Page 456 - INDIANNAVYV1

421 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.

returned to Rai)j,^oon on tlio 27tli of September. Early ia
October, a detachineiit of troops was repulsed with heavy loss,
in attempting to escaUide the entrenchments surrounding the
Pagoda of Keykloo ; and, at the same time, another detachment,
imder Major Evans, embarked in a flotiUa of gun-boats, one of
which was fitted as a bomb-ketch, accompanied by the ' Satellite'
and ' Diana,' under the immediate command of Captain Chads,
and carried the breastworks and stockades, which formed the
defences of the village of Than-ta-bain, about thirty miles
distant from Rangoon. In this affair Lieutenant (the late
Admiral Sir) Henry Kellett highly distinguished himself,
though the storming party of soldiers carried off the honours of
the day. Sir Archibald Campbell, having determined to
occupy the city of Martaban, an Expedition was fitted out, the
naval portion of which, under the command of Lieutenant
Keele, of the ' Arachne,' consisted of seven row gun-boats, one
mortar-vessel, six gun vessels, all of the Company's service,
thirty men from the ' Arachne' and ' Sophie,' and an armed
transport having on board four hundred and fifty troops, the
whole being under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin.
On the 29th the flotilla opened fire on the city, and at five o'clock
on the following morning, a portion of the troops and the
seamen stormed the forts and other defences, when sixteen
guns and a large amount of war materiel were captured.
Some good service was done at this time by the officers and
men of the Hon. Company's frigate 'Hastings,' which was
stationed at Cheduba. A military correspondent at Cheduba,
:—
writes in a letter dated August 12th " I took a sail in the
Company's frigate, ' Hastings,' on the 17th and 18th of July,
to look at a stockade of the enemy's on the north-west point of
the Island of Ramree, and also to destroy some boats said to be
collected in a creek near it, and in which it was apprehended
they would take a run over to destroy the villages, and disturb
the natives on this island opposite their point, and return
before daylight. The distance is eight or ten miles across.
We anchored some distance from the point, which we have
named ' Hastings Point,' in honour of the ship and her first
action. Soon after daylight on the 18th, the gun-boat, the
laimch of the ship, having an 18-pouuder carronade on
board, with the two cutters having a part of the Bombay
P^uropean Regiment on board, were sent to reconnoitre the
shore and sound towards it. The beach was soon covered with
natives when they perceived our boats aj)proaching, and they
commenced a sharp fire from musketry and some guns, until
by signal orders, we returned to the ship by seven a.m. I think
our gun-boats and musketry surprised a few who will no longer
tell the tale. The stockade, and a long line of entrenchment,
was discovered by the reconnaissance in a small bight of land,