'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎73] (92/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
73
Company's brig ' Nautilus,' wrecked on west coast. Small-pox
broke out on board, and very great sickness prevailed ; of all
the officers, Lieutenants Young and Campbell, and Mr. Christo
pher, were alone able to do duty. The, cases were:—Commander
Moresby, fever; Lieutenant Pinching, died; Lieutenant Powell,
small-pox ; Midshipmen An experienced sailor, but not a commissioned officer. Barker, Riddell, and Manners (of
the 'Nautilus') fever; Jones, dysentery; and Captain's Clerk
Hutchinson, died. Forty of the crew on sick-list, with fever
and dysentery. May: reached Bombay, and went into dock."
On the return of the 'Palinurus' to Bombay, early in 1833,
the examination of Hadramaut, or the southern coast of Arabia,
was commenced, the Government being desirous of establishing
coal depots at Macullah and the Island of Socotra for the line
of steamers from Bombay to Suez. So little of the coast of
Hadramaut was known, that there was an inaccuracy of eighty-
five miles in the latitude of Macullah, and there were other
errors in the topography of the Kooria Mooria group. The charge
of the survey was entrusted to Commander Haines, whose
officers were Lieutenants T. G. Carless, J. R. Wellsted, ana J. P.
Sanders; Midshipmen An experienced sailor, but not a commissioned officer. F. Jones, J. S. Grieve, C. J. Cruttenden,
J. Rennie, and A. Ford. Commander Haines quitted Bombay
in the 6 Palinurus,' in October, 1833, and, after running up the
Gulf with despatches, about the middle of November reached
his ground off Cape Isolette, called also Ras Madraka and Ras
el Jezirat, in 57° 51' East longitude. He had finished about
one hundred miles of the coast in about a month's time, when,
in pursuance of fresh orders, he proceeded to Kisseen, in order
to obtain permission to survey Socotra from the principal chiefs
of the Moharah tribe, to whom the island owed nominal alle
giance. Commander Haines anchored at Kisseen on the 28th
of December, and, on the 31st, had a conference with two
young chiefs, Ahmed Ibn Said and Abdullah Ibn Affick, who
gave him full powers to do all he thought necessary, and also a
firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). , directed to the chiefs, to show him every civility. The
6 Palinurus' sailed from Kisseen on the 4th of January, 1834,
and, on the 9th, arrived at Tamarida, the chief town of the
island. On the following day. Commander Haines commenced
a trigonometrical survey, which he continued without intermis
sion until the 14th of March, when he returned to Tamarida,
having made the circuit of the island. So accurate was the
survey that on the whole measurement of the circumference,
1974 miles, he was only 186 yards out. It was a laborious
task, on account of the weather and baffling winds, and the
short period occupied in its execution. Commander Haines
being anxious to fulfil the wishes of the Directors,
who requested that the plan of the island might be
sent home by the first steamer. He and his officers worked
incessantly, Sundays not excepted, and Commander Haines