'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎502] (521/622)

502
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
inducing them to place the resources of the colony entirely at
the disposal of the envoy of the Indian Government. # Within
sixteen hours the 33rd Regiment and a half battery of Artillery,
with guns and stores, were embarked in the 'Pottinger' and
4 Canning/ which Captain Jenkins chartered, and these ships
had sailed for Bombay, where they arrived on the 4th of August,
at a most critical moment. On the 25th of July, the Peninsular
and Oriental Company's steamer 6 Madras' arrived from Bom
bay, having on board Acting-Master D. J. Kennelly, LN., as
agent for transports, under the orders of Captain Jenkins, who,
having, in the meantime, detained and chartered the Royal
Mail steamer 'England,' bound from London to India, de
spatched her, with Mr. Kennelly as Agent, to East London in
Cape Colony. On his way, Mr. Kennelly, acting on his instruc
tions, stopped at Algoa Bay, whence he proceeded to East
London, where, on the 16th of August, he embarked the 89th
Regiment, numbering thirty-three officers and seven hundred
and one rank and file, on board the steamers 'England' and
6 Ocean Wave,' and returned to Bombay, touching at Mauritius
for coal.f These regiments arrived at Bombay on the 11th
and 12th of September, and proceeded immediately to Gogo,
en route to Ahmedabad.
On the 27th of July Captain Jenkins sailed, in the 'Madras,'
for Algoa Bay, where he arrived in a heavy westerly gale, on
the 3rd of August. Landing a duplicate despatch, he sailed, on
the following day, for Simon's Bay, some four hundred miles
distant, which was reached at one a.m., on the 6th of August.
# As tlie powers conferred on Captain Jenkins were deficient as regards the
Navy, over which to this day the Government of India has no authority, an
anomaly which, for the good of the public service, ought no longer to exist, as it
might cause disaster in critical times, Captain Jenkins appealed to Sir James
Higginson to exercise the authority vested in him as Vice-Admiral, and his
Excellency accordingly wrote the following letter, dated the 26th of July, though
he said it was without precedent:—"Captain Jenkins, of the Indian Navy, is
employed by the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. upon special service, the import
ance and emergency of which it is impossible to overrate, and I venture
to solicit the active co-operation of any ships of the Boyal Navy that
he may happen to fall in with, in furtherance of the object of the
- ission in which Captain Jenkins is engaged. An essential service may be
rendered to Her Majesty's Government as well as that of India by such
co-operation."
f Mr. H. L. Anderson, Secretary to the Bombay Government, wrote to Com
modore Wellesley, "that the Governor in Council concurs with you in con
sidering that Mr. Kennelly has exhibited great zeal and activity in the
proceedings which form the subject of the correspondence forwarded with your
letter, more particularly in laying in provisions for the soldiers at Port Elizabeth
when directed by Lieutenant-General Sir James Jackson not to do so, by
which a delay of several days was avoided." "When horses were required to
mount the cavalry, Mr. Kennelly's services were onee more called into requisi
tion, and he was despatched from Bombay to Melbourne, in the iron transport
' "W anata,' under instruetions from Commodore "Wellesley, dated the 22nd 01
December, 1857, to make arrangements with Colonel Scobie, the re-mount agent,
for the despatch of vessels to Bombay and other ports in India, with cargoes oi
horses.