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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 201
of the results of so ranch and such lengthened labour and priva-
tions was always a source of poignant regret to Lieutenant
Hayes.
A pleasant instance of true and disinterested friendship is told
in connection with this survey of Lieutenant Hayes. His absence
from Bombay was so protracted that, in default of all reports
from, or concerning him, the Government came to the conclusion
that he and his ships had perished, and, at length, ceased to pay
to his wife, the late Lady Hayes, the remittances authorized by
her husband, thereby reducing her to great distress. But there
was a true friend in Bombay, who, confident that the gallant
officer would some day turn up, personally took to the sorrowing
lady the monthly remittances as they became due. IMr. F
lived to see liis conviction verified, for the gallant Hayes sailed
into Bombay one day, and the Government and his friends—how
many were there besides the good Bombay merchant?—regarded
him almost as one who had risen from the dead. We need
scarcely say that his first act was to repay the good Samaritan
who had supported and befriended his wife during the long
period of supposed widowhood.
This closes the record of the hydrographical labours of tlie
officers of the Service in the last century, for the outbreak
of the Revolutionary War necessitated the employment of all
the ships and officers in the life-and-death struggle in which this
country was involved with the gigantic power of the Directorate
and of Napoleon, and with the Dutch and other allied nations
who had possessions in the East.