'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎54] (73/622)

54
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
on shore upwards of four hundred native houses were destroyed,
roofs of houses torn off, trees blown down, and buggies
capsized." An officer on board the 6 Buckinghamshire,' which
lay, at this time, in the harbour, sends us an extract from that
ship's log, from which we take the following passage:—"Counted
sixteen ships on shore from Mazagon to the new Bunder
(Apollo pier) and one near the gun-carriage manufactory at
Colaba, making a total of seventeen/'
In September, 1837, Captain R. Cogan proceeded to England
on retirement, and, in the following December, Commanders
Rose and Igglesden also finally quitted India. Captain Cogan
had only sailed from Portsmouth on the 25th of October in the
previous year, in command of the royal yacht, 4 Prince Regent,'
which King George IV. had presented to the Imaum of Muscat.
Lord Elphinstone, the newly appointed Governor of Madras,
proceeded to India in the 4 Prince Regent' which touched at
Rio and the Cape, and anchored at Madras on the 5th of March,
1837, when his lordship landed. Captain Cogan then proceeded
to Bombay, where he arrived on the 8th of April, and thence
sailed for Zanzibar, where he delivered the King's present to
the Imaum, who received him as an old and valued friend, and
sent him to Bombay, with his officers and crew, in his Highness'
frigate ' Piedmontese.' Captain Cogan reached Bombay on the
24th of June, and, having fulfilled the mission of his Sovereign,
took a final leave of the Service in the September following.
In 1837, a select Committee* of the House of Commons,
^ Lieutenants Waghorn and Wellsted were examined before this Committee
regarding the question of the most suitable coal depots, and, while the former
stated that " Mocha is the best place that can be found in the Red Sea, and the
only depot required," and " the place for everything," Lieutenant Wellsted
gave his opinion, " most decidedly," that " Mocha cannot be made a station,
for during nine months of the year the southerly winds blow with such violence
that you can only communicate with the shore at intervals, and it is an open
roadstead. Again, in opposition to Waghorn, who declared that the harbour
in Camaran ^Island, about thirty miles to the northward of Hodeida, is " good
for nothing, and " altogether useless," having a bar across the entrance
all round, Wellsted said, that " the best station between Socotra and
feuez is Camaran, which is a good harbour, is partially susceptible of cultivation,
and that there is not any difficulty in the navigation into the harbour, the width
of the channel being a mile and a half." Both these officers spoke from
actual observation and experience, Waghorn, as he stated, having been at
Camaran "dozens of times," and Wellsted having been professionally employed
for three years in surveying the Red Sea; it is certain, however, that there is an
excellent harbour in Camaran Island, where shelter from all winds is found, and
though the entrance is narrowed to less than four cables, this is of no account to
a steamer Their opinion exemplifies the dictum as to doctors disagreeing,
bpeakmg of the relative merits of the various ports for coal depots, Lieutenant
Wellsted said m his evidence, "that he had surveyed the island of Socotra in
1834 : that it has two harbours, one available in the north-east monsoon, and one
m the south-west, but there is no single harbour sheltered in all seasons. The
water m these bays is perfectly smooth, they are easy of access for any sized
vessel with no danger in the vicinity. Good fresh water is obtainable there.
1 he detachment of troops left the island in consequence of the insalubrity of the
station they occupied j the mountains over the station, seven miles from the