"تاريخ البحرية الهندية. (١٦١٣- ١٨٦٣)." [‎٢‎٠‎٤] (٦٢٢/٢٢٣)

204
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
traveller returns." On the 16th of December there died, after
a brief illness, at Bushire, Commodore T. G. Carless, com
manding the Persian Gulf squadron, of small-pox complicated
with an affection of the lungs. Commodore Carless was sin
cerely regretted by a large circle of friends, and one who knew
him well, wrote to the " Bombay Times" in the following
terms:— 46 To his own officers he was kind, affable, and hos
pitable ; his house was always open and free to them, and they
ever met a welcome. To his men he was considerate and con
descending—alive to their every want, and to whatever might
conduce to their comfort and happiness. In every other re
lationship, his conduct was no less commendable." Commodore
Carless died in his forty-second year, and added another name
to the long list of Indian Navy officers who have fallen victims
to the climate of the Persian Gulf. He had served in the first
Burmese War, but it was as a surveyor of the first distinction
that the name of Captain Carless will ever be held in respect
as long as the keel of an English ship ploughs the waters of the
Red Sea, which he, in conjunction with Captain Moresby,
mapped out, and robbed of its terrors to all future navigators.
He was for some time Senior Naval Officer at Aden, and com
manded the 4 Sesostris' when she crossed the Indian Ocean to
Cannanore with troops, at the time the 4 Cleopatra' foundered
in the memorable hurricane of April, 1847, of which he drew
up an excellent paper. He had only succeeded to the command
of the Persian Gulf squadron in the preceding April, when
Commodore Hawkins, whose state of health had necessitated
his return to the Presidency in the previous year, finally
relinquished the command. His successor was Captain J. P.
Porter, and his death gave a step in rank to Commander F. T.
Powell, then serving with the Indian Naval Brigade before
Mooltan.
On the 5th of August, 1848, Sir Robert Oliver died at
Bombay, aged sixty-five. He had expressed his intention to
retire during the course of the year, but had a sunstroke on the
27th of July, and expired after a few days' illness.
Sir Robert Oliver had seen little war service, having only
once been under fire, on the 4th of April, 1804, when he
landed on the Calabrian coast, from the brig ' Espoir,' and
spiked some guns and burnt some small vessels. On the intro
duction of steam he studied the new motive power, and fitted
out war-steamers with pivot guns designed by himself; and,on
the retirement of Sir Charles Malcolm, when the Court had
decided to transform the Indian Navy into a steam Service, the
Admiralty recommended Captain Oliver as a suitable officer to
carry out the required changes. ^ ,
The Government issued the following Notification on the
character and services of Sir Robert Oliver :—