'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎489] (508/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYY.
489
last century, of which fragments of brickwork were disen
tangled from the jungle. On the 30th of December, two boats'
crews of the ' Pluto,' under command of Mr. Cotgrave, with
the three members of the Committee, proceeded on shore at
Interview Island, in the Middle Strait between the South and
Middle Andaman, and were met by seven canoes, full of na
tives, who treacherously discharged a flight of arrows into the
cutters, by which Lieutenant Heathcote was severely wounded
in the thigh, one sailor was wounded in the back, and the
hand of a second was pinned to the boat's gunwale. The sea
men promptly replied with a volley, when three natives were
killed and fell overboard, one of them being a chief who had
deliberately taken aim at Lieutenant Heathcote. The natives
now retreated, but one wounded man was captured. - ^
The Committee having thoroughly examined the islands, on
their return to Calcutta reported in favour of Port Blair, or
Chatham, a striking testimony to the sagacity of Lieutenant
Blair, the discoverer, after whom it was named, as it was the
site selected by him, and was used as the convict settlement
between the years 1789-92, after which the establishment was
removed to another site in the North Island, known as Port
Cornwallis. On the 22nd of February, 1858, Captain EL
Man, Executive Engineer at Moulmein, by directions of the
Supreme Government, hoisted the British flag at Port Blair,
under a salute of twenty-one guns from the 'Pluto,' and took
formal possession of the Andamans in the name of Her Majesty
and the Honourable East India Company, and, on the 4th of
March, Captain Campbellf sailed from Calcutta in the 4 Semi-
ramis' with Dr. J. P. Walker, Superintendent of Agra jail,
appointed Superintendent of Port Blair, and two hundred and
fifty mutineers, being the first batch of convicts at this esta
blishment. Lieutenant C. B. Templer, of the 6 Semiramis,'
was appointed to the command of the Naval Guard of fifty
seamen, his officers being Midshipmen An experienced sailor, but not a commissioned officer. D. B. King and R. F.
Finnis, who were soon after relieved by Acting-Master H. A.
Wood, and Acting First Class Second-Master D. M. Morrison.
Ross Island, as also Chatham Island, and other spots, were
cleared of jungle by the convicts, of whom there were over
two thousand at the end of 1858; but the difficulties attend
ing the first settlement were great, as there was only the
primeval forest around, which had to be cleared before a tent
could be pitched, or a hut erected, and the rains were tremen-
* He was taken to Calcutta, but the garments of civilized life appeared irksome
to him, he fell ill, and, by Lord Canning's directions, was taken back and landed
at the very spot where he had been captured, when he speedily divested nimselt
of his habiliments and disappeared in the woods with a whoop of joy. . i .
f During the voyage. Captain Campbell visited Barren Island situated m
Lat. 12° 17' N. Long. 92° 54' E., and planted the British flag on the summit ol
the volcanic cone, 600 feet above the level of the sea.