Notes dealing with the Egyptian navy in the first part of the 19th century after Navarino. Part I

Ron van Maanen

I just used for this contribution digitalized books which I found on the internet using terms ‘Egypt’ and ‘Navy”. The books I found and used are mentioned below. As there is not much published dealing with the Egyptian navy in this period or perhaps better to say not available, these notes are perhaps useful to others. There is a warning to be made; authors used sometimes information from already published by others, probably without checking if the information was correct. There are two major books to be consult, namely G. Durand-Viel. Les campagnes navales de Mohammed Aly et d’Ibrahim (Paris, 1935) and Georges Douin. Les premières frigates de Mohamed Aly, 1824-1827 (1926).

Niles’ Weekly register (1826): “France. The frigate built at Marseille for the Pacha of Egypt, which got ashore at the time it was launched, had not yet been got off”.

The Court Journal (1833): “His navy has now become formidable, and is superior to those of the Porte and the Barbary States combined. It consists of numerous ships, new, well-rigged, well-armed, manned by good crews, and commanded by experienced and intelligent officers”.

The Asiatic Journal (March 1834): “The navy consisted in 1833 of the following vessels: the Mehemed Ali of 120 guns; the Grand Pasha, 120, on stocks, and seven or eight frigates and corvettes. In the whole there are twenty-seven sails. All these vessels, with the exception of a few, were constructed by an eminent French shipbuilder, named Cérisy, to whom the Pasha had given the title of Bey; they are in perfect condition, but are commanded for the greater part by young and ignorant Arabs, who are from time to time kept in order by the application of M. Cérisy’s riding whip”.

B.B. Edwards (1834): “At Alexandria he [Mehemet Ali] has established a naval school, in which the Mohammedan students are instructed in the several branches of geometry, trigonometry, mechanics, and astronomy, connected with naval architecture and the science of navigation; and a dock-yard under the control and superintendence of an European naval architect, distinguished for his talents and his skill, in which, besides frigates and other vessels of smaller dimensions, four ships of the line, three carrying 110 guns upon two decks, and one of 130 guns, have recently built”.

The Parterre (1835): “The Pacha of Egypt and his navy. Mehemet Ali by his vigorous decisions in regard to his navy had already produced good effect: the Europeans officers did justice, and with admiration, to these changes and their results. The Pacha one day invited the commander of an English frigate to come out into the roads with the Egyptian sloops, upon the deck of one which he was in person. The vessels manoeuvred against te wind. The Pacha made a signal to tack about: the English frigate took only two minutes for it, and his sloops six. Mehemet Ali watch  in hand, said to the naval officers around him, “We are still but children; do you not see that in a fight these men would send us three broadsides for our one?”

John Auldjo (1835) presented a list of the navy of Mohammed Ali that year: Masr (138 guns), Acre (138 guns), Mahallet-el-Kebir (100 guns), Mansourah (100 guns), Alexandrie (96 guns), Aboukir (90 guns), Jaffaria (62 guns), Bahirah (60 guns), Rashid (58 guns), Kafr-el-Sheïkh (58 guns), Sheergehat (54 guns), Damietta (50 guns), Mufti Gehat (22 guns), Tantah (24 guns), Pelenga Gehat (22 guns), Psyche (22 guns), Fouah (20 guns), Genah Baharia (20 guns), Cervelli (20 guns), Satalia (20 guns), Washington (18 guns), Semuda (18 guns) and Timsah (13 guns).

The Cristian Review (1837): “he [=Mehemet Ali] is creating a powerful army and navy”.

Thomas Waghorn (1838) supplied some information dealing with the Egyptian navy around 27 December 1837: “The Pasha’s fleet is at present composed of nine sail of the line, of which four are of 100 guns and upwards, six frigates of 60 guns, four corvettes, seven brigs, three steamers, and one 10-gun cutter. On the stocks, two line-of-battle ships. Officers and sailors, 16,000 effective men, of whom 800 are officers”.

