_A TROUBLED YEAR IN BOMBAY_
Loss of the _Hunter_ galley--Quarrel with Portuguese--Alliance of
Portuguese with Angria--War with both--A double triumph--Portuguese make
peace--Angria cowed--Matthews reappears--Trouble caused by him--He
returns to England--Court-martialled--The last of Matthews.
The year succeeding Boone's departure was a stirring one in Bombay. On the
27th February, the _Eagle_ and _Hunter_ galleys, while off Bassein,
convoying a Surat ship, were attacked by four of Angria's grabs. After a
five-hours' engagement, during which the _Hunter_ made three attempts at
boarding, an unlucky shot ignited some loose powder, and the galley blew
up, every soul on board perishing. A similar explosion, though less
serious, took place on board the _Eagle_, which forced her to take refuge
in a shattered condition in Saragon harbour. Here the Portuguese showed
such unfriendliness, that the Council were obliged to send other galleys
to protect and bring the _Eagle_ away.
Since the conclusion of the Portuguese treaty with Angria, an angry
correspondence had gone on between Goa and Bombay, and soon the old causes
of quarrel were revived. The chief of these was the levying of duties at
certain places. The General of the North, who had tried to force on a
quarrel a year before, smarting, doubtless, under the treatment he had
received from Matthews at the siege of Alibagh, began to levy duties on
provisions coming from Bombay to Portuguese territory. Phipps retaliated
by levying customs duties at Mahim, which the Portuguese had always
claimed to be free to both nations. The quarrel grew hot. The General of
the North forbade all communication with Bombay, and, on the 26th May, a
British gallivat was fired on at Mahim. The Council resolved to uphold
their rights, but were in a poor condition to do so. Meanwhile, it became
known that Angria's assistance was being invited by the Portuguese. On the
23rd June, a party from Bombay landed and destroyed the Portuguese fort at
Corlem, and shelled Bandara. Captain Loader, of the _Revenge_, without
orders, burned the undefended village on Elephanta, for which he was
suspended from his command; but at the end of a week he was reinstated.
Want of shipping for a time prevented any vigorous prosecution of
hostilities on the part of the Council. They were obliged to remain on the
defensive, while Portuguese galleys cruised off the island, making
occasional raids, killing a militiaman or two, and burning villages. Mahim,
Riva, and Darvi were all raided, but with small benefit to the assailants.
On the 28th August, at night, a Portuguese force landed and destroyed the
fort at Warlee, assisted by the treachery of a renegade Portuguese. On the
3rd and 4th September, two attempts to land at the Breach were repulsed,
and the Council were cheered by the arrival of the _Salisbury_ and
_Exeter_ from their Red Sea cruise.
Cockburn, of the _Salisbury_, less churlish than Matthews, at once put two
pinnaces and seventy-six men at the Council's disposal. A small expedition
of eleven gallivats under Stanton was also fitted out, and a battery
erected by the Portuguese at Surey to hinder provisions coming into Bombay,
was captured. One man of the _Exeter_ was killed and another wounded. Just
then came news that Angria was fitting out an expedition of five thousand
men to attack Carwar, and the _Exeter_ sailed there to defend the factory.
At the beginning of November, the tide turned. News having been received
that some of Angria's grabs were cruising off Warlee, the _Victoria_ and
_Revenge_, manned with crews from the _Salisbury_, were sent out. After a
hot engagement, Angria's commodore, a Dutchman, was killed, and his ship,
mounting sixteen guns, taken.
On the same day that the captured ship was brought into Bombay, two other
captures entered the harbour. The Directors had sent out from England
three galleys, the _Bombay_, the _Bengal_, and the _Fort St. George_,
manned with sailors from the Thames. As they were proceeding up the coast
they found themselves dogged for two days by two strange grabs showing no
colours. Resolved to put an end to it, on the third day, on the 1st
November, off Cape Ramus, they shortened sail and called on the strangers
to show their colours. They proved to be Portuguese, and the English hails
were answered by threats and shouts of defiance. The _Bengal_ then fired a
shot across the bows of the leading grab, which was answered by a
broadside, killing the second mate and two seamen. The _Bombay_ closed in,
while the _Fort St. George_ turned its attention to the second grab. In
half an hour both of the Portuguese vessels struck their colours, and the
galleys continued their course for Bombay with their two prizes, each
carrying twenty guns. Such was the difference made by having British
seamen, instead of the miserable crews that had hitherto manned the
Company's ships.
It was well for the Bombay Council that Matthews had been absent while
this was going on. For two months and a half he had remained at anchor in
the Hooghly. Early in December he reached Bombay, and at once recommenced
his quarrels with the Council and his captains. Cockburn, of the
_Salisbury_, was placed under arrest, presumably for the assistance he had
given to the Council. After a time he was transferred to the _Exeter_, and
ordered to proceed to England.
In coming up the coast Matthews had touched at Goa, and informed the
Viceroy of his disapproval of the Company's actions, and that his squadron
would soon be leaving the Indian seas. But the Viceroy had had enough
fighting. The capture of his grabs had brought him to reason. He laid all
the blame for recent hostilities on the General of the North, and a
peaceful accommodation was come to with the Council, Matthews being
disregarded.
In spite of Matthews' failure to destroy the Madagascar pirates, the
presence of his squadron in Indian waters impelled them to seek safety in
the West Indies, and henceforward they ceased to be dangerous to the
trade-ships of India. The Madagascar settlements lingered on till they
died a natural death. Angria, too, had been tamed by the slaying of his
commodore and the capture of his ships. For years the sea-borne trade of
Bombay had not been so little subject to molestation as it was for the
next three or four years.
