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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 373
killed, together with six out of the eight officers engaged,
exchisive of Captain Thompson and a Lieutenant Bothwell, who
was carried off by some Arabs, but died about two months
after, from fever brought on by fatigue and suffering. The
Arabs gave no quarter to the wounded, and even dragged out
of his palanquin the surgeon, who was sick, and butchered him
on the spot. The Jraaum displayed great personal courage,
and was shot through the hand while endeavouring to save an
artilleryman.'^
During the night the enemy made an attack upon the
entrenched camp, which was repulsed, but Captain Thompson
and his Highness, finding it could not be held, retreated with the
remnant of the force and those of the Imaum's followers that
remained, upon Muscat, which was reached on the 17th of
November.! During the defence of the entrenched camp Mr.
Fallon, Assistant-Surgeon of the ' Prince of Wales,' doing duty
with the troops, afforded much assistance in rallying and
collecting the dispirited Sepoys ; and, as Captain Tiiompson
says, " the Imaum, during the whole of these circumstances,
displayed an admirable character, and though wounded, persisted
in remaining with the detachment, and causing it to be supplied
with provisions, camels, shoes, and every assistance his country
could afford." Captain Thompson sent the 'Prince of Wales'
to Bombay with his official despatch, and returned to Deristan
with the remnant of his force, about four hundred and sixty
men, of whom more than half were camp followers. Shortly
after the return of this detachment, the 2nd Battalion 12th N.I.
arrived to relieve them, but so great were the fears entertained
at Deristan of an attack, that the ' Teiginnouth' proceeded over
to the Arabian coast to prevent the despatch of a hostile
expedition, but she found all (piiet : before her return all the
squadron were employed in transporting the troops to the town
of Kishm,! in the island of that name, though there was no
occasion for the alarm that had prompted this step.
During the Expedition against the Beni-boo-Ali, the detach-
ment of the Marine Battalion, consisting of two companies,
* The Imaum received a magnificent sword from the Governor-General in
July, 1821, for his gallant and loyal conduct.
t Captain Thompsom's despatch to Government, dated the 18tli of November,
1820.
X The troops were not actually stationed in the town, but on the summit of a
precipitous rocky hill, near the shore and about a mile to the 7iorth-west of the
town of Kishm, forming a very strong position. Lieutenant Brucks says that a
thermometer was hung to a tent rope, and the mercury rose to KiO", when the
instrument burst. During the eighteen months they remained here, five or ^is
otiicers and a large proportion of tlie men died from the intense heat. {Tide
" Memoir on the Persian Gulf," by Brucks, in tlie " Government Kecords,"
No. 24, 1856, page (iO?.) The cause of the intense heat in tliis cam)) was the
prevailing wind, or shemal, whicli blows along the island of Kislnn, or from west-
south-west, 80 that the breeze reached tliem heated by blowing along sixty miles
(the length of the island) of hot desert land and heated rocks.