After this, he attacked and captured the French
man-of-war Jupitre, with forty guns; and had even the insolence to
assail an English convoy guarded by two men-of-war; the Vigilant, of
sixty-four guns, and the Ruby, of fifty.
The Dutch, in 1735, sent a fleet of seven ships of war, two bomb
vessels, and a strong body of troops against Gheriah. The attack was,
however, repulsed with considerable loss. From that date the pirates
grew bolder and bolder, and were a perfect scourge to the commerce of
Western India.
Charlie Marryat had, of course, frequently heard of the doings of
these noted pirates, and the cry of "Tulagi Angria" at once explained
to him the terror of the master and crew.
"What is it, Mr. Charles, what on earth is the botheration about? Is
it the little ships they're afeared of?"
"Those ships belong to a pirate called Tulagi Angria," Charlie said,
"and I am very much afraid, Tim, that we are likely to see the inside
of his fortress."
"But shure, yer honor, we're not afeared of those four little boats."
"We are, Tim, and very much afraid, too. Each of those boats, as you
call them, carries four or five times as many men as this ship. They
are well armed, while we have only those two little guns, which are
useless except for show.
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