'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎15] (34/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYY.
15
Ks.per
Mensem,
7,083
9,032
eluding Captain Harris, for the purpose of reporting to
Government on the facts adverted to by his Excellency, and on
the measures suggested for their amelioration. The report of
the Committee denied the statements of Sir John Gore as to
the decreased depth of water in the harbour, adducing charts of
1794 byM'Cluer, and 1813 by Captain Keys, as well as Captain
Cogan's survey of 1829, and also soundings Measurements of the depth of a body of water. taken by the Com
mittee. They also proved that there was no diminution in the
depth of water of the docks, the 'Asia,' eighty-four, having
been floated out in 1824, drawing sixteen feet ten inches. Sir
John Gore criticised the report of the Committee in a very
long and heated letter, written at Port Louis, Mauritius, on the
23rd of July, to which again Captain Cogan, as President of
the Committee, replied at length on the 19th of September,
conclusively refuting the Admiral's statements and deductions.
Captain Cogan proceeded to Europe in June, 1835, being
entrusted with a friendly mission from Seyyid Said, Imaum of
Muscat, who desired to present to King William IV. his line-of-
battle ship, 6 Liverpool,' of seventy-four guns, which had been
built at Bombay for his service in 1826. Captain Cogan pos
sessed an intimate knowledge of the people and territories
belonging to the Imaum, who then also ruled over Zanzibar
and was greatly instrumental in establishing and strengthening
the intimate alliance which has so long existed with that great
prince and his successors, including the present rulers of Zanzibar
and Muscat. At the request of the Imaum, Captain Cogan took
the 'Liverpool' to England, and, by command of William IV.,
navigated back to Zanzibar, assisted by officers and men of the
Service, the 'Prince Regent,' one of the finest of the royal
yachts, as a present from His Majesty to the Imaum. It was
on the representations of Captain Cogan, who, while in England,
gave the Geographical Society much valuable information
relative to the peoples and territories under the rule of the
Sultan of Muscat, that the Society nominated that prince one
of its honorary members, and sent the diploma conferring that
honour by Captain Cogan. The Right Hon. Sir Alexander
Johnston, in his address to the Royal Geographical Society,
referred in eulogistic terms to the great services of Captain
Cogan, " particularly in establishing an intimate alliance
between the Imaum of Muscat and Great Britain."
In 1835 the Indian Navy squadron came into open collision
with the Beni Yas,* a tribe of Arabs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , who
* The following are some details regarding this tribe and their habitat, derived
from the Reports of Lieutenants Hennell, Kemball, and Disbrowe, Assistant
Political Residents at Bushire, which are of interest as detailing the sort of
employment these restless Arab tribes afforded the cruisers of the Indian Navy.
Abu Thubi, or Aboothabee, the capital of the Beni Yas, is a town and fort situated
just below Ras Suffan, on an island formed by a backwater, which admits boats,
but is fordable at one spot during low water. The anchorage of the town is