Latest / The Hidden History of Bengal: Kingdoms, Empires, and Revolution — Fexingo History / The Bengal Navy That Defied the British: Khwaja Alimullah and the Last Naval Battle
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about land battles in Bengal — Plassey, Buxar, the peasant uprisings. But there's a whole naval dimension that's almost forgotten. Today I want to tell you about the Bengal navy that tried to fight the British. Luna: A Bengal navy? I didn't know they had one. Lucas: They did, and it was led by a man named Khwaja Alimullah, the Nawab of Dhaka. After the Battle of Buxar in 1764, Mir Qasim fled, but Alimullah — who was a wealthy merchant and governor of Dhaka — decided to make a stand. He started building a fleet of war boats, called nawaras, on the Meghna and Padma rivers. Lucas: These weren't just little fishing boats. They were large, oar-powered vessels, often with cannons mounted on them, crewed by skilled riverine fighters. He also hired Armenian and Portuguese mercenaries who knew European naval tactics. The idea was to challenge British control of Bengal's waterways. Luna: Why the waterways? Why not fight on land again? Lucas: Because Bengal is a delta — the rivers are the highways. Controlling the rivers meant controlling trade, movement, and supplies. The British had already taken Calcutta and Murshidabad, but they were vulnerable on the rivers. Alimullah knew that if he could disrupt British shipping and threaten their supply lines, he could force them to negotiate. Lucas: So in 1763, before Buxar actually, Alimullah started assembling his fleet at Narayanganj, which was a major shipbuilding center. He had dozens of nawaras, each carrying maybe 50 to 100 men, and a few larger vessels. The British got wind of this and sent a force under Captain John Stewart to destroy the fleet. Luna: What happened when they met? Lucas: The two sides clashed near Pirojpur, on a branch of the Meghna. The Bengali fleet used the current and the wind to their advantage, trying to ram and board the British sloops. For a while it was a real fight — the British were caught off guard by the numbers and the maneuverability of the nawaras. But the British had better guns and more disciplined crews. Lucas: Eventually, the British managed to break the Bengali formation. They used grapeshot and chain shot to shred the rigging and kill the oarsmen. Alimullah's flagship was sunk, and he barely escaped with his life. But he didn't give up — he retreated upriver and started rebuilding. Luna: So he survived and tried again? Lucas: Yes. He gathered remnants of his fleet and allied with some local zamindars who still resisted. But the British were relentless. They sent a second, larger force under Captain John Merewether, who used a scorched-earth strategy — they burned every shipyard they found, including Narayanganj. They also destroyed villages suspected of harboring Alimullah's men. Lucas: Alimullah was eventually cornered near the Sundarbans. He fled to the jungles, but his family was captured. He died in exile a few years later. And with him died the last organized naval resistance in Bengal until the 20th century. Luna: That's amazing. Why isn't this more famous? Lucas: Partly because the British wrote the history, and they wanted to show their victory as inevitable. Also, Alimullah wasn't a traditional ruler — he was a merchant-nawab, not a Mughal prince. And the battle was small compared to Plassey or Buxar. But it shows that resistance didn't end with Buxar. It continued in the rivers and backwaters. Lucas: There's also a cultural angle. The nawara tradition was very old in Bengal — these boats were used for centuries by local chieftains. Alimullah tried to modernize them with European cannon and tactics, but it wasn't enough. The British had the resources to outbuild and outfight any local fleet. Luna: Did any of the nawaras survive? Lucas: A few were captured and used by the British for river patrols. Some were sunk and lie at the bottom of the Meghna. But the memory lingered. In Bengali folklore, there are songs about Alimullah's navy, though most people have forgotten the details. It's a reminder that history is full of these 'what if' moments. Lucas: If Alimullah had won at Pirojpur, he might have forced the British to the negotiating table. But the dice were loaded. Still, it's a story of courage and ingenuity that deserves to be told. Luna: Absolutely. I'm glad we finally covered it.