Shivaji and His Times c12.s2.8

c12.s2.8

The rise of the Maratha naval power caused anxiety to the Siddis, the English merchants, and the Mughal Emperor alike. On 26th June, 1664, the Surat factors report that Shiva was fitting out a fleet of 60 frigates for an attack on some unknown quarter, probably "to surprise all junks and vessels belonging to that port and to waylay them on their return from Basra and Persia," or to transport an army up the Cambay creek (Sabarmati) for making a raid on Ahmadabad. At the end of November it was learnt that the fleet had been sent to Bhatkal, to co-operate with his army in the invasion of Kanara. The English President describes the Maratha vessels as "pitiful things, so that one good English ship would destroy a hundred of them without running herself into great danger." (*F. R. Surat*, Vol. 86, 26 November 1664.) In addition to the inferior size and build of their ships, the Marathas on land and sea alike were very weak in artillery and, therefore, powerless against European ships of war.