The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c17.28.4

c17.28.4

'the fee for a pass from Broach to Surat was 4, from Goa 2 and from Cambay 3 or 4 Rupees per 500 Candy’.¹ It was demanded in return for the service rendered by the government concerned to traders in general by policing the sea, and the payment was made without much demur, as Henry Grose tells us: ‘Towards defraying the charges of this marine, the company required of all the vessels trading in those seas, those of the other European nations excepted, to take the passes of the Bombay Government, for which they paid a small consideration, at which I never heard the least murmuring, the merchants being duly sensible not only of the benefit their trade received from the English protection, but that this contribution was far short of the cost of it’.² How much Angria or the Peshwa’s officers usually demanded for their passes we do not know,³ but there is no reason to suppose that the price was excessive for no complaint of that nature has come down to us. From the meagre references made by Portuguese and English writers to the naval practices of the times it appears that the Maratha fleet generally gave convoy to merchantmen sailing from their ports. Evidently, the purchasers of the Angria’s pass also received a good return for their money.