'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎139] (158/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
139
from the Service,* when the Governor in Council, in orders,
dated the 29th of March, notified that he would <4 have much
pleasure in bringing to the notice of the Hon. the Court of
Directors, the distinguished services which Captain Moresby in
an honourable career of nearlj^ twenty-four years, has rendered
to his country and the Government, and especially the manner
in which by his valuable services, he has contributed to extend
and improve the science of maritime geography."t Shortly
# An officer of the Service writes to us as follows of the circumstances under
which Captain Moresby retired from the Service :—" He left the Indian Navy in
disgust, as he told me himself. Of course the Peninsular and Oriental Company
were delighted to get such a man as Moresby, and the Government were as much
vexed and annoyed at losing him. He got £1,000 a year from the Peninsular and
Oriental Company. He could not get that in the Indian Navy, but that was not
what vexed him; it was that he did not like the treatment he met with, for he
was a sensitive and proud gentleman, and a very noble fellow."
f The Peninsular and Oriental Company, then entering upon their successful
career as the great carrying company of the East, paid Captain Moresby and the
Service of which he was so distinguished an ornament, the great compliment of
selecting him to command their fine new steamship, ' Hindostan,' of 2,017 tons
and 550 horse-power, which w r as the pioneer of that magnificent fleet of ships
which has covered the Eastern seas from Japan to Suez. The £ Hindostan,' with
eighty passengers, sailed, via the Cape, for India on the 24th of September, 1842,
the Directors of the Peninsular and Oriental Company giving a grand banquet
on the 13th of the month, at which the Chairman, Sir John Campbell, in re
turning thanks to the toast of the prosperity of his Company, proposed by
Greneral Sir James Law Lushington, G.C.B., Chairman of the East India Com
pany, said:—"The Company were determined to establish a line of powerful
steamships, of which he hoped the 4 Hindostan' might be considered as a
favourable specimen ; and should their efforts on the other side of the isthmus
be supported as fully by the Government as those they had made up to Alexan
dria, he did feel entitled to say that hereafter the communication between this
country and Calcutta, Ceylon, and Madras, would be as frequent and as regular
as that which now existed between this country and Alexandria and Malta.
Above all he begged to acknowledge, on behalf of the Company, the liberal
system pursued towards them by the East India Company—tangible proof of
which was their annual grant of £20,000. This was, however, but characteristic
of their general system in all matters by which our Eastern dominions were
calculated to be benefited." The ' Hindostan ' arrived at Bombay on the 20tli
of December, and proceeded to Calcutta, from which she continued to carry mails
and passengers to Suez.
Captain Moresby made fourteen voyages in command of the ' Hindostan,' and
on the completion of the last, during which the ship was in imminent danger, the
passengers, principally military officers (among whom we find the name of Sir
John Garvock, and others of note), presented him with the following address ;—
" Steamer ' Hindostan,' approaching Suez, August 6, 1846.
" Dear Captain Moresby,
" As we shall, in all probability, arrive at Suez during the night, we are anxious
before we separate, to offer to you our best and warmest thanks for the kindness
and attention we have received from you whilst on board this noble vessel. Your
well known skill as a seaman and navigator, your intimate acquaintance with the
seas through which we have passed, your devoted attention to the duties of your
ship, and your anxiety and watchfulness when approaching land, have impressed
us with feelings of confidence and security which can only be fully appreciated
by those who have experienced danger such as we have recently escaped. We
feel that we are only doing you common justice in stating, that you have used
your best exertions to contribute to the comfort, convenience, and kindly feeling
of your passengers, and to lessen the inconvenience to which this mode of con
veyance is perhaps unavoidably subject. We are aware this is the last voyage