Bombay was then an open town, only the factory being fortified. Soon after
receiving Bombay from the Crown, the Directors had ordered it to be
fortified, but had refused to employ skilled officers, because "we know
that it is natural to engineers to contrive curiosities that are very
expensive." The only protection to the town was such as was afforded by a
number of martello towers along the shore. Nineteen years before Boone's
time the Muscat Arabs had made a descent on Salsette, ravaging, burning,
and plundering as they pleased, killing the Portuguese priests and
carrying off fourteen hundred captives into slavery. Since then the
formidable power of Angria had arisen, but nothing had been done to
improve the defences of the settlement. Boone's first care was to trace
out an enclosing wall, the building of which was to be paid for by
contributions from the native merchants.

At the same time he set to work to build fighting ships. Within a few
months of his arrival, the _Britannia_, eighteen guns, built at Carwar,
the _Fame_, sixteen guns, built at Surat, and the _Revenge_, sixteen guns,
built at Bombay, were flying the Company's flag. It was easier to build
ships than to get sailors to man them, in view of the miserable pay given
by the Company, and the attractions of service under native chiefs. Many
of the crews were foreigners, who were ready enough to take service with
Angria, if the inclination took them, and the bulk of the crews were
Indian lascars. A few months later, the _Victory_, twenty-four guns, was
launched, and two years after his arrival, Boone had at his disposal a
fine fleet consisting of nineteen frigates, grabs, ketches, gallivats, and
rowing galleys, carrying two hundred and twenty guns, besides a bomb
vessel and a fireship. With such a force much ought to have been
accomplished, but throughout his tenure of office Boone's efforts were
crippled by the incompetency and indiscipline of those on whom he depended