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The East India Company made its money by exporting spices and silks from India, and taking to India treasures, men and ammunition. Pirates could therefore get rich pickings! Thus piracy was a way of making a great deal of money quickly with very little risk.
The Bombay Fleet was engaged to keep pirates off ships belonging to the East India Company. Piracy was regarded as a very serious crime world-wide and the pirates were very well organised, a sort of former-day mafia. They used to kill or enslave the crews and launder the booty. If pirates captured ships with ammunition and troops, this would give them resources for the future.
At the time, India was in turmoil. It was difficult for any body of people, even any government, to deal with the pirates. So the East India Company decided that it would have to do something itself. It recruited Sir William James to lead the Bombay Fleet, and it decided to target a particular pirate king, Tology Angrier.
Angrier’s pirates were based on the island fort of Severn Droog, off the coast of Malabar, India. They were seen as the greatest pirate menace in the Eastern seas. Sir William James’ naval forces ultimately won by bombardment, forcing the fortress to capitulate.
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