'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎289] (308/622)

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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
289
lost, as the vessel had twenty-two feet of water over her deck *
Lieutenant Aylesbury, of the ' Zenobia,' then at Prome in
charge of gunboats, was of great assistance, and the guns were
recovered.
On his arrival at Bombay, Commodore Lynch resigned the
command of the 'Ferooz,' and proceeded to England, thus
terminating his naval career. On the occasion of his departure,
Sir Henry Leeke issued a General Order, dated the 12th of
October, highly eulogistic of his distinguished career. While
in England Captain Lynch was enabled to render his country
important services, though in a different arena from that in
which his talents had hitherto found scope. On the conclusion
of the Persian War of 1856-57, Captain Lynch, then residing
in Paris, was delegated by Lord Palmerston to conduct the
negotiations with the Persian Plenipotentiary, which resulted
in the Treaty of Paris of the 4th of March, 1857, and he accom
panied to London the Envoy, with whom he was
grata owing to his familiarity with Persian, among other
Oriental languages, his intimate knowledge of Eastern customs
and modes of thought, his acquaintance with the members of
the mission, and his courtly manners. The Shah of Persia, in
consideration of his services, nominated him a Knight of the
Lion and Sun, an order instituted by a predecessor specially in
honour of Sir John Malcolm. Lord Lyons, the British Am
bassador at Paris, always applied to Captain Lynch for advice
on Eastern matters and, at his death in April, 1873, his loss
was keenly, and very generally, regretted by the society of that
capital, both English and native, who admired his ready Irish
wit, untempered by cynicism, and his exuberant geniality.f
* Lieutenant Fraser and the officei^ and ship's company of the ' Medusa' were
tried by court-martial at Bombay between the 25th and 28th of July, 1854, for
the loss of their ship, and were fully acquitted of all blame. The Court also
recorded "its approbation of the conduct of Lieutenant H. A. Eraser, and the
officers and ship's company then on board the ' Medusa,' in the exertions they
made to save that vessel."
t " Gralignani's Messenger," in a notice of Captain Lynch, in its issue of the
19th of April, 1873, remarks :—
" Persons familiar with Paris society during the last twenty years, will learn
with regret the death of Captain Henry Elosse Lynch, C.B. He had long made
the French capital his home, and gathered around him many sincere Iriends.
The deceased officer was a most amiable and unassuming man, of agreeable con
verse and great intelligence; everyone seemed to like his society, and what is rare,
we never heard a single word uttered against him. His decease took place at his
residence in the Rue Rojale St. Honore."
Sir Benry Eawlinson, in his address to the Royal Geographical Society, after
describing Captain Lynch's services and comparing him with Ormsby, Wellsted,
and Wyburd, continues :—
" He was even more gifted than them as a scholar and linguist, and in having
those rare qualities of geniality, tact, and temper wtiicii command the respect of
the wildest as well as less barbarous Orientals. Greographical science, indeed, is
indebted to such men as Lynch for its most useful data, for bjth in his published
official reports and the Journal of our Society, we find the maps and papers con
nected with his name conveying the soundest information. Happily he lived to
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