things are so bad that one fears that it may be too late to hope that
any great moral effect can be produced by one's arrival. However, I
have with me about 1,700 fighting men, and perhaps we may have more,
if we find a transport in the Straits, and take it in tow.

[Sidenote: Arrival at Calcutta.]

On the 8th August the 'Shannon' reached Calcutta. Her arrival is thus
described by Mr. Oliphant[6]:--

'As we swept past Garden Reach, on the afternoon of the 8th August, the
excitement on board was increased by early indications of the satisfaction
with which our appearance was hailed on shore. First our stately ship
suddenly burst upon the astonished gaze of two European gentlemen taking
their evening walk, who, seeing her crowded with the eager faces of men
ready for the fray, took off their hats and cheered wildly; then the
respectable skipper of a merchant-man worked himself into a state of
frenzy, and made us a long speech, which we could not hear, but the
violence of his gesticulations left us in little doubt as to its import;
then his crew took up the cheer, which was passed on at intervals until the
thunder of our 68-pounders drowned every other sound; shattered the windows
of sundry of the 'palaces;' attracted a crowd of spectators to the Maidan,
and brought the contents of Fort William on to the glacis.

'As soon as the smoke cleared away, the soldiers of the garrison collected
there sent up a series of hearty cheers; a moment more and our men were
clustered like ants upon the rigging, and, in the energy which they threw
into their ringing response, they pledged themselves to the achievement of
those deeds of valour which have since covered the Naval Brigade with
glory. After the fort had saluted, Lord Elgin landed amid the cheers of the
crowd assembled at the ghaut to receive him, and proceeded to Government
House, gratified to learn, not merely from the popular demonstrations, but
from Lord Canning himself, that though happily the physical force he had
brought with him was not required to act in defence of the city, still that
the presence of a man of war larger than any former ship that ever anchored
abreast of the Maidan, and whose guns commanded the city, was calculated to
produce upon both the European and native population a most wholesome moral
effect, more especially at a time when the near approach of the Mohurrum
had created in men's minds an unusual degree of apprehension and
excitem