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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(APRI, 1924
304. In 1669 Admiral de la Haye took possession of Madagascar in the name of the King of France (Jules Sottas, Journal, p. 44). In 1672 the French colonists in Madagascar were massacred by the natives. (Pouget de St. André, p. 13; Sottas, p. 52.)
Malabarese. 305. In 1489 the island fortress of Janjira, opposite Danda Rajpuri, fell into the hands of a number of meroenaries, originally Abyssinians and Coffrees (kāfirs) in the service first of Ahmadabad and then of Bijapur (Imp. Gaz., XIV, 58; Bruce, II, 50, 51), and became the capital of a coastal district. These mercenaries were known as the Sidis. In 1660 they form. ed a kind of democratic state. "Sidi Sambol was the head of them, but his captains preserved a distinct command over their crews and dependents, and a council of them decided on the affairs of this singular association. They were considered as the navigators of India and held themselves to be not inferior to Europeans" (Bruce, II, 50, 51). In 1660 Sivaji took Danda Rajpuri from them and Sidi Sambol, seeing that Bijapur was not strong enough to protect him from the Marathas, in 1670 offered his services to Aurangzeb and was made Mughal Admiral. The condition of this appointment was the maintenance of a Marine for the protection of commerce and the convoy of pilgrims to Mecca. It was not hereditary but was conferred upon the most daring Abyssinian officer in the fleet, who was styled the Wazir (Duff, I, 139; Bomb. Gaz., II, 89).
306. No sooner had the Marathas taken possession of the coast (in 1662, Orme, Hist. Frag., p. 16) than they began to organize a fleet which grów rapidly in numbers. "The Marathi chronicles speak of Shivaji's fleet as consisting of 400 vessels of various sizes and classes . . . . Their cost is put down vaguely as five or ten lakhs of rupees, but the English reports never put their number above 160 and usually as 60 only. They were formed into two squadrons (of 200 vessels each, if we accept Marathi accounts) and commanded by two Admirals who bore the titles of Daria Sarang (Sea Captain) and Mai Nayak (Water Leader)." Shivaji's fleet was largely recruited from low caste Hindu tribes such as the Kolis, Sanghars, Vaghers, the Marathi clan of Angrias, all of which were accustomed to the sea, and the Bhandari husbandmen of the Ratnagiri district. To these were added a number of Muhammadans under such chiefs as Daulat Khan and the discontented Sidi chief Misri (Bomb. Gaz., I, ii, pp. 87, 88; IX, i, 519-22; X, p. 124 ; XI, 145; Jadunath Sarkar, p. 336). Sivaji's navy, as might well be expected from the character and tradition of the races from which it was recruited, immediately took to plundering the coast of Canara and Goa (Orme, Hist. Frags., p. 10). The Sidis also indulged in piracy and were amongst the most feared of the freebooters, though apparently they seldom interfered with Europeans except when acting under the orders of the Mughal Government (Imp. Gaz., XXI, 34-35).
807. In 1665 Sivaji built the fort of Sindhudrug on the outer of the two islands in the Bay of Malvan (in Ratnagiri district), which latter gave its name to the Maratha pirates, whom the English called Malwans (Bomb. Sel., N.S., X, 155; Imp. Gaz., XVII, 96).
English. 808. In January 1666 Mr. Humphrey Cooke, Governor of Bombay (once a grocer in Lisbon, Danvers, II, 356) seized a junk belonging to the Mughal Governor of Surat, in order to reimburse himself for losses by pirates, but was forced to restore it (Bruce, II, 177).
800. In 1668 the English began to convoy the pilgrim ships to the Red Sea (Low, 1,58 ; wee para. 324 below), and in 1669 armed three ships as a protection against Malabar and Marathi pirates (Bruce, II, 244). In February 1671 the President at Surat wrote to Bombay that the Surat Council had passed a standing order that one-third of the booty taken from pirates should be given to the captors (Bomb. Gaz., XXVI, i, 65). In England the captors' share in the booty of a prize had been fixed at one-third by Parliament in 1842 (Oppenheim, p. 293).
