In 1789, the Bengal Presidency established a naval base and penal colony on Chatham Island in the southeast bay of Great Andaman.
The hostile nature of the native inhabitants was highlighted in the 1830s and 1840s, when shipwrecked crews who landed on the Andamans were often attacked and killed by Andamanese tribespeople, and the islands had a reputation for cannibalism.
The loss of the Runnymede and the Briton in 1844 during the same storm, while transporting goods and passengers between India and Australia, and the continuous attacks launched by Andamanese tribespeople, which the survivors fought off, alarmed the British government.
On 28 April a seaman aboard the schooner Charlotte was struck by an arrow off North Point and Dr Walker forbade anyone from landing there.
[6] While the tribal forces were defeated, and British policy towards them subsequently became more benevolent approach to the tribes on the islands, they remained hostile to the new arrivals.