2-979-671 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in the Persian Gulf - Margill, the Residence of the British Consul, near Bussorah, [Basra], 1857. Engraving after a sketch by 'an officer belonging to the expeditionary force...Margill...is three miles above Bussorah. In front of the residence lies the Honourable East India Company's armed steamer Comet, Captain Selby commanding. This small vessel, styled by the wild Arabs "the Swift Firefly," is literally armed to the teeth with offensive and defensive weapons, and is held in great terror by the predatory tribes of the coast'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.