The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s9.103

c7.s9.103

The whole army was now ordered down from Gujarát to the Konkan, the Europeans coming by sea; but General Goddard with the rest of the troops marched from Surat to Bassein. He took twenty-eight days doing this, from the roads being still so deep and the rivers full, and arrived before Bassein on November 13. The fortress at this time is described as a regular polygon without outworks of any description,⁵ but it was strong enough to require the siege to be carried on by regular approaches. The first battery of six guns and six mortars was 900 yards distant from the fort and was opened on November 28. On December 9, a battery of nine heavy guns at a distance of 500 yards was opened, and at the same time another battery of twenty mortars. On the tenth, when a breach was nearly effected, a conditional offer of surrender was made but refused, and next morning the garrison surrendered at discretion. The loss on the British side was but small.⁶ In the meantime the Marátha chiefs had made great efforts to send down troops, and Hartley had been constantly engaged in the neighbourhood of Kalyán and the Borghát and had a large number of sick and wounded. He however on December 8 moved to Titvála in the direction of Bassein to prevent the Marátha force cutting him off from Goddard;¹ and having taken up a strong position in the hills east of Bassein, afterwards known as Hartley's Trap,² was for the next three or four days exposed to the constant attacks of the Maráthás, whom he always repulsed with heavy loss though suffering but little himself. In one of these attacks Rámchandra Ganesh was killed, and Haripant Phádke succeeded to the command of the Marátha army. Immediately on the surrender of Bassein Goddard hastened to join Hartley, and on the thirteenth the army was united.