'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎1399] (1554/1782)

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The « Euphrates/' " Nimrod/' and " Assyria ' J were withdrawn in the
summer of 1842, under the orders of the Government of India, for service
on the Indus. The total cost of maintenance of the flotilla from 1837,
when the " Euphrates " was transferred to the East India Company, up
to 1842, when the flotilla was broken up, was approximately Rs. 3,50,000.
It is possible that the advantages expected from the flotilla, whatever
they were, had not been obtained, or that they were found to be
incommensurate with the expense. Disappointment in regard to the navi
gability of the Euphrates probably contributed to the result, all hope of
a good mail route to Europe by that line having been extinguished.
In 1843 the fC Nitocris " alone remained in the waters of Mesopatamia,
and Lieutenant Felix Jones succeeded Lieutenant Lynch in command of
her. The annual cost of the <e Nitocris " was about Rs. 55,000.
In 1844 the utility of the " Nitocris " in Turkish 'Iraq seems to have
been called in question by the Government of India, and a proposal was
made to remove her as the other vessels of the flotilla had been removed.
It was opposed by Major Rawlinson in two perspicuous despatches, from
which the passages that follow are taken :
It is impossible, it appears to me, to reduce this question to a mere pecuniary calcula
tion, for, although the outlay upon the one side be direct and tangible, yet the return
which that outlay brings is, for the most part, incidental and a matter of opinions rather
than of proof. The only immediate advantages that we desire from the presence of a
steamer on the rivers of Mesopotamia refer to the protection of our merchants and to the
security and extension which are thereby given to our commerce. Within the last few
years three independent British houses of agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. have been established at Baghdad, and
other parties encouraged by the prosperous condition of the trade are about to enter on the
same field of enterprise. The insecurity of the river and the rapacity of the Arabs who
live on the banks presented in former times serious obstacles tothe introduction of our
manufactures into the Pashaliq of Baghdad, but those evils have now almost disappeared
and it is matter of notoriety that we owe the change to our exhibition of strength upon
the Tigris and Euphrates and to the friendly relations which we have established with
the Montefik, the Beni Lam, the Zobeid and the other great Arab tribes upon the banks
rather than to any increased efficiency on the part of the Turkish Government or to
any real improvement in the character of the Arabs.
Whilst a single steamer continues to ply upon the river, the Arabs are reminded of
our strength, and they respect not only British boats, but those also of our Turkish
allies, but were that steamer to be withdrawn, they would assuredly revert to their old
habits of plunder, and the river trade would be entirely at their mercy.
But the chief benefits which attend the presence of a steamer upon the Tigris are as I
have mentioned incidental and their importance or otherwise depends upon a general
view of Eastern policy which I am neither competent nor would it be becoming in me
to discuss. It strengthens the hands of the British Agent in the most effectual, and at
the same time in the least ostentatious, manner possible ; it enables him to vindicate
Reduction of
the flotilla
and retention
of the
" Nitocria "
only, 1841-
1843.
Question of
the retention
of any
British
armed
steamer,
1844-45.