“all their soldiers were drunk with the wine they had found in the houses.  Unfortunately we did not know of this.  It would have been the moment to make a sortie, of which the results must have been favourable to us, the enemy being incapable of defence.”

During the night of the 15th the Fort was bombarded, and on the morning of the 16th the British completed the occupation of the houses deserted by the Moors.  The latter not being received into the Fort, either fled or were sent away.  They betook themselves to Nand Kumar, the Faujdar of Hugli, announcing the capture of the town.  Nand Kumar, who is said to have had an understanding with the British, sent on the message to Rai Durlabh and the Nawab, with the malicious addition that the Fort, if it had not already fallen, would fall before Rai Durlabh could reach it.  This put an end to all chance of the Nawab interfering.

The French spent the day in blocking a narrow passage formed by a sandbank in the river, a short distance below the town.  They sank—­

“four large ships and a hulk,... and had a chain and boom across in order to prevent our going up with the squadron.  Captain Toby sent his 2nd lieutenant, Mr. Bloomer, that night, who cut the chain and brought off a sloop that buoyed it up."[43]

It was apparently this rapid attack on the position that accounts for the timidity of the pilots and boatmen, who, Renault tells us, hurried away without staying to sink two other ships which were half laden, and which, if sunk, would have completely blocked the passage.  Even on the ships which were sunk the masts had been left standing, so as to point out their position to the enemy.

Besides the ships sunk in the passage, there were at Chandernagore the French East Indiaman the Saint Contest (Captain de la Vigne Buisson), four large ships, and several small ones.  The French needed all the sailors for the Fort, so they sank all the vessels they could not send up the river except three, which it was supposed they intended to use as fire-ships.

Clive, in the meantime, was advancing cautiously, his men erecting batteries, which seemed to be very easily silenced by the superior gunnery of the Fort.  His object was partly to weary out the garrison by constant fighting, and partly to creep round to the river face, so as to be in a position to take the batteries which commanded the narrow river passage, as soon as Admiral Watson was ready to attack the Fort.  Later on, the naval officers asserted he could not have taken the Fort without the assistance of the fleet.  He said he could, and it is certain that if he had had no fleet to assist him his mode of attack would have been a very different one.

Early in the siege the French were warned from Chinsurah to beware of treachery amongst the deserters in their pay, and on the 17th of March a number of arrows were found in the Fort with labels attached, bearing the words:—­