10 JANUARY 1736 NAVAL DOCKYARD MUMBAI STARTED
SIR LOWJEE NUSSERWANJI WADIA (1720-1792)
Bible.
About 600 Parsis settled on the land given to them by the Rana in Sanjan. Throughout their journey from Persia they had kept alive their sacred fire. Using this fire they built a fire temple in nearby Udvada. This fire still burns unextinguished for over thirteen centuries; it has been the source of the fire that burns in all the fire temples throughout India, and many other parts of the world, including the United States.
The fire temple also had a school nearby, for the Parsis believed that learning was essential toward leading the good life. Hygiene was also emphasized since cleanliness was considered a virtue for good health. Though the fire temple could only be used by the Parsis, the school was opened to Hindus and others. It was the beginning of a symbiotic relationship that has lasted in harmony for lo these many years.
Economically the Parsis flourished. For many generations in Persia they had been successful farmers and they succeeded as agriculturists in India. The Persian civilization, combined with the Greek influence, had taught the Parsis the healing arts and they became successful doctors. The ships they sailed on to reach India opened to the Parsis the bounties of the seas. At the height of their power under Darius, Zoroastrians had mastered shipbuilding and learned much from the sea faring Phoenicians. The ability to build seafaring vessels eventually opened up the world of international trade. Trade, an entrepreneurial spirit and their reputation for honesty, brought them great prosperity. This in turn led to the founding of many industries. By the time India achieved its independence in 1947, a mere hundred thousand Parsis in the subcontinent’s population of over half a billion, dominated the steel industry, the aviation industry, the textile industry, the movie industry, and the fields of medicine, science and law. They had a reputation for philanthropy second to none and even today many charities bear Parsi names.
My ancestors for example, established a Wadia College, a Wadia Institute of Technology, a Wadia Cardiology Hospital, a Wadia Fire Temple, and countless other educational, medical and religious charities. Though the Wadia fame and fortune came from many sources, such as textiles, movies and medicine, their original renown came from the shipbuilding enterprise and international trade.
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts has evidence of members of the Wadia family trading with the United States as early as 1799 and visiting Salem around 1850. Since 1803 the portrait of Nusserwanjee Maneckjee Wadia had been displayed at this museum almost continuously for nearly two hundred years. There is also a statue of this sailor-merchant, presently stored for safekeeping in this museum, that was once prominently displayed.
The Wadias were master shipbuilders. Originally they built and repaired ships in the port of Surat. The British acquired Bombay from the Portuguese under the ‘Treaty of Marriage of 1662’. A century later shipbuilding and ship repairs gradually shifted from Surat to this larger natural port. In July 1750, a major dry dock and shipbuilding facility was completed under the supervision of Lowjee Nusserwanjee Wadia.
The Wadias built many ships, for the British Navy, for trade and for war. Even Lord Nelson sang the praises of the ships built in Bombay. But the one ship that the Wadias built which fills my heart with special fervor, was the H.M.S. Minden. It clearly established the Wadias as master shipbuilders, second to none in design, craftsmanship, speed and durability of their many vessels.
The following has been extracted from The Bombay Courier, dated June 23, 1810, regarding this great ship:
“On Tuesday last His Majesty’s Ship, the “Minden” of 74 guns, built in the new docks of this Presidency by Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia was floated into the stream at high water, after the usual ceremony of breaking the bottle had been performed by the Honourable Governor Jonathan Duncan.
In having produced the “Minden”, Bombay is entitled to the distinguished praise of providing the first and only British ship of the line built out of the limits of the Mother Country; and in the opinion of very competent judges, the “Minden”, for beauty of construction and strength of frame, may stand in competition with any man-of-war that has come out of the most celebrated Dockyards of Great Britain.
For the skill of its architects, for the superiority of its timber, and for the excellence of its docks, Bombay may now claim a distinguished place amongst naval arsenals.”
