Past People Places : Travelling to Thillai 9: Cuddalore

The final stop. After over 10 stops in over 8 different cities, we were back on the highway. A few hours took us up the coast, to Cuddalore.
1746. Cuddalore and Madras were the only cities that the British could claim ownership of. And suddenly, though it was expected, the governor of Mauritius, La Bourdanais, brought his navy to Madras roads(the area of water in front of the city) and began bombarding the fort, as his men ran around to the Western side, and seiged the city. Low supplies. Bad water. That night, one man died. The next day, Madras surrendered. Nicholas morse, the Governor, handed over the keys to Madras, and he and his men prepared to talk terms. But then, word came from Pondicherry, form Dupleix, the Governor-General of French dominions in India, instructed La Bourdanais, that despite what they had earlier agreed to, of simply defeating the British, he must now take the city and keep it as a French possession. La Bourdanais could not disobey, and sent off the top British officers to Cuddalore, keeping the more junior level writers and officers prisoner.
The British, at this point, convinced the Nawab of the Carnatic, Anwaruddin Khan, to attack the fort and take it back for the British. He sent his eldest son, Yusuf Khan, with 10000 men, cannon, guns and elephant to attack the fort.
Dupleix sent 300 men as reinforcement from Pondicherry, under a swiss general Paradis, and they encountered the Nawab's men at Santhome, on the Adayar river, just after Yusuf khan had been repelled from the Fort by the French.
The French troops stationed themselves on Quibble island. Yusuf Khan remained at Santhome. Then the battle began. The French troops lined up and forded the river in such a way that there was never a man without anything to do. The Nawabs men were shooting ineffectively into the river.
Finally, the French crossed the river and Yusuf Kahn fled far away.
A few days later a young writer in the Company's pay escaped Fort St George, and reached Cuddalore, where he informed them on the Battle of the Adayar. Learning from it, Stringer Lawrence recruited Indian men into the Company's small fighting force, organising them into proper battalions.
Soon, this became the nucleus of the Company's army, later the British army and finally the Indian, Bangladesh and Pakistan armies.
Source: John Key, The Honourable company,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/chen-arts/chen-history-and-culture/Madras-Miscellany-The-Battle-of-the-Adyar/article15616870.ece

From 1746-1762, when the Carnatic Wars finally ended, Cuddalore remained the capital of the East India Company's territories.
Some times the French tried seiging the fort. Some times the British tried attacking Pondicherry from Cuddalore. But every time the French entered Cuddalore, they could only displace and destroy the undefende native settlement, or 'black' town that existed outside the fort.
There was a fort, which in subsequent and consequent battles,was destroyed. Now only the governors house, used by the people around there as a meeting place, and a few abandoned administrative buildings, as well as some which have become private residences, remain in the fort area where the river joins the sea. After looking around for a while, we went back to the highway, and home.