'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎552] (571/622)

552
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
him, stated that the scene of the massacre was on the opposite
coast, near Ullolleh, upon which the 6 Semiramis,'taking the
' Penguin' in tow, proceeded to Bunder Muryah, where she
anchored on the 25th of October. Here the 'Penguin'
remained, and Commander Adams, taking with him Lieutenant
McHardy, and having secured the services of a man to point
out the exact scene of the massacre, proceeded to Baraida,
where, on the 26th of October, and again on the following
morning, he sent on shore a strong armed party under
Lieutenant McHardy, and Acting-Lieutenant Morland of the
4 Semiramis,' accompanied by Captain Playfair, to explore and
seek out traces of our murdered countrymen.^
* The following is Lieutenant McHardy's report to Commander Adams
" Having by your orders landed in command of the party despatched from H.M.'s
ship ' Semiramis,' to search for evidence of the massacre of the boats' crews of
H.M.'s steam gun-vessel 'Penguin,' I have the honour to make the following
report: On landing yesterday afternoon, we separated a short distance and
traversed the beach, hoping to find some of the bodies ; we soon had proof, by
finding some remnants of the unfortunate mens' clothing, that we were at the
place of the massacre; that numbers of huts had recently been removed was
apparent, by the remains of fires and fresh goats' dung. Captain Plavfair ac
companied us on shore with the old Soomalie that, at his request, you brought
from Bunder Muryah. Soon after we came across the first traces of our mur
dered countrymen, I observed this old Soomalie making off. Lieutenant Mor
land called to him to stop. As he did not comply, I ran after and stopped
him, and put him in charge of the interpreter (Juma). Following this Soomalie
separated me a little from the more advanced of our party; when I came up
with them, I learnt that a piece of our cutter had been found burning, close to a
small hut, which Captain Playfair immediately set fire to. One of your men
who had searched further from the beach than the rest, informed me that he had
seen two huts, and a Soomalie run out of one of them; on receiving this informa
tion, myself and Lieutenant Morland expressed our opinion to Captain Playfair
that it was imperative they should be burnt, as we had already fired one. He
agreed; and we proceeded to the spot where the man stated he had seen them,
and there we found five wretched huts all containing some of the property of the
murdered men or gear of the boats. Amongst the things found were a small
pair of parallel rulers and a camel's hair pencil that had belonged to Sub-
Lieutenant Fountaine, which had certainly not been in the water; this proves
that the boat was not capsized in the surf, as some of the Soomalies have stated.
We set fire to the five huts, and then returned on board as it was dark; on our
way the old Soomalie again tried to get away from us. This morning, by your
orders, I landed with the same party, with the exception of Captain Playfair,
who did not accompany us to make further search for the bodies; we came across
three more wretched huts, about two miles inland, which we burnt; they all
contained something that had belonged to our boats. Just after setting fire to
these huts, a Soomalie was observed a few hundred yards ahead; we gave chase,
and shortly afterwards heard the report of a musket or rifle; I think it was the
latter. W e proceeded in the direction of the sound, which was the same as the
Soomalie had taken, until we observed fifteen Soomalies on top of the hill on one
side of a deep ravine, while we were about half way up the hill on the other side
of the ravine; they were unfortunately not within range of our muskets, and to
have attempted to reach them over such ground as it was, would have been mad
ness." Lieutenant McHardy then details the steps he took to induce one of
them to point out the spot where the bodies were buried, but all his attempts
were vain. He adds :—" The interpreter told me there were seventy Soomahes
on the hill, although I only saw fifteen ; he also stated that there were a much
larger number just the other side of the lull. Endeavours to induce one of the
Soomalies to trust himself with us failed, and I reluctantly ordered a return to the