Thrice Married, and still adventurous
She had touched the Indian shore,on 7 October,1709,in Karwar,a west coast city in North Karnataka,on a ship,Loyal Bliss,a slow ship,which was bound for Bengal,but strayed away,west ward.At Karwar,John Harvey,Chief of the East India Factory,received Captain Hudson and the passengers,Captain Gerarrd Cooke,his wife a son and two daughters among them.Captain Cooke,a poor man,had left two daughters in England.He had earlier served the Company as Gunner at Fort William,Calcutta,doing several incongruous duties.He went back,now to return as Engineer with the rank Captain.Captain Cooke's daughter,Catherine aroused interest in Harvey immediately.
The English Courteen Association had established a Factory at Kadwad village,six kilometres east of Karwar,in 1638,and traded with the Arabs and Africans.It merged with the Company in 1649,and fighting ships were built on the harbor.When Catherine arrived,Karwar was part of the Maratha Empire.
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| Karwar Fort |
Harvey,enamored by Catherine,forgot to report to Bombay,the arrival of Loyal Bliss,and was reprimanded,in due course.Captain Cooke was in a hurry to get back to Bengal,and on Octoberr 22, the ship started off to Bengal,leaving Catherine at Karwar.Harvey,who had made little money in private trade, decided to resign by the end of 1710 and return to England.Robert Mence replaced him at Karwar.
Harvey and Catherine reached Bombay in April,1711,and as usual with the employees of the Company,found their accounts mixed up with that of the Company,and cannot leave India,unless a settlement was made.The employees of he Company were not paid well,and they were doing private trade using the Company's money.Harvey had leased out his vessel,Salamander to the Company,and the Company found that he had taken twice the amount from the Company's chest,and he was asked to pay back,402 pagodas,17 Jett and 4 paise.He replied in August that he has a chest of pillar dollars at Thalassery weighing 289 lbs,3 ozs and 10 darts.He requested the Company to credit it at Thalassery and pay him in Bombay.
With Harvey,old enough to be her grandpa,Catherine made two important acquaintances in Bombay,which were destined to have considerable influence in her future life.They were Thomas Chown and William Gyfford.After trading 21 days in the Yemeni port of Mocha,the ship,Godolphin ,arrived in Bombay,on August 5,and anchored outside,taking a risk,considering the bad weather.It wrecked in the night,at the foot of Malabar Hill,and Thomas Chown,Second Supercargo of the ship,was among the survivors.He lost all possessions.Gyfford had joined the Company six years before,at age,17.
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| Kanhoji Angre |
Mence died at Karwar in October,and it was found he owed the Company,1700 pagodas,which he had pumped into private trade.Harvey and Catherine traveled to Karwar,to settle some pending individual accounts, with Miles Fleetwood,who was appointed the new Chief.Four months later,Harvey died at Karwar,leaving a girl widow.Catherine remained there,asserting her claims on Harvey's estate,since he had not made a will.Chown was sent to Karawar as a Factor,two months later and he married Catherine,soon after.After selling Harvey's properties,Catherine was paid by the Company,13146 rupees,1 panam and 12 budgerooks.She and Chown decided to settle in Bombay and boarded the ketch,Anne,on November 3,1712,which had carried pepper and wax as cargo.It was accompanied by Governor William Aislabie's yacht and small frigate,Defiance,for protection from pirates.In the same night,the Maratha Admiral,Kanhoji Angre(Konajee Angria/Sarkhel Angre)and his force swooped in,and the British vessels surrendered.In the heavy action,Chown had his arm torn off by cannon shots and he died in Catherine's arms.Catherine,who was 18,and expecting a child,was taken as prisoner to Colaba,with 17 others.In the absence of the Governor,who was in Surat,the Company wrote a letter to Angre,requesting the release of the prisoners.After a month,the British paid a ransom of Rs 30,000 and the prisoners were released to Lieutenant Mackintosh,on February 22,1713.Mackintosh had to wrap his clothes around Catherine,to cover her nakedness.The Company paid her an installment of Rs 1000 from Harvey's estate and 100 xeraphims as monthly allowance.The English had called Angre,a pirate,while for Indians,he is the father of Indian Navy,who remained undefeated,till his death,in 1729.The descendants of Angre continued his fight,and Francis Day's The Land of the Perumals ,records ,Angre's 'piratorial fleet' consisting of 7 grabs and 6 galleys appeared in Cochin in 1749,but sailed away.In 1754,they attacked,three Dutch vessels:the Wemmenum with 50 guns,Vreede with 30 guns and the barque,Jaccatra,with 18.The first two took fire and blew up,the third surrendered.
