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Updated: June 15, 2025
David's was surrendered to the enemy, he returned again to Madras, in order to refresh his squadron. On the twenty-fifth day of July, he sailed a third time in quest of M. d'Apché, and in two days perceived his squadron, consisting of eight ships of the line and a frigate, at anchor in the road of Pondicherry.
The important settlement of Carical was reduced by the sea and land forces commanded by rear-admiral Cornish and major Monson, and the French garrison made prisoners of war; and colonel Coote formed the blockade of Pondicherry by laud, while the harbour was beset by the English squadron.
M. de Crozet put in on his way to Pondicherry, and was impressed with Cook's courtesy and qualifications as an explorer. He was able to give the first information of M. de Surville's voyage, and that he had cleared away a mistake Cook had made in assuming that the New Caledonia reefs extended to the Great Barrier Reef on the east of Australia.
The besieging army was six thousand strong; of whom three thousand, seven hundred and twenty were English. But Pondicherry resisted bravely, and after two months the besiegers were forced to retire, having lost, in attacks or by fever, one thousand and sixty-five men. "At the end of the siege, in which I had served as a medical officer, I returned to England.
The very day the news of the outbreak of war reached Calcutta, July 7, 1778, Hastings sent orders to the governor of Madras to attack Pondicherry, and set the example by seizing Chandernagore. The naval force of each nation was insignificant; but the French commodore, after a brief action, forsook Pondicherry, which surrendered after a siege by land and sea of seventy days.
When the battle began, however, the French contingent mutinied and refused to fight; and the natives, panic stricken by the desertion of their allies, fell back on Pondicherry. Chunda Sahib accompanied his men. Muzaffar Jung surrendered to his uncle, the usurper.
Lally, the French commander, failing to capture Madras, had to march away with his hopes baffled; but, notwithstanding its bomb-proof roof, the church, as also its steeple, had been badly damaged during the destructive siege, and the necessary repairs were considerable. A few years later the English had their revenge. They captured Pondicherry, and they destroyed its fortifications.
Charlie, after the siege, in which he had rendered great services, received from the Company, at Colonel Coote's earnest recommendation, his promotion to the step of lieutenant colonel; while Peters was raised to that of major. A fortnight after the fall of Pondicherry, they returned to Madras, and thence took the first ship for England.
"There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send their singular warning or token before them when starting upon their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.
Holmes declares that he overheard me caution him against the great danger of taking more than two drops of castor oil, while I recommended strychnine in large doses as a sedative. However that may be, I was certainly relieved when our cab pulled up with a jerk and the coachman sprang down to open the door. "This, Miss Morstan, is Pondicherry Lodge," said Mr. Thaddeus Sholto, as he handed her out.
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