'Precis Containing Information in regard to the First Connection of the Hon'ble East India Company with Turkish Arabia, as far as the Same Can Be Traced from the Records of the Bombay Government, together with the Names of the Several British Residents and Political Agents Who Have Been Stationed at Bagdad [Baghdad] and Bussorah [Basra] between A.D. 1646 and 1846, accompanied by Other Information' [‎82v] (166/226)

134 PRECIS OF INFORMATION REGARDING CONNECTION OF E. I. COMPY.
Resident, and will act under the advice of that gentleman until you shall receive your
definite instructions from the Governor-General of India in Council. You will inform
Colonel Taylor of our wish that you should be put in command of the Euphrates steamer
and of any other steam vessel or vessels that may be employed on the Tigris or the
Euphrates" Previously to the receipt of your instructions from India, you will make
all necessary arrangements respecting the stores of the late expedition under Colonel
Chesney, and the wreck of the Tigris, and you will take care that any engagements
entered into with the Arabian tribes or other authorities in reference to those objects
shall be strictly fulfilled. You will in concert with, and under the guidance of, Colonel
Taylor enter into friendly communications with the tribes frequenting the rivers of
Mesopotamia, and will endeavour to establish with them such relations as may be
serviceable to the interests of Great Britain, and may add to the facilities for a speedy
and regular transmission of mails between the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and the coast of Syria.
"You will be furnished with a chart of the Euphrates, executed by the late ex
pedition, and you will complete the surveys of that river and of the Tigris, making
such astronomical, geographical, and statistical observations as the more direct objects
of the service may permit. You will report to us, and to the Indian Government, on all
subjects connected with the service in which you are employed, and will exercise a sound
discretion in obeying the letter and spirit of your instructions.
"The Governor-General of India in Council will be requested to defray the
expenses you may incur in the recovery of the property of the Tigris, and in the fulfill
ment of the engagements of the late expedition, of which you will keep a separate
account, in order that they may eventually be reimbursed to the East India Company
by His Majesty's Government."
297. In June 1839 the Hon^ble tlie Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. sent out
from England (in frame work, via the Cape) three additional iron
steamers for service on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, named the
Assyria, Nimrod, and Nitocris ; the ship in which the materials for these
vessels were forwarded from England arrived at Bussorah on the 22iid
December 1839. In a letter, dated the 3rd December of the same month,
the Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. forwarded to this Government copy of a letter which
that authority had on the same day addressed to the Right Hon'ble
the Governor-General of India in Council, containing the following
instructions in regard to these vessels :—
" When the three steamers, which were shipped on the Urania, shall have been
put together and equipped and manned for service, it is our desire that they,
together with the Euphrates steamer, should be subject to the same control
and superintendence as we have already assigned for the Euphrates. It is not our
wish that the Superintendent of the Indian Navy should originate any orders as to
the particular duties on which four steamers on the Mesopotamian rivers should be
employed; and we desired Lieutenant Lynch and the officers and others under his
command may be considered as acting under the advice of Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor,
the East India Company's Agent in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , subject to such directions as may
be given by you. Copy of this letter was, on the 20th .January 1840, forwarded to the
Superintendent of the Indian Navy, Lieutenant Lynch, and the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in
Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , for information and guidance."
298. The three new vessels, above alluded to, were put together
immediately on their reaching Bussorah, and from that period until May
1842 the steam flotilla on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, consisted,
inclusive of the Euphrates, of four vessels, the whole being placed, in
conformity with the above orders of the Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. , under the
charge of Commander Lynch. In consequence of orders from the Gov
ernment of India, the Euphrates, Nimrod, and Assyria steamers were
withdrawn from the Euphrates Flotilla for service on the River Indus,
the first mentioned vessel on the 13th May, the second on the 29th June,
and the third on the 13th August 1842. These three vessels arrived in