Brian, An HMS Arachne was very much to the forefront of the Burmese War in the 1826-30 period. Though with the time span you mention and the Navy reusing ships names it may not be the same vessel; no mention of your Montgomerie was shewn in my copies of the History of the Indian Navy. A rather sour note was added at the end of this campaign that the Indian Navy officers were not rewarded as well as were all of the Royal Navy ones who mostly were promoted and given awards. The "Bombay Marine" were the main force and it didn't go down to well that eventually their Commander only received a Knight Batchelor rather than the Order of the Bath dished out to the Navy!!!! Not much changes in this world...{;}}> Peter D Rogers, Suffolk UK -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Some twenty years ago my aunt gave me a watercolour which bears the > inscription: "H.M.S. Arachne 18 guns" - John E. Montgomerie, Commander, > Campache Bay, Gulf of Mexico, 26 June 1859." It's a rather fine painting > of the ship under bare masts in a storm. I asked my aunt how she owned it > but she couldn't remember. > Some years later, when researching my family history, I discovered that my > great-great-aunt, Jane Farrington (1833-1916), had married a Thomas E. > Montogerie. Further research showed that this Thomas Montgomerie worked on > the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, and it was he who first > surveyed K2, the second highest mountain in the world, in 1856 (I think). > I then twigged that there must be a connecttion with the John Montgomerie > of the painting. Sure enough - they were brothers; John died unmarried. I > suppose the painting came from widow Jane to her niece, my grandmother, > and then to my aunt. > Thomas Montgomerie's survey notes are in the Bodleian Library in Oxford - > the India section near Blackwells bookshop. The K2 was merely Number 2 in > the Karakoram Range. It was called Mt Godwin-Austen when I was a > schoolboy, but reverted to K2 later. > It's connections like this that make researching family history so > rewarding - and fascinating. > > Brian Duncan > > (currently in Kirtlington, Oxon, returning to Gettysburg, PA, tomorrow)# > > Researching: Duncan, McKennie, Dinwiddie, Bracken, Farrington, etc.