'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎195] (214/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
195
April, 1847. There were lost in the ill-fated vessel, J. A.
Young, Commander; C. Eden, H. Ealph, T. Lawes, Lieutenants;
J. C. Carr, Assistant-Surgeon ; F. Nott, Mate; J. Soady, Mid
shipman; J. Croad, Clerk in Charge; W. S. B. Hadley, Captain's
Clerk; together with a crew of one hundred and forty-two
souls. This monument is erected by the Officers and Seamen
of the Indian Navy as a tribute of respect to their lamented
comrades."
The ' Cleopatra,' like some other steamships constructed by
contract in England and Scotland, such as the ' Akbar,'' Ajdaha,'
(added later) ' Queen,' and ' Sesostris,'* and the Zenobia,' (pur
chased into the Service) was a bad bargain from the first; the
finest and most seaworthy ships of the Indian Navy being the
'Victoria,' ' Semiramis,' (second of that name,) 'Auckland,'
and ' Ferooz,' (launched in 1848), which were all built at
Bombay.
Lieutenant J. W. Young, though unsuccessful in ascertaining
the fate of his hapless brother's ship, was enabled to relieve the
wretched inhabitants of the Laccadive group, over two of which,
Kalpeni and Underoot, the sea had made a clean breach, and
swept away two hundred and fifty persons; while one hundred
and sixty-two died from starvation on Underoot, and five hun
dred and thirteen on Kalpeni from hunger and when attempting
to escape to the Malabar coast. Altogether one thousand eight
hundred souls were said to have perished. The wretched sur
vivors had been subsisting on the roots of the young cocoa-
trees, and the opportune arrival of the 'Auckland,' with sup
plies, was the means of saving them from a lingering death.
Captain Biden, the well-known and highly-respected Master-
Attendant at Madras, wrote as follows of the relief afforded to
these poor islanders:—
" Except on a small bank off Minicoy, there is no anchorage
amongst the Laccadivcs. Captain Young had a most anxious
duty to perform on his approach to the islands, which was done
by steaming close to them and then backing off. On one occa
sion, the ■ Auckland's' boat was nearly swamped in the surf,
and could not be got through it when she attempted to
turn ; however, the natives carried the boat across the island
to where it was smooth water, and all the operations, in per-
lormance of a duty grateful to every British seaman, were well
and ably performed by Captain Young and all under his com
mand. Ihe poor famished people, so opportunely relieved,
^ Au g ust . 1849, Commander C. D. Campbell, reported of the ' Sesostris'
that she was so loose m frame and decayed in timber that in a seaway the butts
SL deck planks opened and closed, and he stated in his official report, that
she made so much water that he had to ease the engines when off Socotra. On
' wr 68 ' iu 118 ' • remembering the fate of the ' Cleopatra,' both the
Sesostris and her s 1S ter ship, the ' Queen,' had new decks laid
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