"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٣‎٤‎٣] (١٧٨٢/١٤٩٨)

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1343
complement, who were now entitled to and claimed their discharge, were
filled by volunteers from vessels of the East India Company. On the
25th July the " Euphrates 33 left Bushehr in tow of the " Elphinstone }>
for the Shatt-al- J Arab ; and she steamed up that river to Kut-al Farangi,
at this time the site of the Basrah Political Agency, where Lieutenant
M urphy, a member of the expedition, had recently died after a severe
illness. With Colonel Chesney on board she then ascended the Tigris
to Baghdad, arriving there on the 30th August 1836, and left again for
Muhammareh on the 5th September. From Muhammareh she proceeded
up the Shatt-al-'Arab and Euphrates as far as Lamlum, carrying an Indian
overland mail for Europe. After this, a serious break-down having
occurred in her machinery, she returned with the current to Muhammareh
where the necessary repairs were executed with the help of the Indian
Government vessel " Hugh Lindsay,'"
Notice was now received by Colonel Chesney that funds for continuing
the expedition would cease to be available at the end of January
1837, and he accordingly made over the command to Major Estcourt and
proceeded to Bombay, arriving there on the 1st December. During his
absence in India Major Estcourt carried the "Euphrates^ up the
Karun River as far as Ahwaz, where further progress was barred by the
rapids, and then revisited Baghdad and ascended the Tigris to a point 20
miles above it, but an accident to the vessel's rudder compelled him to
return. It had now been arranged that the " Euphrates 33 should be
transferred by His Majesty's Government to the East India Company,
on payment by the latter of her value as assessed by a committee after a
survey, and she was accordingly placed in charge of a British merchant
at Baghdad. Most of her officers and men, the expedition under the orders
of the British Government being now at an end, were dispersed and
returned to their duties at home or in India. Coloned Chesney himself
left Bombay, charged with important despatches for the Board of
Control on the 28th April 1837 ; and on the 8tli August he reached
London, having travelled home from Basrah by way of Zubair and the
desert. In March 1838 the "Euphrates," under Commander Hawkins,
ascended the river of the same name as far as Hit, but had great diffi
culty in passing the marshes in its lower course.
Although the experiment in overland communication by the
Euphrates route was now discontinued, the idea of ultimately transmit
ting the Indo-European mails by way of Mesopotamia was still enter
tained. Lieutenant H. B. Lynch, whom the Secret Committee
of the East India Company's Court in April 1837 appointed to the com-
Close of the
expedition,
1837.
Continua
tion of the
river surrey
in Turkish
'Iraq by
Commander
H.B. Lynch
1837-39.
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