'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎366] (385/622)

366
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVT.
entrusted the chief command of this Expedition to Commander
Rennie, the other officers associated with him being Captain
of December, 1857, detailing Lieutenant Pengelley's services from the date of
his arrival at Bushire in the 'Semiramis' in January, 1857, to the 28th of
October, when his duties ceased, and he was appointed Naval Assistant to the
Military Auditor-Greneral at Bombay :—
I have the honour to request you to submit to his Excellency the Com
mander-in-Chief, the accompanying original route of a detachment of this Corps,
which proceeded from Bagdad to Marghil, via Hillah and Semowa, in July and
August last, under the command of Lieutenant Pengelley, I.JS"., then First Assist
ant Director of the Land Transport Corps ; also Lieutenant Pengellej's letter to
me, No. 106, of the 30th of October, (the date on which he last did duty as an
Assistant-Director) for the route was received a few days ago. (A map of the
country traversed is annexed to Lieutenant Pengelley's route.) In presenting
this route to his Excellency, I trust I may be permitted at the same time to bring
Lieutenant Pengelley's good services, whilst under my command, to the Com
mander-in-Chiefs notice. On the formation of the increased establishment of
the Persian Expeditionary Force in January last, this officer of the Indian JSavv
was specially appointed to the Land Transport Corps, owing to his having had
experience in a similar situation in the Turkish Contingent, and to his having
served in Syria and Asia Minor. Lieutenant Pengelley, immediately on his
arrival at Bushire in the * Semiramis,' in January, was sent into Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
with very extensive powers, to control our several agencies there. He super
vised our departmental operations in the neighbourhood of Bussorah, Sook-es-
Shuyuk, and afterwards at Bagdad, and then proceeding to Mosul, he under
took, and ably carried out an executive charge. The peace with Persia found
him making great preparations for an extension of our agencies throughout
Turkish Koordistan and Asia Minor, and had we received the reinforcements
from Bengal and Madras, which we then expected, and this extension was in
tended to meet the requirements of, I never doubted but the result of his exer
tions and local knowledge, would have proved satisfactory. In July last I received,
orders when at Bagdad to send all the mules still remaining to Kurrachee, and
my orders seemed to me to point out that the service should be performed with
the least possible delay. Tne mules were then out grazing. The establishment
had been reduced to a very few men, and it was difficult in a short period to
obtain others, besides which the Turkish authorities chose to throw as many
obstacles in our way as they could, and only consented to the men quitting the
Turkish dominions for India, when the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. pressed them with a
remonstrance of the strongest nature. Lieutenant Pengelley, however, by great
exertion, was enabled to get the detachment ready to march in eight days, and
after being detained several more by the Turks, he marched on the evening of
the 18th, having received the order on the 6th. The route mentioned is an
account of that journey; it is written with becoming modesty, but one can under
stand that a single English officer marching with a large detachment of mules
through so lawless a country as Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , where he had to provide for all his
own wants, find guides, propitiate marauding Arab tribes, resist impositions and
shameful exactions, at the same time play out a never-ending game with the
governing powers and its peculating subordinates, must have shown great tact,
ability, and perseverance to have brought his charge in safety to the port of
embarkation. The distance traversed seems to have been three hundred and
forty-two miles, divided into sixteen marches, giving an average of twenty-one
miles three furlongs per day, besides which there were detentions at Hillah,
where Lieutenant Pengelley had to take up some forage that ought to have been
ready for him, but was not; at the Amoo, in which rapid stream twenty-six
mules were lost, and at Semowa, where he had to purchase forage, under delays
and disadvantages arising from Turkish official peculations. I consider that
Lieutenant Pengelley has performed very essential services during the time he has
belonged to the Transport Corps, and that they were greatly enhanced by his
generous acceptance of any responsibility ; also his unselfishness and his devotion
at all times to public interests, of which I may instance as an example, his under
taking the difficult march from Bagdad to Marghil in a delicate state of hea ,