The tides, meanwhile, were too low to allow any of the ships to cross the sand-bar above Fulta and proceed further up the Hooghly until after the 27th.
Admiral Watson used the interval to send a letter to Suraj-u-daulah. He wrote courteously, but firmly, demanding the immediate restoration of Calcutta and compensation for property looted and destroyed. The letter was sent off on the 18th of December, but no reply came. None had arrived ten days later, when the forward movement up the river began. The _Kent_, _Tyger_, _Salisbury_, _Bridgewater_, and _Kingfisher_ comprised the ships told off for the recovery of Calcutta. They carried up with them eight hundred soldiers and twelve hundred Sepoys—all that were available in the absence of the detachments on board the belated ships.
The first fight took place at Baj-Baj, or Budge-Budge, as the name was spelled by the English, where a fort on the right bank of the Hooghly threatened to bar their passage. Owing to the narrow and tortuous channel the ships could only move up in line ahead. They sailed with the _Tyger_ leading, and the flagship next. The Nawab’s troops were reported to be in force at Budge-Budge, which mounted eighteen 24-pounders, and was built with bastions and curtains and a wet ditch.
Clive and his Sepoys were put ashore at Mayapore, ten miles below Budge-Budge, to act against Manikchand, whose army had taken post in the neighbourhood of the fort. Manikchand’s men, though, made only a poor stand, and fell back, their position being turned by the steady advance of the _Tyger_ and _Kent_.
The ships anchored that night, and proceeded next morning, the enemy on shore at the same time falling back before them on Budge-Budge.
Between seven and eight o’clock, as the _Tyger_ and _Kent_ rounded into the reach in front of the fort, the Nawab’s gunners opened a brisk cannonade.
The two ships took no notice, beyond firing a few guns to cover their approach and shroud themselves in smoke, until they had come abreast of the ramparts. Then, at three minutes past eight by the _Kent’s_ log, both ships let go anchor, and as the _Kent_ ran up the red flag at the fore, the first broadside thundered out. The battle lasted for an hour and a half before the nearest ships astern, the _Salisbury_ and _Bridgewater_ could join in. About the same time Clive’s Sepoys got again into action with Manikchand’s troops on the further side of Budge-Budge. Captain Coote and men of the 39th Foot on board the _Kent_ were now landed to reinforce Clive, while the navy dealt with the fort, the key of the position. The Nawab’s gunners for their part fought their pieces bravely, and the tough chunam and brick of the walls of Budge-Budge stood four hours more hard battering. By half-past one, however, the breastwork rampart facing the river had been almost smashed down all along its length, and the guns there all either dismounted or disabled.