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326 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
guns ; ' Fury,' eight guns ; and ' Stromboli,' bomb-ketch. The
troops, who were embarked on board four large transports,
consisted of Her Majesty's ()5th Regiment, flank companies of
Her Majesty's 47th Regiment, a detachment of the Bombay
Artillery, and about one thousand Sepoys, the whole being under
the command of Colonel Lionel Smith, of the 65th Regiment.
The fleet sailed from Bombay in September, and it had not
quitted the harbour twenty-four hours before an accident
occurred, involving loss of life. The ' Stromboli,' bomb-ketch,
was in tow astern of the ' Mornington,' when suddenly her
bottom fell out and she foundered, carrying with her Lieutenant
Taylor, of the Bombay Marine, Lieutenant Sealy, of the
Bombay Artillery, and the greater portion of her crew.
The despatch of this vessel, laden with a heavy cargo of
ordnance and shot and shell, on such a mission, was due to the
most culpable carelessness. It appears that a long period
anterior to this she had been condemned as unfit for service,
and, for three years, lay moored, as a floating battery, off the
entrance of Tannah River, as is called the strait which separates
the island of Salsette from the mainland. From thence she
had been removed to Bombay Harbour and moored off" a sunken
rock, whence she was taken on the strength of the squadron and
fitted out to cross the stormy Arabian Sea, and carry the heaviest
and least buoyant cargo that a ship can be freighted with.
After a long ])assage the Expedition reached Muscat, where
it remained some days to refresh and arrange the future
plans. The Imaum, on whose behalf the Expedition had been,
in a great measure, undertaken, regarded the project of an
attack on Ras-ul-Khymah with so small a force as ill-advised,
but the British officers and men were sanguine of success. The
fleet at length sailed for Ras-ul-Khymah, and the desperate
resistance they encountered did not belie the Joasmi reputation
for courage and resource.
The ships arrived off" that town on the afternoon of the 11th
November, but, in consequence of the shallowness of the water,
the frigates were notableto approach within four miles; the Com-
pany's cruisers, however, owingto their smaller draught, anchored
as near as two miles.* Earl}' in the day. a small Joasmi squadron,
consistingof the full-rigged ship 'Minerva,' carrying twenty guns,
and four dhows, were on the point of proceeding on a cruise, but
seeing the hostile armada, they immediately up helm' and made
'
for their harbour. Owing to its being low water the 'Minerva'
was unable to get in, but ran aground under a small fort about a
mile south of the town, where, being attacked by the smaller
vessels and gunboats, her crew were driven out of her, and she
* See Report of Captain Wainwright to Eear- Admiral W. O. B. Driirv, Coin-
mander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's ships, dated " H.M.S. ' la Cliiiloiiue.' oti' Ras-ul-
Khymah, NoToiuber 14, 1809."