'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎20] (39/622)

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history of the indian nayy.
leaping overboard. For a passing second there was a dead
silence, the concussion of the salvo having produced a calm.
Then was heard a storm of shouts and groans from the Arabs,
mingling with the exulting cheers of the British seamen, and
above the din rose the word of command from the Captain
64 First division of boarders away." In a moment the men left
their quarters, prepared to cope with some hundreds of despera
does whom they had seen swarming on the decks and bulwarks
of the five remaining vessels. But the scene was now changed.
The Arab crews, appalled by the dreadful lesson thus read to
them, rapidly got out their sweeps, and pulled for their lives.
Boats were lowered, and the Sheikh's baghalah, the largest of the
squadron, was boarded, when it was found that one of the round
shot had broken to pieces the cauldron of boiling oil specially
prepared for the heads of the Christians, and scattered the con
tents around. In the cabin were discovered, paralysed with fear,
and prostrate on the deck, a young Hindoo lady and her father,
a merchant, whom the pirates had taken from a vessel the day
before.
For this gallant service Captain Sawyer* received thanks
from the Bombay Government and from the British Envoy at
the Court of Persia; his Highness the Irnaum of Muscat also
presented him with a handsome sword.
The 4 Elphinstone' returned to Bassadore to report proceed
ings, and, on the 19th, sailed for Abu Thubi, to join the
'Amherst,' with which she fell in on the 21st, returning from
that port. An officer of the 4 Elphinstone' says in a letter to
the Bombay papers:—"It came out that the 'Elphinstone'
in her broadsides had killed one hundred and sixty men. The
pirates at Abu Thubi, expressing their alarm and astonishment
at the transaction, intimated that anything we wanted should be
given up; at the same time they brought some vessels out, which
are now going off for safety to Bassadore. The 6 Amherst' and
* Captain Sawyer, who still survives, had distinguished himself on many occa
sions before this event. He joined the Service in February, 1812, and performed
good service on the eastern coast of India, at Penang in the 4 Thetis' and
' Antelope 5 under command of Captain Tanner, up the Persian Grulf, where he
held temporary command of the brig ' Yestal' in 1818, and at Berbera, on the
Soomali coast, in 1827, when he received the thanks of Sir Oordon Bremer,
commanding Her Majesty's ship 4 Tamar.' In June, 1829, he was appointed to
command the new ten-gun brig ' Tigris,' and, in this vessel, as already men
tioned, in the early part of August, succeeded in effecting in nineteen days the
direct passage from Bombay to the Persian Grulf, against the south-west monsoon,
instead of the long and circuitous route known as the Southern Passage, which
was described by Captain Tanner as " a feat of seamanship then known to have
been often attempted, but never before accomplished by any navigator." For
this service the Bombay G-overnment, in a letter dated the 27th of June, 1830,
expressed their thanks. In 1833, he was employed in the ' Tigris,' in company with
another cruiser, enforcing a reimbursement from Sultan bin Suggur, the Joasmi
chief, for an act of piracy committed by his people; and for the success that
rewarded his exertions, Captain Sawyer was warmly commended by Commodore
Pepper.