Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/84



HEN Calcutta fell to the nawab's forces in June, 1756, a small fast-sailing ship hurried from the Hughly to Madras with despatches announcing the disaster. Four months later, in October, a fleet of three line-of-battle ships and eight smaller vessels sailed from Madras, bearing an avenging army of nine hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred native troops, under the joint command of Admiral Watson, and Clive—then in the early days of his fame. After numerous delays, the fleet arrived at Fulta on the 20th of December, and brought fresh hope and courage to the unfortunate people there.

Surgeon Ives, of H.M.S. Kent, the flag-ship of Admiral Watson, published some years later Rh