Page 445 - INDIANNAVYV1

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 413

great size, all of which Captain Goodridge destroyed, together
with a large quantity of muskets and other arms, and four-
teen guns were taken on board the ' I\lercnry.'
Sir Archibald Campbell meanwhile, })roceeded to Rangoon*
with the main part of the Expedition. The mouth of the river
was reached on the 10th, and, on the following morning, the
fleet of ships-of-war and transports, led by the 'Liffey,' sailed
up the river, and, in a few hours, arrived off the city. (Com-
modore Grant anchored his frigate opposite a landing place,
called the King's ^\^larf, where was a battery of from twelve
to sixteen guns. The infatuated Burmese defenders of this
work, had the temerity to open fire on the ' Liffc^y,' wdiich, how-
ever, effectually silenced them l^y a broadside. The troops
were soon landed, and, in twenty minutes, the town was in
possession of the British commander; thus, bloodlessly as far
as the British were concerned, fell Rangoon, in which were
captured seventy guns, eighteen carronades, and twelve smaller
pieces of ordnance.
On the 15th of May, the lion. Company's ships ' Hastings '
and 'Teignmouth' arrived, and, a few days later, the former
was sent to Cheduba to relieve H.I\I.S. ' Slaney,' which pro-
ceeded to Calcutta, and was not engaged in any of the subse-
quent operations of the war. Nothing of moment occurred
during the remainder of the month, except some fighting
on May the KUh, at Kemniendine, about three miles above
Rangoon, and an affair, on the 28tli, at Johazong, about nine
or ten miles from the British lines, where the Commander-in-
Chief was in personal command; in both these actions the
stockades were carried with the utmost gallantry, and the Bur-
mese received a lesson of what they might exj^ect if they stood
to receive a charge of British bayonets. In the ('omniander-
in-Chief's returns of the casualties between the 21st and .'Ust
of May, the only seamen killed was a man of the ' Tei.nn-
mouth,' who is specified as having been "killed whilst sound-
As it was found that a ship of the class of the ' Liib-y t could
not proceed up the river, she left Rangoon on the iilst of May,
when Connuander Marryat assumed command of the squadron
* Eangoon is situated about twouf y-eiglit iiiik-s from tlio »cn, on the northern
bank of a main brancli of the groat irniwadd.v river ; the cilv ut this time ex-
tended for about nine hundred yards along tlie bank, witli a width of iibout nix
hundred or seven hundred yards at its widest part. The eentre of tlie town wm
protected by palisades ten' or twelve feet high, strengtiioned intoruuiljr by
earth.
t The 'LifTey' proceeded to Penang, whore Commodore O rant, C.B., died on
the 25th of July following, t^hortly after this, H.M's. ship ' Sophie ' wns sent to
Calcutta for provisions, aiui Captain Marryat being temporarily laid up willi illnesn,
was removed to the lines near the ttreat Pagoda. The mortality and sick-
ness during this first Burmese War, was far in excess of Unit encountered by I ho
Expedition of 1852.