The English expedition that "Gardiner" represented, is the expedition of "John Murray", the most important man in marine and ocean sciences in the early twentieth century, who participated in the first voyage to explore the sea in remote places, using the ship "HMS Challenger" in 1872 for 3 Years.

Because “Murray” was so wealthy (he was a businessman), he left a testament to his son “Jack”, to set aside a portion of his company's money to do research in this area.

The son started to execute his father's testament and agreed with "Gardiner" to be responsible for organizing an expedition, which will allocate 20 thousand pounds sterling to it. This expedition will take his father’s name and they decided that it will go to the Indian Ocean, then they chose "MABAHISS" for this mission, which was made by the English company "Swan Hunter".

Later, when a reporter in Egypt asked Professor Gardiner: “How did you choose Mabahith?” He said: “We heard about it and found it is suitable for this purpose. We also know King Fouad’s fame for his kindness to scientific research. So we had confidence that if we requested it form the Egyptian government, we would find acceptance."

Gardiner's expectation was correct, and Egypt agreed to loan them "MABAHISS", but with conditions: “disclaiming its responsibility for any political problem arising from the expedition’s work, raising the Egyptian flag on the ship next to the "British", ensuring the safety of the ship and its passengers, the scientific staff include two Egyptians, one of them is from the Coast Guard department and the other from the College of Science, in addition to obtaining a part of what the mission will collect and a copy of the reports it will issue”.

The expedition approved all the Egyptian conditions, and "MABAHISS" that working in guarding the coast will play a new role for it, such as studying the chemistry of the ocean waters and the seabed and its biology.

This was at a time when Egypt know only "fisheries research", which was taken over by the British "Wimpey" in 1927, who formulated a program for research by a group of British and Egyptian scientists, the program that brought "MABAHISS”.

Hussein Fawzi came in the position of "Wimpey" in 1931, who was an ophthalmologist and became a member of the scientific staff on a "MABAHISS" trip. Before departure, "Fawzi" and members of the crew met with the king personally, and the Director of the Coast Guard and Fisheries Authority hosted a tea party for them on the "Princess Fawzia" ship and invited the ministers, the governor of Alexandria and senior officials.

After this ceremony ended, Muhammad Shafiq Pasha (Deputy Prime Minister) inspected the ship and its equipment. He found "MABAHISS" was ready for its long voyage, which it had never made before, as it was established to spend only 15 days at sea.

As soon as the ship move, everyone divided left and right, their Egyptian and English voices intertwined with the "crackling" of the woods. They packed their bags in the tight cabins, and arranged the tools and equipment in the middle.

After that, "Fawzi", the 33-year-old Alexandrian, met Seymour Sowell (head of the expedition and director of the Natural History Museum of India), who is twenty years older than him, and "Thompson", "McCann" and "Gilson" (professors at Cambridge University), and Abdel Fattah Mohamed (Teacher at the Faculty of Science at the Egyptian University), and Captain McKenzie (Commander) to review the trip's stations and locations with their numbers.

Forty people aboard the small "Mabahiss" differ in everything. That seems clear from their faces and talking, but perhaps what unites them other than the ship is that not realizing how they feel at this moment. They are afraid and excited at the same time.

First, they passed quickly through Port Said, then Suez, then Hurghada, where they went to the “Aquatic station”, hosted by "Crossland" (Station manager).

Mabahiss" will leave its mark on the mind of this man, and he may have wished to be among its crew. That will appear later.

Aden - Bab al-Mandab - September 22

In the evening, “Mabahiss” headed towards Aden, then its first research area, "Bab al-Mandab" in the Red Sea.

The first stop is always the hardest. The tension is visible on everyone, whether the professors in well-dressed shirts, or the bare-breasted sailors who put the “cap” on their heads... It is a moment in which each of them recognizes the work of the other. Those standing on the cranes holding the ropes, and the others carrying scientific tools and devices have to mix and cooperate.

