HCS Sylph (1806)
The H[onourable] C[ompany's] S[hip] Sylph was a schooner launched in 1806 at the Bombay Dockyard for the Bombay Marine, the naval arm of the British East India Company (EIC). The EIC sold her circa 1826 and she became a merchant brig. There is no mention of her in accessible online sources after 1828. Career In October 1808 Sylph, Lieutenant W.C. Graham, commanding, was part of a squadron that delivered Sir Harford Jones from Bombay to Persia. While she was returning to Bombay she separated from the squadron and on the 20th encountered several dhows belonging to the Joasmi (Al Qasimi) tribe of the Arab coast of the Gulf. Lieutenant Graham was under strict orders not to fire until fired upon. The dhows came up to Sylph and without firing a shot the Arabs swarmed on to Sylph. They quickly slaughtered almost her entire crew. Lieutenant Graham was badly wounded and fell through a hatchway. Two men below decks dragged him into a storeroom and barred the door. The Arabs took possession of Sylph and started to sail away, not having searched her. Fortuitously HMS Nereide, which had been part of the British squadron, came on the scene. Captain Robert Corbett,