| On the morning of the 24th a suspicious looking Dhow was sighted and we at once headed for her a cutter was manned for boarding her if she could not account for herself being in that part. We got within speaking distance of her & she turned out to be a coasting dhow bound from Muscat to Bombay. We then let her go & proceeded on our journey to Karachi where we safely arrived at 6.30 pm. We man & arm boats on the morning of the 26th & afterwards we prepared ship for coaling. 27th Beached all boats and coaled ship 175 tons On the 30th Maxim gun crews were exercised ashore at Manora, which is at the entrance to Karachi harbour. Remainder of crew being employed in scrubbing down. Mail left at 4pm for England. We were given leave every evening here and we had good times ashore with the West Yorks. Reg. 3rd June, we got the bower anchors out & we received sailing orders. Prepared for sea & left Karachi at 6 pm for the dreaded Persian Gulf. We had a good passage crews being exercised at small arms companies and cannon tube firing. On the 5th we carried out and completed qtrs. firing. Shooting was good. On the 6th we arrived & anchored at Muscat, which is at the entrance of the Persian Gulf in the Gulf of Oman. We did not stop long for at 6 pm we weighed anchor and proceeded to Jask. Arrived Jask 7th landed mail & left at 7.30 am for Bushire to relieve H.M.S. Cossack who was ordered south. H.M.S. Assaye at Jask On the 9th we arrived at Bushire where we found H.M.S. Marathon anchored. We anchored about 4 mile off shore, as anchorage is bad here. We did not remain long for at 5.30 pm we got under weigh & proceeded to Koweit where we expected to find the Cossack 10th We fired torpedoes at sea & arrived at Koweit at noon where the Cossack was awaiting us. We anchored & she at once sent off an invitation to our ships company to attend a concert on board. Of course we accepted and an enjoyable evening was spent 11th Cossack left for Bombay Boats crews were exercised at boat sailing during evening. 12th We cleaned ship for action and afterwards exercised general quarters. Time at Koweit was very monotonous as there was only a few huts to be seen everything else was desert sand. The weather was very trying being very hot with hot winds & the atmosphere at night was very damp. There is no harbour we anchored about 2 miles off. The only thing to break the spell is the arrival of the mail boat on Sundays. On 17th we man and arm boats. Mrs Pears health drank being her birthday. We were now employed painting ship till the 21st when we went to general quarters & had cannon tube firing. Great sadness prevailed onboard on account of the death of J. Ford P.O. First class, from the dreaded fever. He was well liked on board & all hands missed him very much. 2nd We weighed anchor & proceeded to sea where poor Ford was buried with naval honours ships company very much affected by the ceremony. 3rd Arrived Bushire where H.M.S. Marathon was at anchor. We took on board her steam pipe, which had developed defects & proceeded to Karachi. Arrived at Karachi 8th and all got ready for 24 hrs general leave as we had no leave up the Gulf. 10th Coaled ship 250 tons. Leave granted to ship�s company by watches 28 hrs. 12th At 6pm we received a telegram to the effect that we were again needed up the Gulf 13th Left Karachi at 6.30am for Koweit. We had rather a rough passage. We arrived at Bushire on 16th. Our stay here was short. On the 17th we left Bushire for Koweit & arrived there at 11.30 am on the 18th. We now eagerly watched events as trouble was going on at Koweit between the Turks from Bussorah & the native Sheik & we were here to prevent attack by the former. At noon on the 23rd signalman espied a strange vessel hovering around the horizon & the Perseus at once raised steam & went after her. We soon overhauled her. She was a Turkish man o� war. She was hove to. Our captain at once boarded her & her captain said that he had troops & stores to land at Koweit. Our captain informed the Turk that if he attempted to land at Koweit we should take action to prevent him from doing so. The Turk replied that he was going to obey orders & he preceded us into Koweit. We anchored close off her but when it was dusk she weighed anchor & proceeded nearer town for the purpose of landing troops. But the Perseus was on her again & anchored near. We now burned searchlights & from us it looked as though she was prepared to land. We man & arm ship. Guns crews slept at their post all night. In the morning her captain came on board us & informed our captain that he had abandoned the idea of landing for the present & wished to proceed to Fas (Jac) to get more ships. We let him go & he left Koweit on the 25th. We now sent telegrams to the Admiral, the mail boat which happened to be here, taking them to Bushire, asking for more ships as we were the only ship up the Gulf except the dispatch boat Sphinx. Our time now came to do our quarterly firing so on the 17th August we left Koweit for a few days & proceeded to Kharag Island. 18th Arrived Kharag Island. Marathon here. 19th We done our prize firing 4�. Target being fixed on end of island. HMS Marathon marked for us, firing very good. |
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