A few months later, the _Victory_, twenty-four guns, was launched, and two years after his arrival, Boone had at his disposal a fine fleet consisting of nineteen frigates, grabs, ketches, gallivats, and rowing galleys, carrying two hundred and twenty guns, besides a bomb vessel and a fireship.

With such a force much ought to have been accomplished, but throughout his tenure of office Boone's efforts were crippled by the incompetency and indiscipline of those on whom he depended to carry out his designs: while the efficiency of the ships was diminished by their employment to carry cargoes along the coast.
In March, 1717, Bombay was stirred by the arrival of a private ship, the _Morning Star_, which had escaped the Beyt pirates after a long and severe encounter.

The affair is described by Hamilton; but he modestly conceals the fact that he was himself in command of the _Morning Star_, of which he was chief owner.

The ship was on its way from Gombroon to Surat, with a valuable cargo, of which the pirates had intelligence; and two squadrons were fitted out to waylay her.

On the 20th March she was assailed by eight pirate ships, the largest of which was of five hundred tons, three others being of nearly three hundred tons each, and the rest galleys and shybars, or half-galleys.