Yet with all this glittering surety of success, the Company's ships often were obliged to fight their way. And this they were able to do. In 1703 the Company's ships Chambers and Canterbury, in the Straits of Malacca, engaged, in the night, a French sixty-four and a frigate. The Canterbury was taken, but the Chambers fought gallantly on, and, having crippled the two French men-of-war, escaped. Her commander's log records: "To prevent all thought among my men of surrendering ye ship, and make ye desperate, I nailed the ensigne to the staff from head to foot, stapled and fore-cocked the ensigne staff fast up; I resolved to part with the ship and life together."
In 1757 the Company's ships Suffolk, Houghton, and Godolphin, fought two French frigates off the Cape of Good Hope, and, after a smart action, beat them off. The Court of Directors commended the conduct of the commanders, officers, and crews, and rewarded the crew of each ship with £2000. In 1760 the Company's ship Winchelsea fought a French frigate single-handed, and beat her off. In this year the rate of freight was £40 per ton, or exactly the figure it cost per ton, to construct these expensive vessels. In 1772 the India fleet alone numbered thirty-three ships, 23,159 tons, builders' measurement, which brought home 21,158 tons of merchandise, at a rate of £32 per ton freight. In 1773 the affairs of the Company attracted the attention of Parliament. Sir Richard Hotham—himself a shipowner—appeared as a witness. Among other things, he stated that
