The Pirates of Malabar, and An Englishwoman in India Two Hundred Years Ago, page 98 by John Biddulph
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de, to which a smart fire was returned by the Revenge and the Defiance, that were close astern. On both sides there was no willingness to fight. The pirates were at first seized with consternation at discovering their mistake; they had turned their prizes adrift after throwing their sails overboard, and, with only three hundred men for their joint crews, forty of them negroes, were not strong enough to engage the Bombay squadron. But England was a man who preferred fighting to running, so putting a bold face on the matter, the Cassandra ran through the fleet, firing into the Victory, the Chandos, and the Phram. The Chandos, which was towing the Phram, at once cast it loose. The fleet scattered in all directions, like a flock of sheep when a strange dog runs through it. Upton, of the London, a chicken-hearted fellow, persuaded Brown that they ought not to engage, as Boone had sent them to attack Gheriah, but had given them no instructions about the Madagascar pirates. Brown seemingly did not want much persuading, and crowded all sail to escape; at the same time striking his flag to show that he did not intend fighting, which excited the indignation of his own sailors and the derision of the pirates. He next sent orders by a gallivat for the Phram to be burned, and thus that useless machine, from which so much had been expected; and that had cost so much money and labour, came to an end.
These foolish proceedings gave England the measure of his antagonists. 'Observing the indifferency of the fleet,' the best way of saving himself was, he thought, to 'play the Bull-beggar' with them; so he set to work to chase them northward. The superior sailing powers of the pirates enabled them to do as they pleased.
When they overtook the rearmost of the ships Brown had still got with him, they backed their sails and fired into them till they had got well ahead again. In this ignominious fashion the greater part of the fleet w