reigned unchecked. When remonstrances were addressed to Brown, he refused
to stop the supply of liquor, saying that the people must not be put out
of humour at this juncture, and they must drink as they pleased: all which
is duly recorded by Captain Upton of the _London_. The enemy meanwhile was
observed busily constructing new batteries, and boats full of armed men
were constantly crossing the river, but nothing was done to intercept them.

At last, the _Chandos_, _Pelham_, and _Phram_ arrived, having spent ten
days in their voyage from Bombay. Nothing better occurred to Brown than to
send the _Phram_ at once to engage the fort. On opening fire, it was found
that her ports were so low and the gun-carriages so high, that her guns
could only be fired when depressed so as to strike the water twenty yards
off. So she was brought out again with one man mortally wounded, and the
officers and soldiers so mightily discouraged that they declared, unless
she could be made serviceable, it was useless to attempt anything further.
The ships' carpenters were set to work on the _Phram_, while the dejection
and drinking increased. Fifty men of the _Chandos_ who had not yet had an
opportunity of gauging Brown's incapacity, volunteered, for forty rupees a
head, to join a landing party; but not a single seaman in the squadron
would consent, 'upon any consideration whatsoever,' to go on board the
_Phram_, till an increased bounty secured the services of the _Chandos'_
sailors.

By the 29th all was ready for the grand attack. Two landing parties, one
of three hundred and forty soldiers under Captain Stanton, and the other
of two hundred and thirty-seven seamen under Captain Woodward, were held
in readiness, and soon after midday the fleet stood into the inner harbour,
with the exception of the _Phram_, which engaged the fort from the outer
harbour. Lieutenant Wise had been selected as a fit person to command and
point the _Phram's_ guns, which he did so badly that his shot mostly fell