Page 150 - INDIANNAVYV1

118 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.

injustice and impolicy of" thus turning adrift faithful servants,
deferred the execution of the (Jourt's orders initil their victims'
remonstrances could be referred home, the delay was only tem-
porary, and the obduracy of their masters left them no alterna-
tive. The marine establishment, as reduced, consisted of a
superintendent, eight commanders, one of whom was styled
connnodore, the rank of admiral being abolished, three first-
lieutenants, four second-lieutenants, four third officers, and six
masters of galivats, besides midshipmen whose number does
not appear. The superintendent's salary was =£220 per annum,
a commander's, from sixty to eighty rupees per mensem ; a
first-lieutenant's, from thirty-two to forty ; a second-lieutenant's,
twenty-four ; a midshipman's, twelve ; a surgeon's, from thirty-
one to forty : a gunner's, or boatswain's, twenty-two ; a car-
penter's, twenty-six; an able seaman's, nine ; a native officer's,
ten ; a marine topass's, six, and a Lascar's, five.
According to the Bombay Diary of 1742-43, the principal
-ships were the ' Restoration' and the 'Neptune's Prize,' the
former being manned by eighty Europeans of all ranks and
fifty-one Lascars : the latter b}^ fifty Europeans and thirty-
one Lascars. On each of the "prahims" there had usually
been thirty Europeans and twenty Lascars ; but these numbers
were now slightly diminished. According to another ]\1S.
authority of respectability, the strength of the Bombay Marine,
at this time (1742) was as follows —One ship of forty-four
:
guns, four of twenty-eight guns, four of eighteen guns, six
bomb-ketches, and twenty large galivats, employing nearly one
hundred officers and from seventeen hundred to two thousand
men. Probably this was just before the reduction. As fre-
quent complaints of favouritism were made by the officers, it
was resolved that promotion should be regulated according to
dates of commissions, and thus the seniority system was intro-
duced into the Service.
An immediate consequence of these reductions was, that the
mercantile marine, now larger than ever, suffered serious
losses from pirates, and the Company quickly found the error
of this policy of misplaced economy. The ' Tiger,' a galivat,
when disabled by a waterspout on her passage from Gombroon,
was boarded by subjects of the Seedee at Mufdafarbad. Her
crew, after a severe conflict in which seven fell, were over-
powered, and she was carried away as a prize; but, on a proper
representation being made to the Seedee of Jinjeera, whom the
Seedee of Mufdafarbad acknowledged as lord paramount, she
was restored. Near the port of Surat, Coolie rovers swarmed,
and waited for ^ their prey as the ships lying at the bar at-
tempted to discharge their cargoes. The treaty which. had
been made with Khem Sawunt was, as soon as the Govern-