In 1757 war broke out between France and Great Britain, and Colonel Robert Clive of the British East India Company and Admiral Charles Watson of the Royal Navy bombarded and captured Chandannagar on 23 March 1757. The town's fortifications and many houses were demolished thereafter, and Chandannagar's importance as a commercial centre was eclipsed by that of Calcutta just downriver. Chandannagar was restored to the French in 1763, but retaken by the British in 1794 in the Napoleonic Wars.