'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎111] (130/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
Ill
Then at Bashire, where aship almost always lay at the disposal
of the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , the ward-room and gun-room officers
each had a house, with reading-rooms supplied with English
papers—heaven save the mark! the date of the latter, six and
nine months old, immediately brought vividly to the know
ledge of the would-be reader that he was indeed an exile. It
was this hardship that was almost unsupportable, especially to
those who had enjoyed the refining influences of home, or the
older officers who had families in England; for in the days
before the Persian War, there was no regular mail from Bombay
to the Persian Grulf, and only when a cruiser arrived to relieve
another, or a casual sailing ship, (for a merchant steamer was
never seen), dropped anchor in Bushire, was any news received
of the outer world, or letters from the dear ones in England.
It was this utter expatriation, more than the detestable climate
and the discomfort and confinement on board a miserable little
brig or sloop-of-war, that would have tried even Mark Tapley
himself; and when the only resource was an exchange from
the intolerable heat of Bushire Roads, where the ship lay three
miles off the town, " like a painted ship on a painted ocean," to
the even hotter pearl banks of Bahrein, it is only surprising
that more officers did not betake themselves to the last resource
of despairing humanity, drink, or suicide.
^ In May and June, 1840, the troops, stationed at Kharrack
since the date of its occupation, were relieved by others, and
returned to Bombay in the ' Drongan' and ' Lord Castlereagh'
transports. On board the latter, which sailed on the 28th of
May, there embarked about one hundred and eighty Sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank.
of the 24th Native Infantry, and one hundred of the Marine
Battalion, making, with followers and ninety-five of the crew,
about four hundred and forty souls. On the night of the 17th
of June, during a terrible gale, she was off the mouth of
Bombay harbour, and, mistaking the lights of the 'Lord
William Bentinck/ transport, from London, which had gone
ashore a few hours before on the rocky ledge called the Prong,
stretching out from the lighthouse of Colaba, she made for
them, and took the rocks close to her. It has been the custom
to deride the courage of natives when brought face to face
with death on the ocean, but this is what the captain of
the ' Lord Castlereagh' says :—" It is impossible to describe the
coolness with which the Sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. worked all day, and their
apparent cheerfulness under the dreadful calamity." Their
behaviour adds another leaf to the laurels gained by the
Marine Battalion, who owed much of the handiness and
coolness they displayed in the supreme moment of peril, to the
lessons learnt on board the ships-of-war of the Indian Navy.
The conduct of the Sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. contrasts favourably with that of the
European recruits on board the ' Lord William Bentinck,' for,