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| Angre Samadhi |
William Gyfford married Catherine,within a short while,with the Governor's approval.Alexander Hamilton has recorded that,his friend and East India Company representative,Captain Solomon Lloyd had married without the Governor's approval-Governor Sir John Gayer dissolved it and then his son married the bride(after that,he married the daughter of Dr Alexander Orme,Chief at Anchuthengu).Catherine bombarded the Company with letters of claims,and she was paid Rs 7492 in October,from Harvey's estate.Gyfford,who was a favorite of the Governor,was made in charge of the Bombay market,and 18 months after his marriage,was made Supercargo of Catherine,trading to Mocha.After two years,he was appointed Chief at Anchuthengu.
When Catherine and Gyfford arrived at Anchuthengu,the Factory was totally corrupt.When Nicholas Waite took over as the Governor in 1704,John Brabourne had left Anchuthengu,for Madras,because,he didn't get money or instructions from Waite,leaving the Fort to,Simon Cowse,a private trader.Cowse fought with the Merchant Second,John Kyffin.Gyfford was sent when the Company caught Kyffin in charges of private trade and corruption.Gyfford followed the same corrupt practices,joined the Linguist at the Factory, Ignatio Malheiro in spreading communal friction.Gyfford did private trade with the brigantine,Thomas,commanded by Catherine's brother,Thomas Cooke.Though 1720 was quiet,the situation got charged when a strumpet of Malheiro,smeared powder on a Muslim trader,on an Ash Wednesday.Gyfford and his team of 132 were massacred on 14 April,1721,in the premises of the Attingal palace.
Only four males were left at the Factory,apart from the women,children and pensioners:The store keeper,Robert Sewell,Lt Peter Lapthorne,Ensign Thomas Davis and the Gunner,Samuel Ince.Only Ince was loyal to the Company,while others were plundering.Malheiro looted 1 lakh and sent it to Kollam.
On April 15 itself,Ince sent Catherine(no information on her child),Mrs Cowse and four children,Mrs Burton and two children,in a ship,Prosperous,bound for Ceylone.Catherine carried off all the records and the money,she could lay her hands on.She even tried to carry,Lapthorne,which was prevented by Sewell.So,the rumor,Gyfford was using her for his private trade has some substance.She gave hasty directions to Lapthorne to act as her Agent,and Lapthorne sent a letter to her,after she reached Madras,that what remained in the ware house was,two wiggs and a bolster and some ophium.
On April 25,two ships from Cochin,arrived at Anchuthengu,and on 1 May,Adams sent 52 soldiers from Thalassery.There was vigorous attack on the Fort on June 24.Midford,the new Chief arrived from Madras on 17 October,with 300 men.Sewell and Lapthorne were arrested.Dr Alexander Orme,who replaced Midford,reported that Gyfford owed the Company,559421 panams,and during Midford,140260 gold panams disappeared.Midford had drawn pay for 20 soldiers,who didn't exist.
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| Inside Anchuthengu Fort |
Catherine landed at Madras on 17 May and she rejected the allowance offered by the Company.She joined her family at Calcutta,and the Bengal government extracted Rs 7312 from her.Rescue came to her in the form of Commodore Matthews.In November 1721,the English East India Company,with the Portuguese,planned a joint operation against Kanhoji Angre and to seize from him,the island and Fort of Colaba.For this, a Squadron of the Royal Navy was brought in under the command of Matthews,and thereafter,no non military Company servants led military expeditions.The campaign,from the Portuguese side was led by Viceroy at Goa,Don Antonio De Castro.There was no co ordination between the Viceroy and Matthews.The 25000 strong Maratha force sent by King Shahu to assist Angria,defeated the joint force.In the night of the defeat, an angry Matthews thrust his cane into the mouth of the General of the North of the Portuguese,and treated the Viceroy in the same manner,forcing them to ditch the English,and seek peace with the Marathas.
So,with no military job left,Matthews challenged the Company,with his private trade.
When Matthews reached Hooghly in September,1722,Catherine met him.He told the Bengal Council that Catherine was under the protection of the Throne.When the Company attached the brigantine,Thomas,Matthews produced papers showing,he had bought Catherine's shares in it much before the attachment.Matthews took Catherine to Bombay,put her in the ship,Lyon,lest the Company would arrest her.In 1723,she began living with him.The Company claimed she owed 9000 pounds.At the end of the year,Matthews visited Thalassery and Anchthengu,probing her claims,and in July 1724,Lyon reached Portsmouth,carrying Catherine.The Company ignored her for some time,concentrating on Matthews.When the Company moved against her after two years,she claimed 10,000 pounds from the Company as the amount spent for the presents,Gyfford had taken to the Attingal palace,on the fateful day of 14 April,1721.
Her cases continued,including one with her Agent at Anchthengu,Lapthorne.
She definitely deserves a bust,if not a monument,at Anchthengu!Unfortunately,no image of her is available.
Reference:
1.The Pirates of Malabar and an English Woman in India/John Biddulph
2.A New Account of the East Indies/Alexander Hamilton
3.The Pirate and the Colonial Project:Kanhoji Angria/Derek L Elliot
4.The Land of the Perumals /Francis Day
See my Post,MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH AT ATTINGAL
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