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HISTORY OF THE IXDIAX NAVY. 283
his confinement, that he was nnable to enter on active dutj' until
1822, when, on Captain Mack, of tlie Marine, being drowned
while piloting the Hon. Company's ship ' Buckinghamshire' out
ot" Bombay, owing to the heavy sea capsizing his boat, he was
promoted First-Assistant in the Master Attendant's Department.
He signalized the first year of his return to active employ by a
gallant ex])loit, and, in the words of the Superintendent of the
Bombay ilarine to the Governor of Bombay, " had the good
fortune, off Surat Bar, by great energy and risk, in heavy blowing
weather, to save the lives of a detachment of His Majesty's 4tli
Dragoons while under his convoy, for which he received the
thanks of Colonel Dalbiac* and the marked approbation of
Government."

prisoners, and ill-use them. So in the end it was agreed to keep me for the
present.
" Mj release was effected at last through our Political Agent, Captain Ballan-
tine, who prevailed on the Nawab of Joouu^hur to use liis inilucnce to get
anotlier Kattee, who had forcibly taken Bavvawalla's Pergunna, or district, to
restore it to him, and Bawawalla thus having gained his object, set me free. My
sufferings during confinement were almost beyond endurance, and I used to pray
in the evening that I luiglit never see another morning. 1 had my boots on my
feet for the first month, not being able to get them off from tlic constant wet
until I was reduced by sickness. Severe fever with ague, and inflammation of
the liver c-ame on, and with exposure to the open air drove me dchrious, so tliat
when let go I was found wandering in tlie fields at uiglit covered with vermin
from head to fool. I shall never forget the lieavenly sensation of tlie ht)t bath
and clean clothes I got in tlie tent of tlie Nawab of Joonughur's Dcwan. The
fever and ague then contracted continued on me for five years, and the ill effects
still remain, my head being at tunes greatly troubled witii giddiness, and I have
severe fits of ague ; my memory is also much affected, but I can never forget
the foregoing incidents, though it is now upwards of fifty years since they
occurred."
* The following is an extract from a letter addressed to Captain Grant by
Colonel Dalbiac, commanding the 4th Dragoons, afterwards General Sir Cliarles
Dalbiac, Inspector-General of Cavalry, dated 29th May, 1822, and written at
" Arras while on the march to Khairah :"
"I felt confident throughout that the detachment would receive every assist-
ance which could possibly be derived from skill and exertion. Such, accoi-ding
to Lieutenant Coney's Report, has indeed proved to be tlie case, for it is to your
aid chiefly that I must ascribe the preservation of this valuable detaclinient.
Allow me then to exjiress tlie sincere obligation wjiich I shall ever consider
myself under for tlie inijiortant service rendered to tiiis part of the Regiment
under my command, wliich I have requested ]\lr. Meriton to communicate
in a particular manner to his Excellency the Commander-in-Cliief."
Captain Grant had already distinguished himself as a philanthropist, and Cap-
tain James McMurdo, Political Agent at Kattywar, sent a correspondence to the
Bombay Gazette, which appeared in (hat ]iaper on the 2Gth of January, 1820,
describing the noble work ho had done among the poor inhabitants of Kowrinar,
when they had been stricken with tlie plague. Of this correspondence we
will only' insert the two following letters. The Ser Soobah of Kattywar
wi'ites :
"As a river of sweet water brings relief to the world, so liave you extended
your favours by the wisdom of your actions. We are in friendship one. Tlie
Supreme who keeps the j;lobe without visible support, who baa spread tho
heavens like a tent, is always in our remembrance. Since you have left us wo
have never forgot you, and we daily exjiect news of you. In the meantime, we
have received from the inliabitants of Kowrinar reports of the assistance you
were to them when they were attacked by the Mirgce [cholera morbus) : for this