Page 430 - INDIANNAVYV1

3^»8 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
which had recentl}' captured the 'Fly,' hut upon his arrival at
B()uiba3% he found that the enemy was a prize to ILM.S.
' Concorde.' Lieutenant Court was then, at particular request,
appointed to command the ' Panther,' and proceeded with Lord
Valentia to the Red Sea, where he prosecuted a tedious, an
arduous, and a difficult survey of the Abyssinian coast, with
great credit to himself and perfect satisfaction to his lord-
ship.
'• Soon after his return to Bombay in 1807, he was selected
to be my assistant, and from his attention, assiduity, and
ability, I have derived such valuable aid in the discharge of my
public duties, that I part from ]\Ir. Court's services with the
utmost regret, and shall ever hold them in thankful remem-
l)rance."
Beside the survey of the China Seas, two vessels, underthecom-
mand of Captain Maxfield—the same officer who had done such
good service in the ' Antelope,' and in command of the 'Assaye,'
tender to the 'Panther,' under Lieutenant Court, between
the years 1803-6—were employed surveying the Ba}^ of Bengal
and searching for various shoals. His chart of the coast from
Sungor Point to Lighthouse Point, at the mouth of the Hooghly,
from a survey executed in 1816, was in use until it was super-
seded by Captain R. Lloyd's work in 1841. In 1821 Captain
Court sent Captain Maxfield in the ' Henry Meriton,' to
investigate the capabilities of an anchorage inside the Armagon,
or Arniogham shoal, north of Madras, Lat. 14° 1' N, Long.
80° 10' E., in consequence of a report by the Commander-in-
Chief in Lidian waters. Admiral Sir H. Blackwood, that H.M.S.
' Leander' had found safe anchorage there for four days during
the monsoon. Captain Maxfield, who made a chart of the
shoals of Pulicat and Armagon, spoke favourably of the
anchorage inside the latter, since known as Blackwood's
Harbour. He observes in his report, which was published by
order of the Madras Government, on the 19th of July, 1822,
that, "it offers many public advantages, and from its vicinity
to Madras, promises security to shipping trading to that place,
which is no where else to be found on the coast of Coro-
mandel,"
In 1810 Captain Horsburgh was appointed Hydrographer to
the Company, in succession to Mr. A. Ualrymple, who had died
two years before. Captain Horsburgh* had brought out the
* Captain Horsburgli held the office of Hydrographer up to the time of his
death in 1836. The following fourteen charts, comijiled by Horsburgh, -were
published by the Company, viz. :— 1. North Atlantic Ocean. 2. South Atlantic
Ocean. 3. Part of the Indian Ocean. 4. East Peninsula of India. 5. West
Coast of Sumatra. 6. Straits of "Rhio and Durian. 7. Straits of Banca and
Graspar. 8. Carimata Passage. 9. Strait of Sunda. 10. Chhia Sea (two sheets.)
11. Canton Eiver. 12. East Coast of Cliina. 13. Eastern passage to China
(three sheets.) 14. Trucks through Pitt Passage and Dampier Strait (1793j.