Hi Paul Thank you for your reply, most helpful I was struck by the fact that the "Tornado" left for the Gulf on March 11th, just a week after the Treaty ending the war was signed and apparently before the troops themselves knew the war was over. The Government originally wanted the troops out fast because the unhealthy hot season was about to start.The second time the "Tornado" left for the Gulf, May 23rd, the Indian Mutiny had broken out. There was lots of discussion in parliament about getting troops there quickly, whether steamers were superior to sailing ships in this respect. As the "Tornado" carried emigrants to Australia, presumably she wouldn't have needed much if any modification to go and collect troops (and Government supplies, her Captain reported). Thank you Paddy as well. I've been reading accounts of the Indian Mutiny and I rather wish I hadn't Clare Hi Clare >One shouldn't forget that the French, British, Turkish and Sardinian >governments had hired, leased and even purchased many hundreds of >Comerica vessels during the Crimean War, from, I think, 1854-1856, which was so soon followed by the Second China War, the Indian Mutiny, as already noted, and as you say, the Anglo-Persian problem, so the Admiralty and the War Office, along with their counter-parts in Europe, were well versed in acquiring vessels for the purposes you describe, as were the various shipping companies in meeting that demand, and often making exceptional profits, often due to the uneconomic way in which the vessels were used, particularly by the War Office, who often used the vessels as store ships once they had arrived on station, particularly during the Crimean War, which had the effect of inflating the cost of transporting goods worldwide, and delayed, for some years, the introduction of steam ships on regular services to the Antipodes, because most of the best shipping was acquired for government purposes, so was, in the main a commercial decision, although, no doubt, there was presumably some form of patriotic duty or expectation, but at the same time British ship owners were also happy to provide shipping to the French government too. Paul >Hello >Also, bear in mind that the Indian Mutiny broke out on 10 May 1857. >Paddy