became tired of inaction. He panted again for life on the Indian seas. He accordingly in that year had built under his own superintendence a vessel to carry 18 guns and a crew of 192 men. In this ship, which he called the Revenant, he sailed from St. Malo for the Indian waters on the 2nd March 1807.
The islands were reached, without any adventure worthy of note, on the 10th June. So great was the consternation in Calcutta on the news that this famous cruiser was on his way once again to the mouths of the Ganges, that the reward of a lakh of rupees was offered by the English Government for his capture.[1] But undeterred by this, Surcouf, on the 3rd September, sailed for his destination. On the 26th of the same month he arrived of Vizagapatam. The same day he captured the Trafalgar, a merchant ship laden with rice and carrying 12 guns, and the Mangles with a similar cargo and carrying 14 guns.[2] In the next
- ↑ I have been unable to discover the actual order; but the Indian journals for 1807 and 1808 abound with complaints of the injuries caused by Surcouf to the British trade. The Asiatic Annual Register records in October 1807 that the losses in the value of captured ships in the preceding six weeks, amounted to thirty lakhs of rupees.
- ↑ The Asiatic Annual Register (1808) states that these vessels were insured for 150,000 rupees each; that Surcouf sent their crews on shore detaining only the captains, and Mr. Nichol, who would appear to have been a person of some consideration. Subsequently Mr. Nichol managed to effect his escape in a manner, says the Annual Register, fair and honourable, yet such as was likely to cause great irritation to Surcouf. Yet the French captain would not allow his feelings to interfere with what he considered to be due to propriety. He took the first opportunity of forwarding to the British Government the whole of the personal property left by Mr. Nichol on board the ship.
