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388 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
on the same island, which continued to be the head-
quarters of the Indian Navy squadron np to the date of its
abolition.
In 1823 the military force hitherto retained in the Gulf since
the Expedition to Ras-ul-Khymah, was removed to Bombay,
and the Bombay Marine squadron was left alone to fulfil the
police duties of this inland sea. The year 1824 found the
Service employed in a new sphere of active duty, but before
treating of the part taken in the Burmese War by the Bombay
Marine, we will detail the services of its officers in the more
peaceful domain of Maritime Survey.
Though the preceding chapters, detailing the operations of
the Hon. Company's Marine between the years 1793-1821, is a
record of continuous service against the French, the Dutch,
the pii'ates of the Eastern Archipelago and of the Persian
Gulf, and other enemies of the Compan}- by land as well as
by sea, a record which, considering the strength of the Ser-
vice, it cannot be gain-said was both varied and brilliant, yet
the Bombay Marine did not neglect those scientific achieve-
ments with which the name and history of the Indian Navy
will ever be identified. The small squadron of Company's
cruisers were hurried, almost without intermission, from one
field of active service to another; from tho capture of Ras-ul-
Khymah to Mauritius, thence to Java and the Eastern Islands,
then back to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea ; but yet, amid
the toils and dangers of active service, a small band of officers
was constantly employed in surveying, and extending our know-
ledge of, the Eastern seas between Japan and the Cape of Good
Hope.