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HISTORY OF THE INDIAX NAVY. 423
tion of the Rig-lit Hon. the Governor-General in Council.
Great praise is due to Mr. J. King, of the ' Narcissa,' and Mr.
Frances of the ' Tiger,' for the well-directed and destructive
lire which they poured into the war-boats; and I trust, as an
eye-witness, 1 may be allowed to express njy admiration of the
intrepid conduct of the officer commanding the detachment on
shore. The loss of the enemy in this attack cannot be correctly
ascertained, but from the number of dead in the boats captured,
and the crippled state of many others, it cannot be estimated
at less tlian two or three hundred men." The Commander-in-
Chief says in his despatch, of the VHh of September, to the
—
Supreme Government: "AH accounts concur in bearing
testimony to the resolute conduct of Mr. Crawford, in defending
his vessel, tlie ' Kitt}',' against superior numbers, although
wounded early in the attack ; and I beg leave to bring his name
to the favourable notice of the Right Hon. the Governor-General
in Council."
On the 9th of September, Lieutenant Fraser, R.N., was sent
to search for the passage up to Thontai by way of the Dalla
Creek, but, after an absence of three days, he returned without
being able to find it. Whih; on this service, Mr. Lind(iuist,
commanding a detachment oi' row-boats, was wounded liy a
musket-ball. Owing to the sickness* on board H.M.S. ' Larne,'
of whose original crew only twenty-seven remained, Comnuinder
Marryat proceeded to Penang, and did not return to Rangoon
until the 24th of December, 1824. On the loth of September,
Captain Henry Ducie Chads, who had arrived from England in
H.M.S. 'Arachne," assumed command of the naval forces at
Rangoon. Much was expected from this officer, who had
iuunortalized himself by his noble defence of H.M.S 'Java,'
of thirty-eight guns, in her memorable action, on the 80th of
December, 1812, with the United States ship ' ('onstitutiun,'
forty-foin- guns, after the death of ('aptain Lambert had placeil
him in command of the British frigate, and it may be atlded
that, on all occasions. Captain Chads proved himself eipial to
his re|)iitation as a first-class officer and seaman.
(Jaj)tain Chads commenced his service in rnu-mahby j>roceed-
ing, on the 19th of September, upon Panlang, where the enemy
liad established a post, with the 'Satellite' and 'Diana,' the
boats of the ' Arachne' and ' Sophie.' and a llotilla of nine gini-
boats and sixteen row-boats, of the Company's Marine, together
with five hundred troops under l>rigadier-General Fraser. The
Expedition having attacked ami captured several stockades,
* At this time tlie Eiiropeiui troops fit for sorvicc were r««(lnci'il to less than
one thoiisiind five hundred ell'eitives ; nevcn hundred and fortA-nine nion liiid
died, and upwards of one tliouaand had invahdcd. Tho fafnlity among the
native troops was not less, but tho ollieers and men of tlio Company's eruisei-n at
Rangoon, owins; to tlieir being neehuiatized l\v serviee in theao sou.s, did not
Buffer to anything like tlie same extent.