'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎544] (563/622)

544
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
and the transfer of any person to the service of Her Majesty
shall be deemed to be a continuance of his previous service,
and shall not prejudice any claims to pension, or any claims on
the various Annuity Funds of the several Presidencies in
India, which he might have had if this Act had not been
On the 14th of March, 1862, Sir Charles Wood, replying to a
question in the House of Commons, of Sir J. Elphinstone, said:—
" It was impossible to state what were the intentions of the
Government in regard to the Indian Navy," and, he added,
" the Indian Government had not complied with the instruc
tions sent ont to them, as they ' took a different view of the
matter,' which would necessitate a further communication from
him." It was generally understood in India that the Service
was only awaiting its coup de gr and furloughs were freely
granted to officers to proceed to'Englaud, while others, applying
at the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , to return to duty, were given extensions of
leave. A third time, on the 22nd of May, Sir H. Willoughby
questioned the Secretary of State for India as to the position of
the officers, and, after eulogizing their services and high scientific
attainments, expressed his anxiety that the guarantees conveyed
in the 56th clause of the Act of Parliament, should be observed,
as " the faith of the Legislature was pledged." Colonel Sykes
also paid a high compliment to the officers, and their consistent
advocate, Sir J. Elphinstone, deprecated the abolition of the
Service, in the public interests, and, instancing the admirable
manner in which, during troublous times, they had preserved
the peace of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , added :—" The officers had an
intimate knowledge of the usages and customs of the tribes of
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and were by that means, and by the semi-
diplomatic character which they possessed, enabled to preserve
the peace of the country."* On this occasion Sir Charles W ood
* The following circumstance, which took place early in 1873, affords a striking
comment on the common-sense view taken by Sir J. Elphinstone, of the
of abolishing a Service whose officers, from their knowledge of the languages and
habits of the maritime population of the East, could never have committed the
egregious blunder of confounding peaceable fishing-boats with slavers, and treating
their crews accordinglyIt appears," says the "Times of India, that
H.M.S. ' Thetis,' on her way down the Red Sea saw a fleet of motner-oi-peari
fishing boats from Hodeida, which were at once supposed to be slavers running
away 0 The boats, which were accordingly sent in chase of them, found the
vessels just anchored, and some 'big, bulky Sidis' among their crews. Ims
being considered clear proof of their alleged crime, all the fishing boats, s 1 ™ 6 / 1
number, were forthwith burnt, the crews landed in a desert island, and about
thirty Sidis carried off as rescued slaves to Aden. There was no one, it seems,
to explain matters on the spot, but apparently at Aden the mistake was dis
covered. The ' Dalhousie' was at once sent off to Asab Bay, to convey the luckless
Arabs to Hodeida, but meanwhile they had been rescued by some of their own
boats, or had succeeded in crossing to the mainland on rafts, m preference to
remaining without food or water on the desert island. One man is said to have
been drowned in crossing, another had been shot, a third burnt, and so on. I
is not the first time of late years that peaceful fishermen have been mistaken tor