Nothing better occurred to Brown than to send the _Phram_ at once to engage the fort.

On opening fire, it was found that her ports were so low and the gun-carriages so high, that her guns could only be fired when depressed so as to strike the water twenty yards off.

So she was brought out again with one man mortally wounded, and the officers and soldiers so mightily discouraged that they declared, unless she could be made serviceable, it was useless to attempt anything further.
The ships' carpenters were set to work on the _Phram_, while the dejection and drinking increased.

Fifty men of the _Chandos_ who had not yet had an opportunity of gauging Brown's incapacity, volunteered, for forty rupees a head, to join a landing party; but not a single seaman in the squadron would consent, 'upon any consideration whatsoever,' to go on board the _Phram_, till an increased bounty secured the services of the _Chandos'_ sailors.
By the 29th all was ready for the grand attack.

Two landing parties, one of three hundred and forty soldiers under Captain Stanton, and the other of two hundred and thirty-seven seamen under Captain Woodward, were held in readiness, and soon after midday the fleet stood into the inner harbour, with the exception of the _Phram_, which engaged the fort from the outer harbour.