As the health of the two officers was shaken by their long and arduous
work, and their services were not, for the moment, needed, they
obtained leave for three months, and went down in a coasting ship to
Columbo, where several English trading stations had been established.
Here they spent two months, residing for the most part among the
hills, at the town of a rajah very friendly to the English; and with
him they saw an elephant hunt, the herd being driven into a great
inclosure, formed by a large number of natives who had, for weeks,
been employed upon it. Here the animals were fastened to trees by
natives, who cut through the thick grass unobserved; and were one by
one reduced to submission, first by hunger, and then by being lustily
belaboured by the trunks of tamed elephants. Tim highly appreciated
the hunt, and declared that tiger shooting was not to be compared to
it.
Their residence in the brisk air of the hills completely restored
their health, and they returned to Madras perfectly ready to take part
in the great operations which were impending. Charlie, on his return,
was appointed to serve as chief of the staff to Colonel Coote; Captain
Peters being given the command of a small body of European horse, who
were, with a large body of irregulars, to aid in bringing in supplies
to the British army, and to prevent the enemy from receiving food from
the surrounding country.
Early in June, the British squadron off the coast was joined by two
ships of the line, the Norfolk and Panther, from England; and a
hundred Europeans, and a detachment of European and native artillery
came down from Bombay.
Around Pondicherry ran a strong cactus hedge, strengthened with
palisades, and the French retired into this at the beginning of July.
They were too strongly posted there to be attacked by the force with
which the English at first approached them, and they were expecting
the arrival of a large body of troops from Mysore, with a great convoy
of provisions.
On the 17th these approached. Major Moore, who was guarding the
English rear, had a hundred and eighty European infantry; fifty
English horse, under Peters; sixteen hundred irregular horse; and
eleven hundred Sepoys. The Mysoreans had four thousand good horse, a
thousand Sepoys, and two hundred Europeans, with eight pieces of
cannon.
The fight lasted but a few minutes. The British native horse and
Sepoys at once gave way; and the English infantry retreated, in great
disorder, to the fort of Trivadi, which they gained with a loss of
fifteen killed and forty wounded. Peters' horse alone behaved well.
Several times they charged right through the masses of Mysorean horse;
but when five-and-twenty were killed, and most of the rest, including
their commander, severely wounded, they also fell back into the fort.
Colonel Coote, when the news of the disaster reached him, determined,
if possible, to get possession of the fort of Vellenore, which stood
on the river Ariangopang, some three miles from Pondicherry, and
covered the approaches of the town from that side. The English
encampment was at Perimbe, on the main road leading, through an avenue
of trees, to Pondicherry. Colonel Coote threw up a redoubt on the hill
behind Perimbe, and another on the avenue, to check any French force
advancing from Pondicherry. These works were finished on the morning
of the 19th of July.
The next morning the French army advanced along the river Ariangopang,
but Coote marched half his force to meet them, while he moved the rest
as if to attack the redoubts, interspersed along the line of hedge. As
the fall of these would have placed the attacking force in his rear,
Lally at once returned to the town. The same evening the Mysoreans,
with three thousand bullocks carrying their artillery and drawing
their baggage, and three thousand more laden with rice and other
provisions, arrived on the other bank of the Ariangopang river,
crossed under the guns of the redoubt of that name, and entered the
town.
The fort of Vellenore was strong, but the road had been cut straight
through the glacis to the gate, and the French had neglected to erect
works to cover this passage. Coote took advantage of the oversight,
and laid his two eighteen-pounders to play upon the gate, while two
others were placed to fire upon the parapet. The English batteries
opened at daybreak on the 16th, and at nine o'clock the whole of the
French army, with the Mysoreans, advanced along the bank of the river.
Coote at once got his troops under arms, and advanced towards the
French, sending a small detachment of Europeans to reinforce the
Sepoys firing at the fort of Vellenore. By this time the batteries had
beaten down the parapet, and silenced the enemy's fire. Two companies
of Sepoys set forward, at full run, up to the very crest of the
glacis.
The French commander of the place had really nothing to fear, as the
Sepoys had a ditch to pass, and a very imperfect breach to mount, and
the fort might have held out for two days, before the English could
have been in a position to storm it. The French army was in sight, and
in ten minutes a general engagement would have begun. In spite of all
this, the coward at once hoisted a flag of truce, and surrendered. The
Europeans and Sepoys ran in through the gate, and the former instantly
turned the guns of the fort upon the French army. This halted, struck
with amazement and anger, and Lally at once ordered it to retire upon
the town.
