Upon the very morning after the French had withdrawn, he asked to be allowed to rejoin his troop, which was with Major Calliaud, and at once started to rejoin Colonel Forde. He wished to take the whole of his corps with him; but Colonel Lawrence considered that these would be of extreme use in following up the French, and in subsequent operations, as cavalry was an arm in which the English were greatly deficient.
Colonel Forde had been terribly delayed by the conduct of Rajah Anandraz, and the delay enabled the French again to recover heart. He was not able to move forward until the 1st of March. On the 6th he arrived before Masulipatam, and the following day Charlie joined him, with his troop.
The fort of Masulipatam stood in an extremely defensible position. It was surrounded by a swamp, on three sides. The other face rested on the river. From the land side, it was only approachable by a causeway across the swamp, and this was guarded by a strong ravelin, which is the military name for an outwork erected beyond the ditch of a fortress. It was, in all respects, capable of a prolonged defence. In form it was an irregular parallelogram, about eight hundred yards in length and six hundred yards wide, and on the walls were eleven strong bastions. The morass which surrounded it was of from three to eighteen feet in depth.
On the approach of Forde, Conflans evacuated the town; which, also surrounded by swamps, and lying two miles to the northwest of the fort, was itself a most defensible position; and retired across the narrow causeway, more than a mile long, to the fort.
[Chapter 27]: Masulipatam.
"I am heartily glad that you have come, Marryat," Colonel Forde said, as Charlie rode up. "I have got here at last, as you see, but that is a very different thing from getting in. An uglier place to attack I never saw; and in other respects, matters are not bright.
"Anandraz is a constant worry and trouble to me. He has everything to gain by our success, and yet will do nothing to aid it. His men are worse than useless in fight, and the only thing which we want and he could give us—money—he will not let us have.
"Will you ride with me, to the spot where I'm erecting my batteries, and you will see the prospect for yourself?"
The prospect was, as Charlie found when he saw it, the reverse of cheerful. The point which Forde had selected to erect his batteries was on some sandbanks, eight hundred yards from the eastern face of the fort. It would be impossible to construct approaches against the walls; and, should a breach be made, there still remained a wide creek to be crossed, beyond which lay the deep, and in most parts absolutely impassable, swamp.
Charlie and his men were employed in bringing in provisions from the surrounding country; but a short distance in the rear, a French column under Du Rocher, with two hundred European and two thousand native troops, with four field pieces, watched the British, and rendered the collection of provisions difficult. Du Rocher had several strong places, with European and Sepoy garrisons, near him, in which to retire in case Forde should advance against him.