Introduction
In 1756, colonial rivalry between France and Britain sparked the Seven Years’ War. In India, France’s ally Siraj ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal, drove the British from Calcutta; they in turn, smarting from the infamous ‘Black Hole’ incident, sailed gunships up to the Nawab’s fort at Budge Budge, which guarded the River Hooghly. The small hours of December 30th found them snatching a little sleep prior to a dawn assault.
ONE Strahan,* a common sailor, belonging to the Kent, having been just served with grog (arrack mixed with water),* had his spirits too much elated to think of taking any rest: he therefore strayed by himself towards the fort, and imperceptibly got under the walls. Being advanced thus far without interruption, he took it into his head to scale it at a breach that had been made by the cannon of the ships, and having luckily gotten upon the bastion, he there discovered several Moors* sitting upon the platform, at whom he flourished his cutlass and fired his pistol, and then, after giving three loud huzzas,* cried out “The place is mine.”
The Moorish soldiers immediately attacked him, and he defended himself with incomparable resolution; two or three other sailors, hearing Strahan’s huzzas, immediately scaled the breach likewise, and echoing the triumphant sound roused the whole army, who, taking the alarm, presently fell on pell-mell,* without orders and without discipline, following the example of the sailors.
Completely taken by surprise and scared out of their wits the garrison bolted en masse, and Budge-Budge was ours.*
* A Scottish name, pronounced ‘strawn’ (to rhyme with ‘worn’) and sometimes spelt Strachan.
* Arrack is a fermented drink typically made from the naturally sweet sap of the coconut flower. The alcohol content is high, in the region of 60% alcohol by volume (ABV) or more. An everyday rum might be about 40% ABV. The government of Kerala in India banned it in 1996 on moral grounds, followed by Karnataka in 2007. Neither ban has achieved very much, except (unsurprisingly) to stimulate a busy moonshine industry. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has made arrack into a successful global export business.
* At this point in the narrative, Fraser is quoting verbatim the testimony of an eyewitness named Dr Ives. Fraser noted that ‘Moors’ was “the usual term with Europeans in the East at that time for the ‘natives’, as we say nowadays”. Both terms would be deprecated now.
* A ‘huzza’ is a dated expression for a hurrah, a hearty cheer.
* Pell-mell means ‘in a confused and disorderly rush’, and comes from French pêle-mêle.
* Budge Budge is famous for a somewhat less glamorous incident in the history of British India. It was here that the ship Komagata Maru (the owners were Japanese) docked in 1914 after an ill-fated attempt to land some 376 Indian passengers at Vancouver, and bounce the Canadian authorities into ending restrictions on immigration. The ship was turned away, in flagrant contravention of Canadian law it should be said, and on her return to Budge Budge fears that the organisers were motivated by extremism prompted the authorities to arrest them. Nineteen passengers were killed in the ensuing struggle.
Précis
Just before dawn on December 30th, 1756, British troops were resting in readiness for an assault on Fort Budge Budge near Calcutta. One, a sailor named Strahan, got himself tipsy and wandered alone into the fort. On realising where he was, he loudly claimed the fort for Britain. Fellow-sailors rushed up to help, and the defenders fled in alarm. (59 / 60 words)
Just before dawn on December 30th, 1756, British troops were resting in readiness for an assault on Fort Budge Budge near Calcutta. One, a sailor named Strahan, got himself tipsy and wandered alone into the fort. On realising where he was, he loudly claimed the fort for Britain. Fellow-sailors rushed up to help, and the defenders fled in alarm.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, if, may, not, or, whereas, whether, who.
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