A week afterwards six ships, with six hundred fresh troops from
England, arrived.
The Mysoreans, who had brought food into Pondicherry, made many
excursions in the country, but were sharply checked. They were unable
to supply themselves with food, and none could be spared them from the
stores in the magazines. Great distress set in among them, and this
was heightened by the failure of a party, with two thousand bullocks
with rice, to enter the town. This party, escorted by the greater
portion of the Mysorean horse from Pondicherry, was attacked and
defeated, and nine hundred bullocks, laden with baggage, captured.
Shortly afterwards the rest of the Mysorean troops left Pondicherry,
and marched to attack Trinomany.
Seeing that there was little fear of their returning to succour
Pondicherry, the English now determined to complete the blockade of
that place. In order to have any chance of reducing it by famine, it
was necessary to obtain possession of the country within the hedge;
which, with its redoubts, extended in the arc of a circle from the
river Ariangopang to the sea. The space thus included contained an
area of nearly seven square miles, affording pasture for the bullocks,
of which there were sufficient to supply the troops and inhabitants
for many months. Therefore, although the army was not yet strong
enough to open trenches against the town, and indeed the siege
artillery had not yet sailed from Madras, it was determined to get
possession of the hedge and its redoubts.
Before doing this, however, it was necessary to capture the fort of
Ariangopang. This was a difficult undertaking. The whole European
force was but two thousand strong, and if eight hundred of these were
detached across the river to attack the fort, the main body would be
scarcely a match for the enemy, should he march out against them. If,
on the other hand, the whole army moved round to attack the fort, the
enemy would be able to send out and fetch in the great convoy of
provisions collected at Jinji.
Mr. Pigot therefore requested Admiral Stevens to land the marines of
the fleet. Although, seeing that a large French fleet was expected,
the admiral was unwilling to weaken his squadron; he complied with the
request, seeing the urgency of the case, and four hundred and twenty
marines were landed.
On the 2nd of September two more men-of-war, the America and Medway,
arrived, raising the fleet before Pondicherry to seventeen ships of
the line. They convoyed several Company's ships, who had brought with
them the wing of a Highland regiment.
The same evening Coote ordered four hundred men to march to invest the
fort of Ariangopang; but Colonel Monson, second in command, was so
strongly against the step that, at the last moment, he countermanded
his orders. The change was fortunate, for Lally, who had heard from
his spies of the English intentions, moved his whole army out to
attack the--as he supposed--weakened force.
At ten at night fourteen hundred French infantry, a hundred French
horse, and nine hundred Sepoys marched out to attack the English, who
had no suspicion of their intent. Two hundred marines and five hundred
Sepoys proceeded, in two columns. Marching from the Valdore redoubt,
one party turned to the right to attack the Tamarind redoubt, which
the English had erected on the Red Hill. Having taken this, they were
to turn to their left and join the other column. This skirted the foot
of the Red Hill, to attack the redoubt erected on a hillock at its
foot, on the 18th July.
Four hundred Sepoys and a company of Portuguese were to take post at
the junction of the Valdore and Oulgarry avenues. The regiments of
Lorraine and Lally were to attack the battery in this avenue,
Lorraine's from the front, while Lally's, marching outwards in the
fields, was to fall on its right flank. The Indian battalion, with the
Bourbon volunteers, three hundred strong, were to march from the fort
of Ariangopang, across the river, to the villages under the fort of
Vellenore; and, as soon as the fire became general, were to fall upon
the right rear of the English encampment.
At midnight a rocket gave the signal, and the attack immediately
commenced. The attack on the Tamarind redoubt was repulsed, but the
redoubt on the hillock was captured, and the guns spiked. At the
intrenchment on the Oulgarry Road the fight was fierce, and Colonel
Coote himself brought down his troops to its defence. The attack was
continued, but as, owing to some mistake, the column intended to fall
upon the English rear had halted, and did not arrive in time, the
regiments of Lorraine and Lally drew off, and the whole force retired
to the town.
The ships arriving from England brought a commission appointing Monson
to the rank of Colonel, with a date prior to that of Colonel Coote;
ordering him, however, not to assert his seniority, so long as Coote
remained at Madras. Coote, however, considered that it was intended
that he should return to Bengal, and so handing over the command to
Monson, he went back to Madras.
