Page 507 - INDIANNAVYV1

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY, 475
In 1823 a small brig of 192 tons, and carrying eight guns,
was added to the Service; she was called the ' Paliniirus,' and
no more appropriate name than that of the pilot of ^Eneas
could have been given to the little vessel, as for nearly forty
years she was employed as a surveying vessel, and in her
confined cabins were worked out the observations which
formed the basis of the beautiful charts for the production of
which the scientific officers of the Service were so famous. In
1824, was launched the ' Elphinstone,'* sloop-of-war, of eighteen
guns and 387 tons, and, on the 18th of July, in the following
year, a second sloop-of-war, of 420 tons, and eighteen guns,
was added to the Service, and named the ' Andierst.'f In
1826, a third ship, called tlie 'Clive,' was launched, and, in
the following year, a fourth, named the 'Coote,' both of these
being built on the same lines as the 'Amherst.'
In 1825, a change took place in the office of Superintendent,
by the resignation of Captain ]\Ieriton, who had greatly
distinguished himself in the Company's niercantile marine—or
" regular service," as it was called— to distinguish it from the
"freetraders." Captain Meriton had held the post of Superinten-
dent since the year 1813, when he succeeded Captain Money, a
man of enlightened views and great administrative capacity,
who had also served in the Company's mercantile marine.
Captain Meriton was a man of undoubted ability and integrity
of purpose, but he was unjjopular in the Service, and, instead of
striving to elevate the ]\Iarine, sought to subordinate its officers
allowance to your Marine olTicers should be definitively fixed, wo have witli that
view revised the regulations, and liave resolved —
:
Para. 8. " Tiiat the retiring pay to Marine officers, who have actually served
in India twenty-two years or upwards, be as follows, viz. : To the Maxtor At-
tendant and the Commodore, after having served five years in either of tliose
stations, £ 150. To Captains of the First Class, or Senior Captains, £3(J0. To
Captains of tlie Second Class, £270. To First -Lieutenants, £180.
I'ara. 9. "We have furtlier resolved that Marine ollicers retiring from ill-
health, after ten years' service, before they have completed that of twenty-two
rears, be granted one half of the retiring allowance of their rank as specified in
"the last paragrapli."
In August, 182(5, the retiring allowances of the Junior Captains were increased
to £293, and of First-Lieutenauts to £191 12.v. Cul.
* The ' Elphinstone' and ' Clive' were in existence at the date of the aboli-
tion of tlie Indian Navy in 18();j, and were as stauneii and seaworthy as on the
day they passed out of the hands of Mr. Nowrojee Jamsetjec, the Company's
builder at Bombay, though they had never been laid up, but were always in com-
mission.
t The 'Amherst' was so called after the Governor- Gcneml, as was tlio
'Hastings' launched in the previous year, after the late Goveruor-Gencnil.
Other ships of the Marine were named after successive viceroys, as the ' Tei^u-
inouth,' in honour of Sir John Shore (afterwards Lord Teignmoulhi, the
' ]\Iornington' after Lord Wellesley, and the ' .\uekland,' many years Inter, after
the nobleman of that name. The ' Kiphin-lone was called alter tlie Governor of
'
Bombay, tlie Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone; the 'Clive,' after Lord
Clive ; the ' Coote,' after Sir Eyre Coote and the ' Falkland,' after Lord Falkland,
;
Governor of Bombay.