"تاريخ البحرية الهندية. (١٦١٣- ١٨٦٣)." [‎٢‎٤‎٥] (٦٢٢/٢٦٤)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
245
Admiral Austen, in his letter to the Governor-General,
spoke of Commodore Lynch as having, " by his ability,
judgment, and discretion, rendered essential serviceand he
adds, "the commanders and officers of the Indian Navy, and
of the East India Company's uncovenanted service, have, with
out a single exception, performed their duties with all possible
alacrity."
In the official notification of the Governor-General, dated the
28th of April, 1852, on the recent successes, Lord Dalhousie
said:—
" The Governor-General in Council is happy to record his
appreciation of the essential service rendered by Captain Lynch,
the senior officer of the Indian Navy, to whose ability, judg
ment, and discretion, his Excellency the Kear-Admiral has
borne his testimony on this occasion."
The " Bombay Times," of the 8th of May, writes as follows of
the gunnery practice of the Indian Navy
" It is no disparagement to the rest of the force at Rangoon,
that the Bombay portion of it should speak chiefly of their own
achievements; and nothing could have exceeded the courage,
coolness, and conduct of the officers and men of the Indian
Navy, or the beauty of the practice of their guns; the shells
with the intelligence of the fall of Rangoon. We took it on the 14th, after three
days' fighting. The first day, Easter Sunday, we engaged the stockades on the
banks of the river. The ' Sesostris,' ' Moozuffer,' and ' Ferooz ' had the brunt of
the action. The fire from the ' Sesostris,' Captain C. D. Campbell, blew up one
and burnt two other stockades, and before night the whole were silenced. We
engaged them at from three to five hundred yards, and our 8-inch shot and shells
were too much for their redoubtable stockades to stand. We killed about three
hundred, and took or silenced forty guns—some good 24 and 18-pounders, worked
by Englishmen it is said. The next thing was to take the new town, which is a
mile and a half from the river, but our guns reached it easily, and we shelled
away for two days and nights. Captain Campbell firing 68-pounder red-hot shot,
the first, I think, ever fired afloat on board ship. The effect was tremendous.
The whole place was set on fire, and two-thirds of it burnt down. The troops
(the 18th, 51st, and 80th Queen's, Europeans, and two Madras and one Bengal
Native regiment) stormed the place and took it at once. It was very strong, the
walls being twenty feet high, and covered in front by spikes. There were one
hundred guns on the walls, forty of which are heavy, the rest brass, 6 to 3-
pounders, generally well mounted, besides jingalls innumerable. There was but
little found in the place, all having been removed beforehand. The loss has been
heavy of officers, as much from sun and cholera as the enemy's shot. The Indian
Navy seems to stand high in the good opinion of all, and has been complimented
in most gratifying terms by the Admiral. It was a fine sight at night—the
stockades all burning, the roar of the 8-inch guns, the flight of shell and rockets,
and the flames and bursting of the shells in the distant fort formed a grand
tableau worthy of a master hand to describe. Captain Campbell, of the ' Sesostris,'
worked all the time of the bombardment, till he fell down from sheer exhaustion,
and actually slept for an hour and a half within a couple of yards of the 8-inch
gun during the firing, and woke up asking if they had stopped firing! You will
probably see by the official account what a gallant part he fcook in the capture of
some of the stockades ashore with his blue-jackets. For all this he was selected
to carry the despatches to Calcutta, until the Admiral altered his mind and
decided on taking them himself."