Colonel Monson at once prepared to attack the hedge, and its redoubts.
Leaving sufficient guards for the camp, he advanced at midnight, with
his troops divided into two brigades, the one commanded by himself,
the other by Major Smith. Major Smith's division was first to attack
the enemy, outside the hedge in the village of Oulgarry; and, driving
them hence, to carry the Vellenore redoubt, while the main body were
to make a sweep round the Red Hill, and come down to the attack of the
Valdore redoubt.
Smith, moving to the right of the Oulgarry avenue, attacked that
position on the left; and the advance, led by Captain Myers, carried
by storm a redoubt in front of the village, and seized four pieces of
cannon. Major Smith, heading his grenadiers, then charged the village,
tore down all obstacles, and carried the place.
The day had begun to dawn when Colonel Monson approached the Valdore
redoubt. But at the last moment, making a mistake in their way, the
head of the column halted. At this moment the enemy perceived them,
and discharged a twenty-four pounder, loaded with small shot, into the
column. Eleven men were killed and twenty-six wounded by this terrible
discharge, among the latter Colonel Monson himself, his leg being
broken. The grenadiers now rushed furiously to the attack, swarmed
round the redoubt and, although several times repulsed, at last forced
their way through the embrasures and captured the position.
The defenders of the village of Oulgarry had halted outside the
Vellenore redoubt; but, upon hearing the firing to their right,
retreated hastily within it. Major Smith pressed them hotly with his
brigade, and followed so closely upon their heels that they did not
stop to defend the position, but retreated to the town. Major Smith
was soon joined by the Highlanders, under Major Scott, who had forced
a way through the hedge between the two captured redoubts.
Thus the whole line of the outer defence fell into the hands of the
English, with the exception of the Ariangopang redoubt on the left,
which was held by the India regiment. Major Gordon, who now took the
command, placed the Bombay detachment, of three hundred and fifty men,
in the captured redoubts; and encamped the whole of the force in the
fields to the right of Oulgarry.
Major Smith advised that at least a thousand men should be left, near
at hand, to succour the garrisons of the redoubts; which, being open
at the rear, were liable to an attack. Major Gordon foolishly refused
to follow his advice, and the same night the French attacked the
redoubts. The Bombay troops, however, defended themselves with extreme
bravery until assistance arrived.
Three days later the French evacuated and blew up the fort of
Ariangopang, which the English were preparing to attack, and the India
regiment retired into the town, leaving, however, the usual guard in
the Ariangopang redoubt.
Colonel Coote had scarcely arrived at Madras when he received a letter
from Colonel Monson, saying that he was likely to be incapacitated by
his wound for some months, and requesting that he would resume the
command of the army. The authorities of Madras strongly urged Coote to
return, representing the extreme importance of the struggle in which
they were engaged. He consented, and reached camp on the night of the
20th. He at once ordered the captured redoubts to be fortified, to
prevent the enemy again taking the offensive; and erected a strong
work, called the North Redoubt, near the seashore and facing the
Madras redoubt.
A few days later, on a party of Sepoys approaching the Ariangopang
redoubt, the occupants of that place were seized with a panic,
abandoned the place, and went into the town. The English had now
possession of the whole of the outward defences of Pondicherry, with
the exception of the two redoubts by the seashore.
A day or two later Colonel Coote, advancing along the sea beach as if
with a view of merely making a reconnaissance, pushed on suddenly,
entered the village called the Blancherie, as it was principally
inhabited by washerwomen, and attacked the Madras redoubt. This was
carried, but the same night the garrison sallied out again, and fell
upon the party of Sepoys posted there. Ensign MacMahon was killed, but
the Sepoys, although driven out from the redoubt, bravely returned and
again attacked the French; who, thinking that the Sepoys must have
received large reinforcements, fell back into the village; from which,
a day or two later, they retired into the town.
The whole of the ground outside the fort, between the river
Ariangopang and the sea, was now in the hands of the English. The
French still maintained their communications with the south by the
sandy line of coast. By this time the attacks, which the English from
Trichinopoli and Madura had made upon the Mysoreans, had compelled the
latter to make peace, and recall their army, which was still hovering
in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry.
Charlie, who had been suffering from a slight attack of fever, had for
some time been staying on board ship, for change. In the road of
Pondicherry three of the French Indiamen, the Hermione, Baleine, and
the Compagnie des Indes, were at anchor, near the edge of the surf,
under the cover of a hundred guns mounted on the sea face of the fort.
