STRAHAN was brought before the Admiral by the master-at-arms to explain matters. Admiral Watson,* we are told, angrily accosted this brave fellow with: “Strahan, what is this you have been doing?”
The untutored hero, after having made his bow, scratched his head and, with one hand twirling his hat, replied: “Why, to be sure, sir, it was I who took the fort, but I hope there was no harm in it.” The Admiral with difficulty suppressed a smile excited by the simplicity of the answer, and the language and the manner which he used in recounting the several particulars of his mad exploit.
Admiral Watson then expatiated on the fatal consequences that might have attended his irregular conduct, and with a severe rebuke dismissed him, but not without dropping some hints that at a proper opportunity he would certainly be punished for his temerity. Strahan, amazed to find himself blamed for an action that he thought deserved praise and for which he expected to have received applause, in passing from the Admiral’s cabin muttered, “If I’m flogged for this here action, I’ll never take another fort by myself as long as I live!”
abridged
* Vice Admiral Charles Watson (1714-1757). He is remembered today as the Admiral whose signature Robert Clive forged on a secret treaty with Jafar Ali Khan, by which Jafar was induced to betray Siraj ud-Daulah at a crucial period during The Battle of Plassey on June 23rd, 1757. Clive protested that the Admiral was not at all unhappy with what had been done in his name, but critics questioned both the ethics and the legality of a treaty made under such circumstances.