"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٣‎٣] (١٧٨٢/٣٧٦)

233
A dispute probably having' arisen in regard to the relative position of
the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the Commander of the
Indian Naval Squadron there, instructions on the subject were issued by
the Government of Bombay at the beginning of 1841 to the Superinten
dent of the Indian Navy. The most important paragraph of the Govern
ment letter ran as follows : "In the first place the Honourable the
Governor in Council declares the authority of the Resident to be para
mount in the Persian Gulf, and places the entire Indian Naval Squadron
which may at any time be stationed in that quarter at the disposal of the
" Resident for any service which he may deem it advisable to assign to it,
" either wholly or in part, and this officer is responsible for his acts to no
" other authority than to that of the Government whose representative
"he is."
On the other hand the Commodore on the Station was to remain
" absolute master of the internal details, discipline, equipment and
organisation of every vessel under his command."
It was added that there was nothing in the rules laid down derogatory
to the honour or independence of the Indian Navy, because the Resident
was the representative of Government, and that it was essential to the
public interest that a good and perfect understanding should always exist
between the two officers.
The following extract from a letter addressed by the Government of
Bombay to the Resident in the Persian Gulf at the end of 1843 casts
much light on the difficult conditions under which naval duties were
carried on there at the time :
I am directed to inform you that the Saperintendent of the Indian Navy has
recently brought to the notice of Government the evils which have resulted from the
practice of detaining vessels of the Indian Navy in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea
for the immoderate pariod of two or three years.
The Honourable the Governor in Council, having taken this subject into considera
tion, is satisfied that the practice is destructive of the best interests of the service,
ruinous to discipline and efficiency, prejudicial to the health of the crews, and a fertile
source of discontent.
In illustration of these evils, the case of the H, C. Sloop-of-War " Elphinstone,"
lately returned to Bombay, has been cited. This vessel reached Bombay in a most ineffi
cient condition , her crew debilitated by her long detention in the Persian Gulf,
aggravated by her having been injudiciously detained in a sickly port, instead of being
constantly kept in motion, which in itself is one of the best preservatives of health
and energy. On her arrival, from the above causes, she appeared more like convalescent
ship than an effective sloop-of-war.
The Governor in Council entirely disapproves of the practice which seems now to
prevail of keeping the vessels of war temporarily placed at your disposal stationary in
port, instead of keeping them constantly in motion and thus securing the chief object for
Eelative
position of
the Political
Resident and
thte Comman
der of the
Indian
Naval Squad
ron, 1841.
Orders re
garding the
undue deten
tion and
immobilisa
tion of
Indian
Navy
Vessels in
the Persian
Gulf, 1843.