The Euphrates Expedition
John S. Guest
Kegan Paul International
A daring but little-known voyage by a British expedition in the early days of steam travel is the subject of this fascinating history by John Guest.
The Euphrates expedition was an attempt by the British government to achieve a geopolitical end by a technological means. The objective was to halt Russian expansion in the Near East, which some observers saw as a threat to India. The instrument was to be a flotilla of iron-hulled paddle-wheel steamboats that would patrol the long stretch of the river Euphrates from the Anatolian mountains to the Persian Gulf. There was another aspect to the enterprise: Thomas Love Peacock, the novelist friend of Shelley who worked for the East India Company, believed that the Euphrates valley could be a commercial route from Britain to India. The Euphrates was believed to be navigable for most of the year: the expedition was to undertake a proper survey.
Francis Chesney, an artillery officer turned explorer, was placed in command of the expedition, which was funded by the British government and the East India Company-Two iron paddle steamers were built at Birkenhead, shipped in sections to the Syrian coast and transported on wagons to the Euphrates, where they were assembled and launched on an uncharted waterway in a country where no form of steam locomotion had ever been seen.
The narrative draws on contemporary accounts, including drawings by expedition members, to describe their hopes, lengthy efforts and sufferings, occasional comic experiences and ultimate disillusionment.
Besides Peacock, Chesney and their companions, the work covers King William IV and the Duke of Wellington, who supported the project; Byron’s friend John Cam Hobhouse, who backed Chesney but later dismissed him; Thomas Waghorn, who promoted a rival route to India by the Red Sea; Pauline des Granges, the only woman on the expedition, her Austrian husband and two self-styled Afghan princes who swindled them out of their money.
John S. Guest was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Harvard Business School. He was born an Englishman but later took American citizenship. From 1941 to 1946 he served in the British army in Iraq, Iran and Egypt as well as in Europe. He was a merchant banker in New York from 1946 to 1989. He is the author of The Yezidis, published by Kegan Paul International. | 
