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632 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. — —

voyage, although, on account of the great expense of coal
which, it appears from the Report of the Calcutta Steam Com-
mittee of November, 1833, was Rs. 46,250 per voyage, the
receipts from passengers and letters averaging only Rs. 14,225
the Court of Directors had desired the Bombay Government notto
send her again, "except on emergency." On her return from Suez,
she brought London news fifty-nine days old—an unprece-
dented feat in those days. In February, 1836, Commander
Wilson was appointed Comptroller of Bombay Dockyard,
having made seven voyages to Suez, and one, in May, 1834, to
Bassadore in the Persian Gulf with the mails, thus having the
double honour of being the pioneer of steam navigation in the
Red Sea and Persian Gulf. In 1838, he retired from the
Service, but, from that date to the day of his death, in December,
1875, never recived any acknowledgment, honorary or other-
wise, for his great services in promoting steam communication
between England and the East.
The Governor of Bombay in Council, in accepting his resigna-
tion of the Service, said that he " had much satisfaction in ac-
knowledging on this occasion the long and meritorious services of
Commander Wilson, more particularly those which he has
rendered in the first introduction of steam communication by
the Red Sea." Sir John Malcolm, writing to him on the 31st
of January, 1832—to ask his acceptance of a pocket chrono-
meter, " as a light mark of my friendship and esteem, as well as
of the sense I entertain of your kindness, when I had the good
fortune to be in a vessel under your command"—adds, " I have
done my best to promote the steam navigation by the Red Sea,
but your exertions and that of others in the honourable Service
to which you belong, will do more to further this natural
object than all the efiorts of us land-lubbers."
On the 1st of May, 1830, the following Government Order
was published, in which the claims of the Bombay Marine to
be officially designated the Navy of India, a claim they had
made good by two centuries of arduous and faithful service,
—
were at length recognised : " Bombay Castle, May 1st, 1830.
In accordance with a communication from the Hon. the Court
of Directors, the Hon. the Governor in Council is pleased to
announce, that the Bombay Marine will henceforward be deno-
"
minated the ' Indian Navy.'