The atmosphere around them was not at all comfortable. "Mabahiss" deck was crowded with equipment. It was filled with three times more than its capacity, and it carried extra coal; So they ate their food in two batches due to the small space of the dining room and their movement was difficult and often dangerous.

Only Hussein Fawzi was thinking about something else. He said in one of his letters to the administration in Egypt: "I was afraid of the behavior of those on the ship...those people who had no common nationality, culture or language”.

Despite all this, the first station passed successfully, and the required samples were collected on time. But the ship faced its first problems after leaving. Where the refrigeration device broke down and the fish and meat were spoiled and they threw them into the sea. For a while, their food depended on vegetables only.

And when Engineer Girgis (Ship's engineer) tried to fix it, he inhaled "methyl chloride" gas, and he remained asleep in a state of anesthesia. This forced "Fawzi" to change their schedule and return to Aden again, as "Girgis" stayed in her hospital for three days.

Gulf of Aden - 2 October

"Mabahiss" sailed again, heading to several points in the Gulf of Aden near the African coast, then it went to the width of the Indian Ocean, and returned to the Gulf again near the coast of the Arabian island. The small ship has always needed care, so they returned it to Aden, where its carpenter could repair its body as possible, and an engineer could examine the "winch drum" that was damaged as a result of the speed that “Mabahiss” couldn’t bear.

The weather was nice in this trip, especially in the ocean, but they found other difficulties due to the lack of food and its badness. The Food contains the meat of a few weak sheep, which they took alive on the deck of the ship, to slaughter a head of it every two days.

Karachi - 10 November

The crew endured all of this. They had hard nights. Upon their arrival at the port of Karachi (the largest city in Pakistan), the faces of the Egyptian workers were all dusty with coal, but they remained smiling. At that point, all of Fawzy's fear of their behavior disappeared. He says that they "been patient, obedient to orders, organized, and endured poor food and hardship."

The officers and engineers rotated four-hour shifts tirelessly. The laboratories' activity increased as more samples were brought in, so that "Fawzi" worked a lot with his hands. That is why, he considered "the Aden-Karachi trip to be their most fortunate yet".

And he says in his messages from there: "If the following voyages proceeded in this way, it will be said that John Murray's expedition was one of the greatest, most active and most productive voyages."

The pace of work in "Mabahiss" accelerated at the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Perhaps this overshadowed the feelings of its crew and their impact of alienation and separation from their families for two months. Everyone was waiting for the moment to go to bed to catch some hours of sleep and regain his strength the next day.

Gulf of Oman - December 8th

On the day of 8 December, Captain McKenzie, the thirtieth Commandant, informed them that they had arrived in the Gulf of Oman, where their new search area to the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Mabahiss spent a night in Muscat, Oman and when it arrived at a port, their workers ran to the nearest market to spend their money to buy extra food.

It took only two days to cross the Indian Ocean from India to Africa, across the Equator, in the largest search area to date. The number of stations thereafter exceeded 100.

NAIROBI - 1 JANUARY

The voyage lasted 19 days until they arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. The sailors had to strain to raise the steam to the required degree; because the coal they were provided with at their last stop was bad. Also, The New Year came, and it was uncommon for any Egyptian to spend such times away from his family even at the sea.

They felt really strange every time they had an occasion, but what is interesting is the harmony between them and the England team. “Fawzi” mentioned that one day he heard from one of them the phrase, “Don't embarrass us in front of them” when was talking to his colleagues. At the same time, he knew that they were thinking about the promotion as the company promised them before they traveled. Therefore he informed the administration about that in all letters with them.

In those days, “Fawzi” was delighted that the expedition had obtained important scientific results, such as the study of sea layers up to 5,000 meters deep, as well as deep-sea organisms.

But their happiness didn’t last long, and the situation turned into one night. It is the night of January 16th.

On that dark night, the disease hit Mabahiss and its crew was infected one by one. It all started with different-symptoms fevers. As “Fawzi” is the expedition’s doctor, he diagnosed one with malaria, suspected another, and did what he could to treat them. Two others were in critical condition, so that Fawzi asked the captain to quickly go to Zanzibar (Tanzania's Indian Ocean islands) for hospitalization.