Michael Russell (1838): From the same authority [according to a note Mackenzie] we learn that the fleet lying at anchor in the harbour of Alexandria consist of five or six hips of the line, several frigates, brigs, and sloops of war, all commanded by Turks and manned by Arabs. Nothing can exceed the order and regularity which prevail on board these vessels; the decks are beautifully clean, the brass railings and mounthi8ngs highly polished; and the guns, gun-rooms, and warlike stores every way unexceptionable. But is not concealed that as their lower timbers are decayed, many of these splendid vessels are not sea-worthy; and that it would be unsafe to make a voyage even to the coast of Syria in some of them which have the fairest appearance. Besides, the crews, generally speaking are composed of inexperienced young men, brought from the interior, the great majority of whom have never been outside the harbour. The commanders and officers, too, are indifferent sailors, possessing little science and hardly any experience. Such a fleet may be formidable when engaged with an Ottoman squadron, but against a European naval force, their bravest efforts could accomplish nothing. The “Nile”, a steam-frigate of a thousand tons, is the finest vessel in Mohammed’s service. She has English engineers. A surgeon from the same country, but is manned and officered in the same manner as the rest of the fleet. A recent traveler, [Semilasso, prince Puckler Muskau] who has published a report of the Egyptian navy for the present year, gives a somewhat more favourable account of its conditions and capabilities. The effective fore he reckons at eight line of battleships, seven frigates, four corvettes, eight brigs, besides steamers and armed transports. On the stocks there are four ships of the line, and three first-rate frigates of sixty guns each. The naval school of Rassetin contains twelve hundred pupils, who are educated, clothed and entirely maintained at the expense of the government, besides receiving a small salary. Of the young men trained in this seminary, some are exclusively devoted to the sea-service, while others are employed in the general branch of the administration. There are, besides, two school schools  entirely nautical, kept on board the Acre and Mansurah. The number of pupils varies according to circumstance; their allowance seems to be liberal; and in order to confer honour on the institution as well as on the naval profession at large, the vice-roy has enrolled his own son, Sahi Bey, in the list of cadets.

Effective force of the Egyptian navy in the year 1837.

Ships of the line 30 pounders; Acre, 104 guns, 1200 men; Masser, 104 guns and carronades, 1200 men; Mohallet et Kubra, 100 guns, 1150 men,  Skander, 100 carronades, 1150 men; Mansurah, 100 carronades, 1150 men; Homs, 100 carronades, 1150 men; Beleng, 96 guns, 1000 men and Aboukir, 82 guns, 950 men.

Frigates 24 pounders: Avadalla, 64 guns and carronades, 600 men; Raschid, 60 guns and carronades, 580 men; Beherah, 60 guns and carronades, 580 men; Mufta Deschehad. 60 guns and carronades, 580 men; Kaffer Dschehad, 60 guns, 580 men and Damiat, 54 guns and carronades, 500 men.

Corvettes 50 pounders; Tantah, 24 carronades, 200 men; Dschen al Buchar, 24 carronades, 190 men; Belinghi Dschehad, 22 18 pdr carronades, 190 men and Dschehad Beker, 22 carronades, 190 men.

Brigs: Schacks, 18-10 pdr carronades, 120 men, Washington, 18-10 pdr carronades, 100 men; Semende Dschehad, 18-10 pdr carronades, 100 men and Beber Dschehad, 18-10 pdr carronades, 100 men. Scheinderi, 16-10 pdr carronades, 90 men; Themsach, 16-12 pdr carronades, 90 men; Shabal Dschehad, 14-16 pdr carronades, 90 men and Cutter, 16-16 pdr carronades, 90 men.

Steamboats: Nile, 4-30pdr carronades, 150 men and one anonymous, 2 Paixhan guns and 150 me.

Totally 1428 guns and 14,600 men.

Ships now on the stocks; No. 9, ship of the line, 30 pdrs, 100 guns and carronades;

No. 10, ship of the line, 30 pdrs, 88 guns and carronades; No. 11; ship of the line, 30 pdrs, 100 guns and carronades and No. 12, all parts of this ship are ready, but are not yet put together. Three first-rate frigates are in an similar state of forwardness”.

Sources

B.B. Edwards. The American Quarterly Register, vol. VI, London, 1834, p. 50-51.

John Auldjo. Journal of a visit to Constantinople and some of the Greek islands in the spring and summer of 1835.  London, 1835, p. 257-258.

Michael Russell. View of Ancient and Modern Egypt with an outline of its natural history. Edinburgh, 1838, p. 316-317.

Thomas Waghorn. Egypt as it is in 1838. London, [1838], appendix.

The Court Journal: Court Circular& Fashionable Gazette, 1833, p. 301.

The Cristian Review, chapter dealing with Jones’ visit to Egypt and Jerusalem, 1837, p. 11.

Niles’ Weekly register, October 1826, p. 135.

The Parterre of Fiction, Poetry, History, and General Literature, vol. III, London, 1835., p. 272.

The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australia, vol XIII, new series, January-April 1834. London 1834, p. 192.

Companion to the Newspaper and journal of facts in politics, statistics, and public economy. London, 1833.

Note

The traveler Semilasso, prince Puckler Muskau as Russell named him, was prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785-1817), a dandy, landscape architect, traveler, soldier and author. He wrote for instance Aus Mehemed Ali’s Reich (3 vols, 1844), using the authors name Semilasso).