'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎553] (572/622)

HISTORY OP THE INDIAN NAVY.
553
to its
point
Somilij
Th® Semiramis returned to Muryah on the 29th of
October, to await the arrival of the Mijjertheyn Sultan. That
t V 1 . 1 ', ^ 0 ' 11 a PP ea rs, had warned the murderers that the
Bnt'sh Government would exact ample reparation, arrived on
the 2nd of November; and, on the following day, Captain
Playtair, accompanied by Lieutenant Commanding McHardy,
Acting Lieutenant Parker, Midshipman An experienced sailor, but not a commissioned officer. Chapman, and a lar^e
armed escort of seamen, had an interview in a tent, pitched to
the right of the fort, when, says Commander Adams in his
report to Commodore Frushard of the 16th of November, the
following terms were agreed to" The Sultan to be allowed
ten days, during which time he would catch as many of the
mmdeiers as he could (not less than twenty), to be delivered
up to us; restore all the plundered property he could collect,
and apologise on the quarter-deck for the insult offered to the
British nag and atrocity on Her Majesty's sailors."
Leaving the 'Penguin' moored off Muryah, at the request
of Captain Playfair, Commander Adams proceeded to Bunder
Cassim, and other ports, in order, as he says, to show our flag
along the whole extent of coast belonging to the Sultan, west
of Bunder Muryah. Having visited Bunder Cassim on the
5th, and examined several guns, apparently 24-pounders, which
were said to have been saved from the wreck of a vessel a great
many years ago, he weighed about nine a.m. of the 6th, and
returned to Muryah, steaming about one to one and a half
miles off shore. On the 10th, taking the 'Penguin'in tow,
the 4 Semiramis ' sailed to Ullooleh, and anchored in company;
on the 13th, the day appointed for delivering the murderers, the
Sultan and his followers arrived about noon, when Captain
Playfair and Lieutenant McHardy visited him. "About 1.15,"
says Commander Adams, "they returned with the Sultan's
Minister, when Captain Playfair informed me, that the Sultan
had not fulfilled the conditions, as he had only eight of the
murderers, that the previous da}^ he had a long investigation,
and satisfied himself that of a large number he had caught,
only the eight above-mentioned were concerned in the massacre ;
further he had only succeeded in recovering two rifles, a pistol,
and a sword, which being at some other village was not given
up. As Captain Playfair said he should protest against pro
ceeding to extremities, I urged as the ultimatum, that the
murderers should be executed by the Sultan, in lieu of being
hung by us, in the presence of the ships' companies; that
beach, which was obeyed, but clearly only from the force of discipline, for it was
very apparent that it was with a heavy heart that every man left the murderers
of his countrymen unscathed; but we stood at such a very great disadvantage,
owing to the nature of the ground, that an attack would certainly have been un
successful. From the information gained by Ealeoz, it appears that the bodies
of those murdered men who were not drowned were burned j we therefore re
turned on board, thinking any further search useless."