Matthews had sent home two of his ships, remaining, himself, to do another
year's trading, during which he lost no opportunity of worrying and
insulting the Company's officers. Everybody at variance with the Council
found an advocate in him. A Parsee broker, named Bomanjee, was under
arrest for fraud; Matthews demanded his surrender. The Council placed
Bomanjee in close confinement in the fort, to prevent his being carried
off. Matthews promised Bomanjee's sons he would take one of them to
England, and undertook to make the Directors see things in a proper light.
Men charged with abominable crimes received countenance from him. He told
the Council that they were only traders, and had no power to punish
anybody. The Crown alone had power to punish. He (Matthews) represented
the Crown, and was answerable only to the King of England. One may picture
to one's self the satisfaction with which, at the end of the year, the
Council learned that Matthews was really going.
In December, 1723, he set sail for England. During the two years he had
been in the Indian seas he had accomplished nothing he ought to have done,
and done almost everything he ought not to have done. He had been sent out
to suppress the pirates and to protect the Company's interests. He had not
captured a single pirate ship or rooted out a single pirate haunt.
Claiming, as a King's officer, to be exempt from the provisions of the
Company's charter, he had indulged in private trade, and had even had
dealings with the pirates. He had flouted the Company's authority wherever
it existed, and had encouraged others to resist it. Every person who had a
dispute with the Company received protection from him. He told the Goa
authorities that the Company's vessels were only traders, and therefore
not entitled to the salutes they had always received. He had refused to
give up the Company's sailors whom he encouraged to desert to his ship. He
forbade the Bombay traders to fly British colours, but allowed his own
trading friends to do so. He had gone trading to Bengal and Mocha, where
there were no pirates; two months and a half he had spent in the Hooghly;
three months and a half he had spent at Madras and St. David's for trade
purposes; and, when the quarrel between the Bombay authorities and the
Portuguese was going on, he gave out that he would send the Goa Viceroy a
petticoat, as an old woman, if he did not take every one of the Company's
ships. He had quarrelled with all his captains, and one of them, Sir
Robert Johnson, owed his death to him. At Surat he had found a discharged
servant of the Company, one Mr. Wyche, on whose departure the Governor had
laid an embargo till his accounts were cleared. Matthews took him and his
eleven chests of treasure on board his ship, in defiance of the Governor's
orders, and put him ashore at Calicut, whence he escaped to French
territory. From Surat also he carried to England the broker's son,
Rustumjee Nowrojee, to worry the Directors. He carried off Mrs. Gyfford,
and brought her to England in his ship. His last act on the coast was to
call at Anjengo, in order to obtain property she claimed there: but it is
probable that he also secured a cargo of pepper.
It is small wonder that, on his arrival in England, in July, 1724, the
wrath of the Directors was kindled against him, and an account of his
misbehaviour was forwarded to the Secretary of State. The naval
authorities called on the Directors to produce their witnesses for the
charge of trading with the pirates. The difficulty of doing so was obvious,
as the witnesses were all under Matthews' command; so the charge was
dropped, and the Directors sued him in the Court of Exchequer for
infringing their charter by private trading.
Meanwhile the naval authorities had their own account to settle with
Matthews; Captain Maine, of the _Shoreham_, having made various charges
against him. In the last week of December, 1724, he was brought to a
court-martial on board the _Sandwich_ in the Medway, and the finding of
the court was thus recorded:--
"The Court, having read the complaints of the Directors of the E.I. Co.
of several irregularities said to be committed by Captain Thomas
Matthews while Commander-in-Chief of a squadron of his Majesty's ships
sent to the East Indies, a Publication being made three several times,
if any Person or Persons were attending on behalf of the said
Directors, in order to prove the several matters therein contained,
and not any appearing, the Court proceeded on the complaints exhibited
by Captain Covil Maine, and having strictly examined into the several
particulars and matters therein contained and heard divers witnesses
upon oath, they are unanimously of opinion, that the said Captain
Matthews hath in all respects complied with his Instructions, except
that of receiving Merchandize on board before the late Act of
Parliament, Instituted an Act for the more effectual suppression of
Piracy, came to hand, but not afterwards; and it appearing to the
Court, that he had sent men irregularly to Merchant Ships, and finding
he falls under the 33rd Article of War, they have Resolved he be
Mulcted four Months' pay, and that the same be applied for the benefit
of the Chest of Chatham, and he is hereby mulcted accordingly."
Six weeks later, the Directors obtained a decree against him in the Court
of Exchequer, for £13,676 17_s_. 6_d_., which, according to Act of
Parliament, was doubled as a penalty.
In 1742, Matthews again found favour with an English Ministry. He was
appointed Minister at Turin and Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean.
In February, 1744, he encountered a combined French and Spanish fleet off
Toulon. His behaviour to his subordinates had excited their ill-will to
such an extent that his second in command and many of the captains refused
to follow him. The allied fleet escaped with the loss of one ship only.
Both admirals and five captains were cashiered, and that is the last we
hear of Matthews. The remembrance of his behaviour long rankled in the
minds of the Directors, and twenty years elapsed before they could again
bring themselves to apply for the despatch of a royal squadron to the
Indian seas.[1]
[1] The squadron under Barnet, which was sent out in 1744, on the
declaration of war with France.