"There," Charlie shouted to his men, "that is your doing. Now retrieve yourselves. Show you are worthy of the name of British soldiers."
With a shout, the men rushed forward and carried the bastion, and this completed the capture of the whole of the wall, from the northeast angle to the river.
In the meantime Captain Fisher, with his division, was advancing to the right along the rampart. Maclean's men had joined him, and they were pushing steadily forward. Colonel Forde continued with the reserve at the bastion first taken, receiving reports from both divisions as they advanced, and sending the necessary orders. As fast as the prisoners were brought in, they were sent down the breach into the ditch, where they were guarded by Sepoys, who threatened to shoot any that tried to climb up.
Meanwhile, all was disorder in the town. Greatly superior as were the besieged to their assailants in number, they could, if properly handled, have easily driven them back. Instead, however, of disregarding the attack by Knox at the southwest angle, which was clearly only a feint; and that of Anandraz on the ravelin, which might have been disregarded with equal safety; and concentrating all their forces against the main attack, they made no sustained effort against either of the columns, which were rapidly carrying bastion after bastion. Conflans appeared to have completely lost his head, as messenger after messenger arrived at his house, by the river, with news of the progress of the English columns.
As Fisher's division advanced towards the bastion in which was the great gate, the French who had gathered there again attempted to check his progress. But his men reserved their fire, until close to the enemy; and then, discharging a volley at a few yards' distance, they rapidly cleared the bastion. Fisher at once closed the great gates, and thus cut off all the defenders of the ravelin, and prevented any of the troops within from joining these, and cutting their way through the rajah's troops, which would have been no difficult matter.
Just as the division were again advancing, Captain Callender, to the astonishment of everyone, appeared and took his place at its head. A few shots only were fired after this, and the last discharge killed Captain Callender.
By this time Conflans, bewildered and terrified, had sent a message to Colonel Forde, offering to surrender on honorable terms. Colonel Forde sent back to say that he would give no terms whatever; that the town was in his power and further resistance hopeless; and that, if it continued longer, he would put all who did not surrender to the sword. On the receipt of this message, Conflans immediately sent round orders that all his men were to lay down their arms, and to fall in, in the open space by the water.
The English assembled, on the parade, by the bastion of the gateway. Captain Knox's column was marched round, from the southwest, into the town. A strong body of artillery kept guard over the prisoners till morning. Then the gate was opened, and the French in the ravelin entered the fort, and became prisoners with the rest of the garrison. The whole number of prisoners exceeded three thousand, of whom five hundred were Europeans and the rest Sepoys. The loss of the English was twenty-two Europeans killed, and sixty-two wounded. The Sepoys had fifty killed and a hundred and fifty wounded. The rajah's people, who had kept up their false attack upon the ravelin with much more bravery and resolution than had been expected, also lost a good many men.
Considering the natural strength of the position, that the garrison was, both in European troops and Sepoys, considerably stronger than the besiegers, that the fort mounted a hundred and twenty guns, and that a relieving army, enormously superior to that of the besiegers, was within fifteen miles at the time the assault was made, the capture of Masulipatam may claim to rank among the very highest deeds ever performed by British arms.