JAMES RAYMOND WELLSTED WAS BORN IN 1805. BY 1821 HE WAS SURVEYING THE PERSIAN GULF UNDER CAPTAIN DANIEL ROSS. He was commissioned as a Midshipman (an apprentice officer) in the Bombay Marine (future Indian Navy) on 27 May 1823. Charles Malcolm, superintendent of the Bombay Marine (Indian Navy) employed Wellsted as his secretary in 1828. Wellsted writes that he joined the survey ship Palinurus, as Second Lieutenant on 12th October 1830. The ship charted the coast and Wellsted also travelled overland; as the only member of the ship he visited the Sinai Peninsula and then with Lieutenant Carless journeyed between Cosseir (modern Quseer) and Thebes (Luxor). Lieutenant Wellsted's next assignment was again on the Palinurus, with Captain Haines, on a survey of the eastern Arabia and the Hadramaut which began in October 1833. Wellsted's 'Memoir of the Island of Socotra' covered the period 10th January - 7th March 1834, during which his party of eight people explored the island. However, it was his 'Travels in Arabia', Volume 1, (Travels in Oman) that cemented appreciation of Wellsted. This was dedicated in December 1837, with her permission, to the new Queen, Victoria.