Zanzibar - 18 January

In a cold and unsteady sea, the ship's calm was broken while going to "Zanzibar", and the currents tightened on Mabahiss. Captain McKenzie used his experience and reduced its speed.

When they arrived, the sickness spread to others.

There, Sewell (the head of the expedition) took advantage of the stop and gave a lecture to a large audience, in which he spoke about the expedition and, of course, about Mabahiss. At the time, “Fawzi” wished that the expedition was only Egyptian, and they organized lectures and cinematic pictures about Egypt, as the Danish expedition did on the ship "Dana”, that he visited in Tunisia and heard a lecture about Denmark, not about the expedition.

After this lecture, they completed their work around the sea of this country.

The sea surprised them again after moving, one of the sailors got sick and had severe stomach pain. When they returned six days later to Zanzibar, he and three others were hospitalized. The case of this man was difficult, so “Fawzi” realized that even his condition improved, he could face another unresolved malaise at sea, as it might require surgery. So he decided to leave him until one of the contractors in the expedition returns him to Alexandria after his situation stabilized, and he told McKenzie to choose another man from Zanzibar.

This isn’t the only sailor lost when Mabahiss left Zanzibar, but another remains in hospital, and he will follow them to their next stop, Colombo (capital of Sri Lanka).

When the time of the next trip came, Anxiety filled the ship like a sudden emergency. It headed to Seychelles to get extra coal, and received "quinine salts" as a preventive treatment for malaria.

All of these preparations are there because they have another long journey in the middle of the ocean, as well as the wind will not be in their favor. After almost five months of work, Mabahiss is exhausted.

Colombo - 22 Feb

For the second time, Mabahiss crossed the Indian Ocean, and contrary to their predictions, all went peacefully and they were only disturbed by the winds during last days, but they arrived to Colombo. More importantly, they discovered a mountain range on the deep-sea during their route, this is the third time that the expedition discovered mountain barriers with a bathymetry device operated by Farkson (navigation officer).

While the patients' health improved and others recovered after weeks of rest in the city, the psychological state was poor.

One day, Hussein Fawzi walked toward the navy rooms as usual to inspect their condition. He talked to them, and they didn't succeed in hiding their distress at the poor possibilities and malnutrition. "Fawzi" was silent while listening to their conversations, and all seemed wasn’t surprising. Instead, he remembered the French warship that he saw in the port of Colombo when they arrived, and he noticed its salon, fitted with fans and tables.

He found himself comparing it to the Navy Rooms on Mabahiss, and he asked in his diary: “Would it have cost us a lot to supply them with some electric fans?”

These men didn't take a rest, but instead Mabahiss took a break. It's being tested, treated and painted. About a month later, it left Colombo, went to Maldives, to study coral reefs.

The trip was the longest at sea, where they stayed 28 days longer than scheduled, meeting the Sultan of the Maldives, whom they lent a sailing ship. As on official visits to countries undergoing Mabahiss, “Fawzi” is the representative of Egypt, “Sewell” ” is the representative of expedition, and “Farkson” is the representative of the British navy.

And during those days too; Ahmed Badr, a member of the Coast Guard's maritime administration, took advantage of Farkson's absence to take up his post and he unveiled a submerged plateau with a bathymetric device. "Sewell" (the head of the expedition) named it “King Fouad” (king of Egypt) and actually sent to the palace to take the permission.

Again, they went back to Colombo. Colonel Sewell lectured there about the Egyptian sailors: "Even though they don’t know English and English scientists don’t know Arabic, everyone has worked together not only with enthusiasm but also with a sense of humor."

Sewell certainly noted the strong relationship between the English and Egyptian teams, as opposed to the political relationship outside the sea; there has been much talk about everything, such as the idea of Muslim sailors refusing to drink alcohol. The British also picked up many Egyptian words, especially those related to the navy. One day, someone surprised everyone and gave his orders in Egyptian language, which made them laughing.

