Page 265 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

11
CHAPTER III.
Naval arrangements on abolition of the Indian Navy, 1863—1871.
(i) Difficulties experienced in the Persian Gulf for want of a local Navy after the
abolition of the Indian Navy in 1862: the Shah s desire to have a Navy.*

3. On the abolition of the Indian N.avy at the end of 1862, it was
No. 77, dated 30th August 1861. from Secretary agreed by the Secretary of State for India
of state, to Government ot India (Marine). that the duty of protecting British interests
n..NnroPiXd.is&,Via.^,i?.r,n' in.the Indian Seas, and specially of main-
No. 55, dated a-'th November 1862, from Secre­ taining the maritime peace in the Persian
tary of Stale, to Government of India (Marine). Gulf, of overawing the slave traders on the
Hast Coast of Africa, and of cruising in the Red Sea, should devolve upon
vessels belonging to the Royal Navy. Practically, however, this change was
not found to work well. The limits of the East India Station were so extensive,
the climate in many parts so detrimental to health, and the calls made by local
authorities upon the Commodore for ships of war were often so numerous, that
an efficient supervision was out of the question. '1 here was always more work
than the squadron could undertake, and the shortcomings of the new system
were brought to the notice of the Supreme Government. We may note the
various occasions on which the Government of Bombay and the Political Agents
under its control were crippled for want of naval means to enforce their orders.
4. In July 1863, Her Majesty’s ship Pantaloon, which, under the new
arrangement, had been stationed in the
Political Proceedings, March 1S64, Nos. 3-11.
Red Sea, was taken away, and for some
months the Commodore was unable to send a substitute, his squadron having
been weakened by the necessity of sending several sloops to the eastward.
Nothing then remained at the disposal of the Resident at Aden, but the Govern­
ment Steamer Victoria and this vessel was under orders in September for the
Mekran Coast to lay out a special survey in accordance with the instructions
of the Secretary of State. Meanwhile the slave trade in the Red Sea was being
carried on with increased activity, and the British merchants at Hodeida were
trembling for their, safety, in consequence of an anticipated attack by the
Ascers, the most powerful tribe in Yemen, and the knowledge that no vessel
was available for their protection. The absence, too, of a ship of war at Aden
had been, severely felt on the occasion of the stranding of the Peninsula and
Oriental Company’s Steamer Rangoon. Had there then been a steamer avail­
able, it was probable that she could have been tugged into harbour at once, but
as it was, she had to wait till help was forthcoming, to the great risk of her
M ..... T cr hull. Upon these grounds the Govern-
meat of Bombay urged the Secretary of
State to follow the example by which the Pleiad had been allotted to Zanzibar,
and the Clyde and Sir Hugh Rose temporarily to the Persian Gulf, and to
No. 46. dated ath April 186S. to Sccretaiy of allow a similar indulgence for Aden.
State (political). The Government of India, in bringing
these facts to the notice of the Home authorities, contented itself with express­
ing a wish that the Admiralty would be speedy in providing for the defence of
the Indian Seas. To theso references the
No. a6, dated 30th June 1864 (Marine).
Secretary of Slate replied that, by the
separation of the East India and China Stations of the Royal Navy, and by the
union of the latter to the Cape of Good Hope Station, there was every reason to
expect that the Admiral at Bombay would be better able in future to meet the
calls made upon him for the Indian Seas. Should the force at the disposal still
prove to be insufficient, it would be his duty to ask for additional ships from the
Admiralty. Sir Charles Wood, however, saw ho reason for giving the local
Residents permanent control of war ships, and therefore not only declined to
accede to the application of the Bombay Government for a steamer at Aden,
but recalled the Pleiad from Zanzibar, and ordered that the Clyde and the Sir
Hugh Rose should only he kept in the Persian Gulf so long as their services
were required inlaying the submarine cable.
• Borrowed partly from a note by Mr. Girdlcstonc, dated ajth February 1869.