the Ottoman government following the massacre of Christians in Damascus in 1860. There followed six months as Acting Consul in Damascus (where he received the Prince of Wales on his Middle Eastern tour), so that he reached Haifa only in summer 1862, destined to spend three years there. Haifa was then a tiny port on the Syrian coast and life there was lonely. He added some Arabic to the Turkish he had already learnt fluently (he also had French and Italian and later became fluent in Modern Greek), reported on political events and on the economy and had to deal with tricky issues arising from rebellious tribespeople. Together with some months supporting the Consul General in Beirut, Sandwith's eight years in Syria gave him unusually wide experience and he impressed his superiors enough to be appointed to the much more important post of Vice Consul in Cyprus in 1865. Sandwith served five years as Vice Consul in Cyprus at a time when the island mattered little to Britain. He reported on political events and the economy, and sometimes made severe comments about the quality of the local Ottoman administration. He also played an important part in opening up archaeology on the island, described below. Promoted to Consul, Sandwith was in Crete from 1870 to 1885. It was the longest post he held and the one in which he made his most significant impact. His reports paint a detailed and important picture of the islands over these years. The island had a history of turbulence, most recently in a rising against the ruling Ottomans 1866 to 1869 and became caught up in the Balkan crisis of 1875 to 1878. In the months after the Treaty of Berlin in summer 1878 Crete teetered on the brink of another rising. Had it occurred, it would have had a major impact on both the island and on international relations. It was at Sandwith's suggestion that, working hand in hand with the British Ambassador in Constantinople, he brokered an agreement between the local Ottoman authorities and the Cretan Christian leaders that resulted in the Pact of Halepa in October 1878. The agreement secured another two decades peace for the island. It earned Sandwith the thanks of the Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury, and the Companionship of the Order of the Bath. In 1885, Sandwith was suddenly transferred to be Consul in Tunisia, which had recently become