'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎413] (432/622)

HISTORY OP THE INDIAN NAVY.
413
officers, received the thanks of Colonel Stewart and Sir Charles
Br Tu ht 1855, on Captain Jones' appointment to the Resi-
i cv of Bushire, he was succeeded as Surveyor of Meso-
Itamia by Commander Selby, who had already rendered good
Lvice in connection with the survey of Mesopotamia in
184041 when he examined the Karoon and Dizful rivers.
On the'1st of September, 1853, he had commissioned the
1 Palinurus ' as Surveyor; but, in the following_ year, was
transferred to the command of the steam frigate ' Ajdaha,' and,
in 1855, hoisted his pennant on board the river-steamer
'Comet'' employed in protecting British interests on the Tigris,
as Surveyor of Mesopotamia, for which he was well qualified,
by reason of his familiarity with the country, as one of the
survivors of the old Euphrates Expedition.!
In Lieutenant Collingwood and Acting-Lieutenant Bewsher,
Commander Selby had able assistants, who made, says Mark-
ham "a trigonometrical survey of the region west ot the
Euphrates, including the Sea of Nejf, which is fed by that
* Colonel Stewart wrote to Lieutenant Carew "I may say of the perform-
ance of your duties, whether as senior naval oflicer with the Expedition, or as
commander of one of the steamers most actively employed, that nothing could be
more satisfactory, or results more completely successlul.'' Sir Charles Bright
wrote —«The fact that with nine steamers and five sailing vessels engaged in
laying'the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. telegraph cable, we have had no hitch, accident, or delay
of any kind in carrying out the work in the various sections of the line, is of itself
sufficient testimony of the efficiency with which the service has been performed
by yourself and the other officers of the Bombay Marine The navy of the East India Company. appointed to the
^Strange tales could Selby and his coadjutors tell of adventure among the
turbulent and lawless tribes of Bedouins who range over these classic lands, then-
band against every man, and regarding only the behest of him who can show
bimself their master. Notable among these adventures was one in June, 1841,
of which Lieutenant Selby was the hero. While his steamer, the ' Assyria,' was
taking in wood at one of the stations on the banks of the Tigris, a party of
Madan (or Marsh) Arabs, taking a fancy to a favourite dog of his, detained it,
upon which he proceeded on shore with half a dozen men to demand its restitu
tion. After some high words were bandied about regarding the dog, this teterrima
causa belli, the Bedouin robbers treacherously opened fire, upon which Selbyj
finding that his party were in a trap and himself being wounded, ordered them to
fall back to the steamer. They obeyed, and he was last seen beaten down on his
knee, and fighting desperately with a sword broken at the hilt, against a horde
of savage foes. We knew him well—for only recently he has " gone over to the
majority"—and he was not one given to speaking of his personal achievements,
though there was no need in this case, as he bore to the grave many scars of this
desperate encounter, as well as some slugs which were embedded in his skull, and
could only have been extracted at the cost of his life. He lay on the field all
that day and the following night, and at length, when his men ventured on shore
to give their gallant leader Christian burial, he was found to be yet breathing.
Joyfully they carried him on board, and at length he rallied, but it required a
furlough to his native land to restore him to health, and his iron constitution
never quite recovered the shock. Commander Selby died on the 24th of May,
1876, to the extreme regret of his brother officers, and lies buried at the Higher
Cemetery, Exeter. He descended to the tomb without reward or recognition of
any sort from the State, beyond the numerous Orders of Government recording
thanks for his services.