"تاريخ البحرية الهندية. (١٦١٣- ١٨٦٣)." [‎٣‎٣] (٦٢٢/٥٢)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
33
His services to geographical science were, however, so consider
able, and his reports^ of so great value, that he was reinstated
in the Service, and the Royal Society honoured him by electing
him a Fellow. Like his friend Wellsted, however, his life was
brief as brilliant, though he was enabled in the China war of
1840-42 to render important services to his county.
Captain Chesney returned to the Shatt-ul-Arab from Bushire,
and, proceeding up the Karoon, visited Shuster; and thence
journeying through Persia and Asia Minor, arrived in England
in 1832. He gave important evidence before the Steam Com
mittee of the House of Commons in 1834, in favour of the
Euphrates route as opposed to the Egypt line; and, on the 16th
of April, 1833, was honoured with an interview by King Wil
liam IV., who took great interest in his project, and encouraged
him to persevere. During the conversation, the Monarch,
alluding to the serious apprehensions caused by the presence of
the Russian fleet near Constantinople, as well as by the
gradual advance of that power towards the Indus, which is
apparently a bugbear of very great antiquity, expressed an
opinion in favour of "adding a steam flotilla to the Indian
Navy,"t which was to be stationed in Mesopotamian waters with
the object of strengthening Persia and Turkey.
The 12th, and concluding, Resolution of the Steam Com
mittee of the House of Commons, recommended a grant of
c£20,000 for an experiment to be made for communicating with
India by the Euphrates, with the least possible delay ; and,
accordingly. Captain Chesney was nominated to organize an
expedition, with Lieutenant Henry Blosse Lynch of the Indian
Navy, as his second in command, the India House also con
tributing a further sum of c£5,000.
Lieutenant Lynch entered the Service in 1823, and was em
ployed in the Survey of the Persian Gulf. Having a classical taste,
and a love for languages, neither the depressing climate nor the
confined space in the miserable little brig, 6 Psyche,' deterred him
from applying himself closely to their study. On attaining his
lieutenancy, he was appointed Arabic and Persian Interpreter
to the Commodore of the Persian Gulf Squadron ; between the
years 1830-32, while in command of the 'Enterprise' steamer,
he was employed under instructions from Sir John Macdonald,
British Envoy at Teheran, in examining the southern provinces
of Persia, conducting negotiations with the Arab chiefs, and
examining the means of communication between the Gulf and
# Among other papers was a " Memoir on the Rivers of Mesopotamia," and
"Narrative of a Journey across the Desert from Hit to Damascus." Accom
panied by his friend, Mr. Elliot, he quitted the Residency of Bagdad on the 2nd
of April, 1831, and journeying thence to Hit, arrived at Damascus on the 27th of
April. See his " Narrative of a Journey across the Syrian Desert," in Vol. II. of
the " Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society."
f Chesney's "Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition," 1868.
VOL. II. D