 Despite being feudatories, first of Bijapur and then of the Mughals, the Siddis acted as if they were independent, and lived mainly by piracy on coastal shipping.The piracy of the Siddis provoked the various local powers to attempt to suppress them, but despite efforts by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and the Marathas, the fort was never conquered.The fort thus earned a reputation for being impregnable.