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332 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
immediately mulerneath the castle walls. An Irish officer,
jumping up from his hiding place, and calling on some of his
comrades to follow him in an attempt to rescue the howitzer,
was immediately killed, and some others, who only raised their
heads to look around them, were picked off by the musketry
from above. The whole of the troops were accordingly ordered
to keep under shelter until the darkness of the night favoured
their retreat to the beach, whence they re-emb^rked after sunset,
without molestation
" Meantime," says Commodore Wainwright in his despatch
of the 7th of December, " the gunboats and the ' Fury,' which
being of light draught, had been towed within musket shot of
the fort, kept up a ruinous fire which very much shattered the
strong fort by sunset." A message was then conveyed to Moolla
Hussain in the castle, summoning him for a second time to sub-
mit, and fixing until two a.m. for the period of evacuation, when,
in the event of non-compliance, it was threatened that the
squadron should bombard the castle from a nearer anchorage,
and no quarter be afterwards shown. With the dawn of morning,
all eyes were directed to the fortress, when, to the surprise of
the whole Expedition, a man was seen waving the Union Jack
on the summit of its walls. This gallant action was performed
by an officer of the Bombay Marine, Lieutenant Hall, who had
commanded the ' Stromboli,' bomb vessel, at the time of her
sinking, but had saved himself by swimming, and now com-
manded the 'Fury, which was one of the vessels nearest to the
shore. "During the night," says Buckingham, "he had gone
on shore alone, taking an Union Jack in his hand, and advanced
singly to the castle gate. The fortress had already been aban-
doned by the greater number of the inhabitants, but some few
still remained there. These, however, fled at the approach of
an individual, either from deeming all further resistance
unavailing, or from supposing, probably, that |uo one would
come singly, but as a herald to others immediately following
for his support. Be this as it may, the castle was entirely aban-
doned, and the British flag waved on its walls by this daring
officer, to the surprise and admiration of the whole fleet." The
town and fortifications, together with eleven dhows, were then
taken possession of, an4 the latter were burnt. As Luft had
been taken by the Joasmis from the Imaum of Muscat, it was
delivered over, together with property to the value of ,£20,000
belonging to the Imaum, to Sheikh Dewish, head of a tribe of
Arabs friendly to His Highness. The loss in this aff"air was
very heavy, the squadron having twenty-seven killed and
wounded, including Mr. Hay, Midshipman of the ' Mornington,'
Mr. James W. Guy, Midshipman of the ' Ternate,' and Mr. T.
JSmith, boatswain of the 'Nautilus.'*
* See Captain Wainwright's despatch dated Burka Road, 7th December.