patches of sand which rose above the morass, but on the east the belt of sandhills was only about 800 yards distant.

Conflans with his troops was encamped in the town, and might easily, by ^"^t" "^ throwing up an entrenchment on the hard ground between the morasses, have placed an insuperable barrier in the way of Fordes approach. Instead of this he only waited till the invading force appeared, and then retreated by the cause- way into the fort. Thus unobstructed, Forde took up his station on the sands to the north-east, while Anunderauz and the Zemindar of Narsipore, whom he had induced to join him, took possession of the town. The defences of the fort, though modernized by the French after they took possession of it in 1751, could not be considered strong. There was a ditch but no glacis ; and the walls, com- posed of mud faced with brick, were on the west, north, and east flanked with eleven bastions. The south side was considered to be sufficiently defended by its position in the sovmd. The gateway was at the north-west angle, facing the causeway, 1 20 yards of which was converted into a oaponiere, terminating in a strong ravelin.

The besiegers were far too few in number to make regular approaches to the ' <"'i^' '*=- fort, and determined to attack it by batteries erected on the sands on the east, besiege Ma- This position, besides being the nearest to the walls, had the advantage of giving ready access to the shore, on which the battering artillery which had been brought by sea was to be landed. Ultimately the whole artillery emplo3'ed in the attack consisted of fom* twenty-four, four eigliteen, and two twelve- pounders, mounted on three detached batteries, without the communication of trenches. It was certainly a very bold, not to say a rash attempt, to take such a place by such feeble means. Not only should the fire of the fort have been able to overpower that which was brought against it, but the garrison outnum- bered the attacking force. Conflans, however, was too ignorant and timid to turn his advantage to account, and remained cooped up within the walls, em- ploying his means of defence so im])erfectly, that dm-ing the eighteen days employed by the besiegers in erecting their batteries, the incessant fire from the fort killed only five men. While thus favoured by the pusillanimity of the garrison, Forde was beset with dangers. On the 19th of ^larch, six days before the batteries were completed, the whole of his Europeans broke out in mutiny and threatened to march away if they were not immediately paid the prize money already due, and assured that if they took Masuliiiatam the whole of the booty would be delivered up to them. The former demand could not be com- plied with as the military chest was empty, and the latter was in direct oppo- sition to the Company's regulations, which gave only the half of the booty to the captors. No sooner was this disgraceful mutin}- overcome by good temper