On this day, Captain Heath, who had been sent by the British from Madras to Bengal with 160 soldiers to defeat the Mughal governor of Bengal Shaista Khan or return to Madras with all of East India Company’s assets, abandoning trade in Bengal, left Balasore for Chittagong.
He had reached Balasore on November 29 and had pounded the town. On reaching Chittagong on December 17, Heath could not penetrate the governor’s fortifications. He arrived in Arakan on January 31, 1689, and offered to the king a treaty to fight against the Mughals. But getting no response from the king, he returned to Madras in March. This was a setback for British trade in Bengal.