“Fawzi” described the life that grew up on the back of Mabahiss: “All of them became a family.”

Aden - May 8

As the journey of "Mabahiss" draws to a close, the movement calms down on its way back to its starting point, Aden. It is an opportunity to take a breath in, as the members of the group sit with their tired bodies to stare at the sea and enjoy it a little bit. Suddenly, two incidents took place that would turn the atmosphere and the entire journey into disaster.

Sharks in the Gulf of Aden came to ruin the sight of them and surround the ship from every direction... At the most frightening moment, most workers have never seen a shark. But the officers dealt with this matter and fired more than 40 bullets, killing 18 sharks, and Mabahiss succeeded to get away from them.

A few kilometers later, the workers quieted down and some restarted work, such as Abdul Fattah Mohammed, a lecturer at the Faculty of Science, who leaned heavily with his body to take samples of water, and fell in it.

The young man screamed and everybody rushed to him, because he couldn't swim. What made the situation more tragic was that the sea was 1,000 meters deep at the time, and they were still in the space of sharks.

Fortunately, the boat attached to the ship was in the water at the time, with skilled sailors Mohamed El Salami and Ahmed Youssef, cleaning the sides. They threw themselves to save him, and when they got on the ship, Captain McKenzie told Abdul Fattah Mohammed: "You owe your life to the Egyptian Navy".

“Mabahiss” settled for a few days in the port of Aden. There is a tradition for ships at the ports, which has made “Mabahiss” crew visit the French, British and Iranian crews.

The “ordinary” modest ship has earned a good reputation. Once it settled in a country’s port, local newspaper reporters and regular visitors come to see its lab and models of animals and plants in pots. They all showed their admiration for the crew's ability to survive after crossing the ocean.

While Mabahiss event found little location in Egyptian newspapers, British and European newspapers were interested in publishing news about the mission. “Fawzi” knew this from the amount of messages they received from their colleagues in European countries.

Finally, the Mabahiss arrived in Egypt. The crew stayed in Suez for a while, then spent their evening in Ismailia, and headed to Port Said the next night. There, Port Said's East Coast Department manager make a tea party at his house for them. After this party, Mabahiss took its way to Alexandria, and met a small boat suddenly.

This boat is one of Coast Guard department’s boats, engineers took it, and one of them jump into Mabahiss to inspect its equipment.

Alexandria 25 May

At 2:30 p.m., approximately 300 people were gathering on the wharf, waiting for Mabahiss among them John Murray's son, who could now say that he had carried out his father's will. Next to him were the wife of McKenzie, who had just come from England, and Admiral Fouad Bey, director of the Coast Guard. At this time, the authority's representative was conducting a test in Mabahiss at al-Ajami (area in Alexandria), and he found its condition to be largely good; except somethings like cutting wires.

By 4 p.m., Mabahiss had come to the same place it left nine months earlier, amid cheering those standing on the sidewalk. Everyone on the ship was happy and amazed. There were a lot of tales inside of them: “We've crossed the ocean twice and come back again!” If Mabahiss could speak, it would say the same. The ship, whose role was never expected to exceed the Egyptian coast guard, sailed east and west across the ocean.

Five months after returning, Murray's son reached out to curators at the Natural History Museum in London to publish the expedition’s reports. Indeed, they agreed and his officials published it for years, and the papers were in the hands of two persons, Sewell and Dr. Kallmann (an animal specialist), according to Gardiner's later statements.

The samples, according to Selim Morkos's article and other scientific publications, are stored in the Natural History Museum. The strange thing is that an official of the museum’s archives told us that it "no longer contains any samples related to Mabahiss". Also, it was not announced that Egypt had obtained part of them, as was agreed upon at the time of lending it.

The story of Mabahiss didn’t end there. Instead, it became more dramatic, exciting and its dark side was coming.

Chapter Two