In 1698 Conajee Angria succeeded to the command of the Mahratta navy, with the title of Darya-Saranga.

In the name of the Satara chief he was master of the whole coast from Bombay to Vingorla, with the exception of the Seedee's territory.

Defenceless towns as far south as Travancore were attacked and plundered, while, at sea, vessels of native merchants were preyed upon.
For a time he seems not to have meddled with the Company's vessels; as the size of his ships increased, he grew bolder, and, in 1702, his doings began to excite apprehension.

In that year he was addressed to release a small trading vessel from Calicut with six Englishmen on board that had been seized and carried into one of his harbours.

What had roused his anger against the English does not appear, but a month later we find him sending word to Bombay that he would give the English cause to remember the name of Conajee Angria, a threat that he carried out only too well.
Two years later we find him described as a 'Rebel Independent of the Rajah Sivajee,' and Mr.Reynolds was deputed to find him and tell him that he could not be permitted searching, molesting, or seizing vessels in Bombay waters: to which he returned a defiant answer, that he had done many benefits to the English, who had broken faith with him, and henceforth he would seize their vessels wherever he could find them.