page_title: Maratha Navy
section_title: Under Admiral Kanhoji Angre
hierarchical_section_title: Maratha Navy / Under Admiral Kanhoji Angre
caption_attribution_description: Sindhudurga fort's west-side wall.Sindhudurg was built by shivaji in 1664-67 AD Infrastructure-inside the fort is the Sri Shivarajeshwar temple and many other temples.
context_page_description: The Maratha Navy refers to the naval wing of the armed forces of the Maratha Empire, which existed from around mid-17th century to mid-18th century in India.
context_section_description: After the death of Admiral Sidhoji Gujar around 1698, the Maratha Navy survived because of the extensive efforts of Koli admiral Kanhoji Angre. Under his leadership, the British naval power was checked along the western coast of India. Kanhoji owed allegiance to  supreme Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shahu and his first minister Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath. He gained their support to develop naval facilities on the western coast of India, or  Konkan. Under the leadership of Kanhoji, the Maratha developed a naval base at Vijayadurg featuring dockyard facilities for building vessels, mounting guns, and making the ships sea-worthy. Their naval fleet consisted of ten gurabs/grabs (warship) and fifty gallivats (warboat). A gallivat had a displacement lower than 120 tons, while a grab could go as high as 400 tons. 
  Another ship type used was the Pal (Maratha Man-of-war), which was a cannon-armed, three-masted vessel. The grabs had broadsides of 6- and 9-pounder guns, and carried two 9- or 12-pounders on their main decks. These guns pointed forward through port-holes cut in the bulkheads. The gallivats were mostly armed with light swivel guns, but some also mounted six or eight cannons, either 2- or 4-pounders. These boats were propelled by forty to fifty oars. Even during the reign of Kanhoji Angre, the Maratha Government signed a treaty of friendship with the Portuguese in 1703. As per the treaty, the Portuguese agreed to supply cannon and gunpowder to the Maratha, supplies which they needed as they had only a few cannon foundries producing their own armaments. The Marathas signed a treaty with the Siddi as well, thus concentrating all their forces against the English East India Company.
  By the beginning of the 18th century, Kanhoji Angre controlled the entire coastline from Sawantwadi to Mumbai, which is the entire coastline of present-day Maharashtra. He built fortifications on almost all creeks, cove, and harbours, such as a fortress or citadel with navigational facilities. Any ship sailing through Maratha territorial waters was to pay a levy called Chouth, which expressed Angre's dominance. Between 1717 and 1720, the British made at least two attempts to defeat and destabilize the Maratha Navy, but were unsuccessful. In response to a British ship being captured by Kanhoji's seamen, the British attacked Vijayadurg and Khanderi, but they did not defeat them. The Maratha Navy repeatedly proved its strength against foreign powers. Till his death in 1729, Angre remained undefeated, despite repeated attacks by British and Portuguese.
caption: The Sindhudurg Fort near the Maharashtra-Goa border, one of the several naval fortifications built by the Maratha Navy
exif: {}