The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s9.18.4

c7.s9.18.4

The bastions of Suvarndurg however, were so high, that the Protector could only point her upper tier at them, but being anchored within a hundred yards, the musketry in the round tops drove the enemy from their guns, and by noon the parapet of the north-east bastions was in ruins, when a shell from one of the bomb vessels set fire to a thatched house, which the garrison, dreading the Protector's musketry, were afraid to extinguish; the blaze spreading fiercely at this dry season of the year, all the buildings of the fort were soon in flames, and amongst them a magazine of powder blew up. On this disaster the inhabitants, men women and children with the greatest part of the garrison, in all near 1000 persons, ran out of the fort, and embarking in seven or eight large boats, attempted to make their escape to Fort Goa, where the enemy after suffering a severe cannonade, hung out a flag as a signal of surrender; but whilst the Maráthás were marching to take possession of it, the governor, perceiving that the Commodore had not yet taken possession of Suvarndurg, got into a boat with some of his most honest men, and crossed over to the island, hoping to be able to maintain the fort until he should receive assistance from Dábhol which is in sight of it.