The next four days Clive spent in bringing up the guns landed from the
fleet, and establishing batteries round the fort; and on the 19th he
opened fire against it. On the same day the three men of war; the Kent
of sixty-four guns, the Tiger of sixty, and the Salisbury of fifty,
anchored just below the channel, which the governor believed he had
blocked up. The next four days were spent by the fleet in sounding, to
discover whether the statements of the French deserter were correct.
During this time, a heavy cannonade was kept up unceasingly between
Clive and the fort. In this the garrison had the best of it, silenced
some of the English guns, killed many of the assailants, and would
certainly have beaten off the land attack, had the fleet not been able
to interfere in the struggle.
All this time, the governor was hoping that aid would arrive from the
nabob. The latter, indeed, did send a force under Rajah Dulab Ram, but
the governor of Hoogly, bribed by Omichund, sent messages to this
officer urging him to halt, as Chandranagore was about to surrender,
and he would only incur the anger of the English, uselessly.
On the morning of the 23rd, having ascertained that a channel was
free, the fleet advanced.
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