"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٤‎٩] (١٧٨٢/٣٩٢)

249
that they cannot have supplied the defidcn--« -V regard to local infer-
mation of a marine character.
The crisis at Masqat in 1866 illustrated the dangers inseparable from
the want of a local naval force. Had the " Berenice," a ship it would seem
of the Bombay Marine, not been at hand, it migl^ Lev- ;:cn impossible to
provide in time for the safety of British subjects ; jor ic '..'as not until the
' Berenice " with the refugees aboard her had reached Khor-ash-Sham that
H.M.SS. " Highflyer " and "Octavia^ appeared at Masqat. It being
contrary to the orders of the Admiralty to employ Royal Navy vessels as
guardships for telegraph stations, the <c Clyde ^ and c ' Hugh Rose " of the
Bombay Marine were stationed at Gwadur and Khor-ash-Sham to afford
protection required in consequence of the revolution in 'Oman.
A little later in the same year H.M.S. Pantaloon " was compelled to
leave the Gulf suddenly, as a demand for her services had arisen on the
coast of East Africa ,• and the progress of peace negotiations with the
Wahhabis and the investigation of numerous maritime irregularities
that had occurred were both perforce interrupted.
These occurrences drew from the Resident, in correspondence with the
Government of Bombay, the following observations :
The Tfaj to piovide for the maritime police of the Gulf ia to have an armed vessol al?
the disposal of your representative in the Gulf-such vessel to be adapted for coasting
work, to be efficiently armed and manned from England, and to he under the ordsrs of
the Indian Government. Her Majesty's troops come out to India for long terms, and
serve under the Indian Government; work would he much facilitated if the same rule
obtained in regard to Her Majesty s ships of war. If this cannot be, then the next best
thing might, peihaps, be to htne an Indian Naval Staff Corps serving aboard vessels
built for the Indian Government, but built in England with all the modern fittings and
improvements of the English Dockyard.
The great disturbance of the peace Avhich occurred on the coast of 1867-68
Qatar in October 1867 exhibited the deficiencies of the new naval system,
or want of system, in a glaring light. Except the Bombay Marine gun
boat " Hugh Rose/' which could only steam for eight hours at a time and
was manned entirely by natives of India, the first vessel to become avail
able was the " Sind/ ; also of the Bombay Marine, which arrived on the
spot in an inefficient condition in May 1868; and in the following month
there were symptoms of a renewal of trouble on a large scale. Only at the
end of July or beginning of August 1868 did H.M.S. " Vigilant " reach
the Persian Gulf and make possible those punitive and repressive operations
which ought to have been undertaken many months earlier,