These ships were awaiting the stormy weather, at the breaking of the
monsoon, when it would be difficult for the English fleet to maintain
their position off the town. They then intended to sail away to the
south, fill up with provisions, and return to Pondicherry.
Admiral Stevens, in order to prevent this contingency, which would
have greatly delayed the reduction of the place, determined to cut
them out. Charlie's health being much restored by the sea breezes, he
asked leave of the admiral to accompany the expedition, as a
volunteer. On the evening of the 6th, six-and-twenty of the boats of
the fleet, manned by four hundred sailors, were lowered and rowed to
the Tiger, which was at anchor within two miles of Pondicherry, the
rest of the fleet lying some distance farther away.
When, at midnight, the cabin lights of the Hermione were extinguished,
the expedition started. The boats moved in two divisions, one of which
was to attack the Hermione, the other the Baleine. The third vessel
lay nearer in shore, and was to be attacked if the others were
captured.
The night was a very dark one, and the boats of each division moved in
line, with ropes stretched from boat to boat, to ensure their keeping
together in the right direction. Charlie was in one of the boats
intended to attack the Hermione. Tim accompanied him, but the admiral
had refused permission for Hossein to do so, as there were many more
white volunteers for the service than the boats would accommodate.
They were within fifty yards of the Hermione before they were
discovered, and a scattering musket fire was at once opened upon them.
The crews gave a mighty cheer and, casting off the ropes, separated;
five making for each side of the ship, while two rowed forward to cut
the cables at her bows. The Compagnie des Indes opened fire upon the
boats, but these were already alongside the ship, and the sailors
swarmed over the side at ten points.
The combat was a short one. The seventy men on board fought bravely,
for a minute or two, but they were speedily driven below. The hatches
were closed over them, and the cables being already cut, the mizzen
topsail, the only sail bent, was hoisted; and the boats, taking
towropes, began to row her away from shore.
The instant, however, that the cessation of fire informed the garrison
the ship was captured, a tremendous cannonade was opened by the guns
of the fortress. The lightning was flashing vividly, and this enabled
the gunners to direct their aim upon the ship. Over and over again she
was struck, and one shot destroyed the steering wheel, cut the tiller
rope, and killed two men who were steering. The single sail was not
sufficient to assist in steering her, and the men in the boats rowed
with such energy that the ropes continually snapped.
The fire continued from the shore, doing considerable damage; and the
men in the boats, who could not see that the ship was moving through
the water, concluded that she was anchored by a concealed cable and
anchor. The officer in command, therefore, called up the Frenchmen
from below, telling them he was about to fire the ship. They came on
deck and took their places in the boats, which rowed back to the
Tiger.
Upon arriving there Captain Dent, who commanded her, sternly rebuked
the officer; and said that, unless the boats returned instantly and
brought the Hermione out, he should send his own crew in their boats
to fetch her. The division thereupon returned, and met the ship half a
mile off shore, the land wind having now sprung up.
The Baleine had been easily captured and, having several sails bent,
she was brought out without difficulty. No attempt was made to capture
the third vessel.
The rains had now set in, but the English laboured steadily at their
batteries. The French were becoming pressed for provisions, and Lally
turned the whole of the natives remaining in the town, to the number
of fourteen hundred men and women, outside the fortifications. On
their arrival at the English lines they were refused permission to
pass, as Colonel Coote did not wish to relieve the garrison of the
consumption of food caused by them. They returned to the French lines,
and begged to be again received; but they were, by Lally's orders,
fired upon, and several killed.
For seven days the unhappy wretches remained without food, save the
roots they could gather in the fields. Then Colonel Coote, seeing that
Lally was inflexible, allowed them to pass.
On the 10th of November the batteries opened, and every day added to
the strength of the fire upon the town. The fortifications, however,
were strong, and the siege progressed but slowly. On the 30th of
December a tremendous storm burst, and committed the greatest havoc,
both at land and sea. The Newcastle, man-of-war; the Queenborough,
frigate; and the Protector, fire ship were driven ashore and dashed to
pieces; but the crews, with the exception of seven, were saved. The
Duke of Aquitaine, the Sunderland, and the Duke, store ship, were
sunk, and eleven hundred sailors drowned. Most of the other ships were
dismasted.