Kanhoji Angre

Kanhoji Angre commanded the Maratha navy for thirty years and was never defeated by the British, the Portuguese or the Dutch, all of whom called him a pirate because he made them buy passes to use a sea they considered theirs. He came from a family of Maratha officers, took charge of the fleet during the wars against the Mughals, and from about 1698 controlled the Konkan coast from Bombay south, operating from Kolaba, Suvarnadurg and the island fort of Khanderi. His ships were small, shallow, oar-and-sail gallivats and grabs that could work inshore and in calm where European square-riggers could not, and his method was to swarm rather than to trade broadsides. He asserted the old right of the coastal power to license shipping in its own waters, which is exactly what the East India Company was asserting from the other side, and he seized vessels without his pass. The British attacked him in 1718 and 1720, the Portuguese joined a combined expedition in 1721, and every attempt failed. His political weight was as great as his naval: it was Kanhoji's support, brought over by Balaji Vishwanath, that decided the Maratha succession for Shahu in 1713. He died in office in 1729, and his sons quarrelled; the fleet declined and Tulaji Angre was destroyed by a joint British and Peshwa force in 1756. The Indian Navy named its Mumbai shore establishment INS Angre after him. Khanderi island still holds the fort. His descendants remained a naval family under the Marathas until the fleet was destroyed.

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