Page 432 - INDIANNAVYV1

400 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.

ships to Bombay.* In addition to exploring the East
African Coast the officers of the j\lission made a brief vocabuhiry
of the Soowalie, Soomalie, and Galla dialects, and collected
much information relative to the political and commercial state
of Zanzibar and the adjacent portions of the continent.
Captain Court died at Calcutta on the 9th of September,
1821, universally regretted,! and was interred with the military
honours due to his rank, the Hon. Company's surveying ship,
'Henry Meriton,' firing minute guns, and a large detachment of
H.M.'s 87th Regiment, under the command of Colonel Shaw,
C.B., escorting the remains to the grave. He was succeeded in
the office of Marine Surveyor-General of India by Captain
Daniel Ross, F.R.S.—a man possessing attainments as a marine
surveyor far in advance of his time—with Captain John
Crawford of the Marine, who had been engaged in the Red Sea
survey under Captain Court, as his chief assistant. Captain
Ross, who was called the "Father of the Indian Surveys,"
introduced, among his subordinates, the scientific methods
which he had employed with such good results in the China
Seas. Captain Ross had many difficulties to combat, and
between the years 1824-26, the Burmese War caused the
interruption of the survey s.^ when the surveying ship ' Research,'
Captain John Crawford—with Messrs. C. B. Richardson and C.
Montriou, of the Marine, as his officers—was fitted with ten
guns, and participated in the military operations, when Mr.
Rogers, the second officer, Avas killed in action. However,
during a portion of these years. Captain Ross was enabled to
* For details of this voyage see " Observations During a Voyage of Research
on the East Coast of Africa from Cape Guardafui south to the island of Zanzibar,
in the Hon. Company's cruisers ' Ternate,' Captain T. Smee and ' Sylph,'
schooner, Lieutenant Hardy. (Vol. vi. of " Transactions of Bombay Geographical
Society, p. 23-61.)
t The " Calcutta Journal " of that date paid the following tribute to the
—
wortli of Captain Court: "In the year 1813, he had the misfortune to lose his
wife, one of the daughters of Sir George Holroyd, wlioni he had married in 1809
while in England, a young lady whose personal attractions were only surpassed
by her unassuming virtues and superior mental attainments ; fi-om that period to
the termination of his own earthly career, he shrunk from the world's observa-
tion, and never regained the wonted serenity of his mind nor the vigour of his
faculties. The sevei'ity of his premature loss confirmed that disposition to retire-
ment which was congenial to the natural modesty of his mild and unassuming
character ; and although he possessed, in tlie resources of his cidtivated and
accomplished understanding, and in the amiable virtues of his heart, most of
tiiose qualities which contribute to adorn the intercourse of private life, or which
are conducive to distinction in a more extensive sphere of action, he nevertheless
passed the remainder of his life in a seclusion, which, if it witlidrew him from
public observation, was yet favourable to the cultivation of those characteristic
endowments which he chiefly valued, and the benign and gentle influence
of which has left an indelible impression on the memory of his surviving
friends."
X The following is a return of the cost of the Bengal Marine Surveys from
1821 to 1824. 1821-22.—Annual expense of survey vessels 'Nearchus,' 'Minto,'
' Sophia,' and ' Henry Rs. 1823-24!,—Annual expense of
Meriton,' 1,19,055.
survey vessels ' Research and ' Investigator,' Es. 59,379.
'