'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎31] (50/622)

I
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYY. 31
Lieutenant Lowe deserved great credit for his display of
mingled judgment and firmness.
After his rebuff at Mocha, the star of Turki Bilmas began
to wane, and he lost all his conquests as fast as he had gained
them. Soon Mocha only remained to him, and Ahmed Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. ,
. A( % who was sent by Mehemet Ali to recover his lost province,
blockaded him by sea, w T hile a force of twenty thousand
Bedouins, of the Beni Asseer tribe, attacked Mocha by land.
After a desperate resistance the great guerilla chief was reduced
to extremities. At this time the Hon. Company's brig 6 Tigris/
a tMoctmi Commander Wells, and the surveying ship 'Benares,' Com
mander Moresby, were at Mocha ; and Turki Bilmas, who made
'1 by seiziij a gallant defence with his small garrison of five hundred men,
ofthisDen attempted to reach them with the remnant of his followers, now
Ms recall numbering only one hundred and twenty, in some undecked
On b boats, destitute of either oars or sails. The w r ind was con-
asures wei trary, and they drifted out to sea, and were on the point of
released ail sinking, when the boats from the Company's ships rescued
sed them 1 them, the chief being himself saved by the cutter of the
shipped ill 6 Benares,' commanded by Lieutenant C. D. Campbell. Turki
erestontk Bilmas was taken on board the 4 Tigris,' which sailed with him
ieirlossi to Bombay. During this affair, a man of the 'Benares'was
andfortki killed by a stray round shot, for which an apology w T as made
i re p 0r t y by the Arab leader, vrho gave his warriors three days to sack the
LieuteDam c ^y.
•uthalfi! Early in 1834 the 'Nautilus' was wrecked at Macour, or
attack witi Emerald Island, distant twenty-three miles in a north-westerly
a d men. It direction from St. John's Island, or Seberjet, in the Red Sea.
>tect Briti The natives would not suffer the crew to land, and they took to
£ UIig the boats, in which they suffered great want and hardships,
owing to the terrific heat. At length they got possession of a
ral pntati native vessel, in which they proceeded to Mocha; a period of
hief and i sixty-four days elapsed from the wreck of the ' Nautilus,' till
tilns'W their arrival at that port, during which a large number of men
u i '. g died of want and fatigue. Theqce the officers and crew were
1 | | taken to Bombay in the ' Benares,' Commander R. Moresby,
imaD ^ and owing to the effects of climate and the crowded state of
^ t l that ship, much further mortality took place among the
I 11 S VL survivors,
the slig®
In the year 1835 was commenced an important undertaking
the ultimate issue of which may be fraught with great con
sequences to this country, and our Eastern possessions ; and as
several officers of the Indian Navy bore prominent parts in the
be sanguis, prosecution of the enterprise, it is necessary that we should give
eBritisMH a resum £ 0 f its operations. The undertaking we refer to
cred, we® 3 ! j s ^hat historically known as the "Euphrates Expedition."
ical, and ^ Captain (the late General) Francis Rawdon Chesney, R.A.,