For patriotic Americans, familiar with U.S. history, the Minden must hold a dear and inspired place. During the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key boarded a British warship to intercede on behalf of some prisoners. From this vantage point, Key witnessed the ship’s bombardment of Fort McHenry, in Baltimore Harbor. The bombardment lasted from twilight to dawn’s early light. Key observed this shelling with great anxiety, hoping that our flag would still be flying the next day. When he saw the stars and stripes flying in all its glory the next morning, he was inspired to compose our national anthem on board this British man-of-war.
The Star Spangled Banner was composed by Francis Scott Key, in the port of Baltimore, on board the H.M.S. Minden, a ship built by the Wadias, in the port of Bombay.
What a marvelous connection with our history!
Photo Credits
Raphael’s School of Athens – Wikimedia Public Domain
Relief of Cyrus the Great. – Wikimedia Creative Commons
Fire Temple – Wikimedia Creative Commons
Wadia, Nussarwanji Maneckji – zoroastrian.org
Francis Scott Key standing on boat – Wikimedia Public Domain
Bombay Dockyard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Naval dockyard, Mumbai: Entry to the dockyard is restricted to naval personnel only
Bombay Dockyard—also known as Naval Dockyard—is an Indian shipbuilding yard at Mumbai.
Contents
[hide]
1Background
2History
3Notes
4References
5External links
Background[edit]
Mural on the walls of the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai
Shipbuilding was an established profession throughout the Indian coastline prior to the advent of the Europeans and it contributed significantly to maritime exploration throughout Indian maritime history.[1] Indian rulers weakened with the advent of the European powers during the middle ages.[2] Indian shipbuilders, however, continued to build ships capable of carrying 800 to 1000 tons.[2] The shipbuilders built ships like HMS Hindostan andHMS Ceylon, inducted into the Royal Navy.[2] Other historical ships made by the Indian shipbuilders included HMS Asia (commanded by Edward Codrington during the Battle of Navarino in 1827), HMS Cornwallis (on board which the Treaty of Nanking was signed in 1842), and HMS Minden (on which Francis Scott Key wrote the poem "The Defence of Fort McHenry", later to become the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner").[2]
History[edit]
The Yard was established in 1735 by the East India Company, which brought in shipwrights from their base at Surat in order to construct vessels using Malabar teak. One of their number, Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia, was (along with several generations of his descendants) a key figure in the success of the Yard, as indicated in The New Cambridge History of India: Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India:[1]
Between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries Indian shipyards produced a series of vessels incorporating these hybrid features. A large proportion of them were built in Bombay, where the Company had established a small shipyard. In 1736 Parsi carpenters were brought in from Surat to work there and, when their European supervisor died, one of the carpenters, Lowji Nuserwanji Wadia, was appointed Master Builder in his place. Wadia oversaw the construction of thirty-five ships, twenty-one of them for the Company. Following his death in 1774, his sons took charge of the shipyard and between them built a further thirty ships over the next sixteen years. The Britannia, a ship of 749 tons launched in 1778, so impressed the Court of Directors when it reached Britain that several new ships were commissioned from Bombay, some of which later passed into the hands of the Royal Navy. In all, between 1736 and 1821, 159 ships of over 100 tons were built at Bombay, including 15 of over 1,000 tons. Ships constructed at Bombay in its heyday were said to be ‘vastly superior to anything built anywhere else in the world’.
Lowji Wadia oversaw the building of Bombay Dock, Asia's first dry dock, in 1750; it is still in use today. A contemporary British traveller, Abraham Parsons, described it as follows in 1775:[3]
Here is a dock-yard, large and well contrived, with all kind of naval stores deposited in proper warehouses, together with great quantities of timber and planks for repairing and building ships, and forges for making of anchors, as well as every kind of smaller smiths’ work. It boasts such a dry dock, as, perhaps, is not to be seen in any part of Europe, either for size or convenient situation. It has three divisions, and three pair of strong gates, so as to be capable of receiving and repairing three ships of the line, at the same or at separate times; as the outermost ship can warp out, and another be admitted in her place every spring tide, without any interruption of the work doing to the second and innermost ships; or both the outermost and the second ship can go out, and two others be received in their places, without hindrance to the workmen employed on the third or innermost ship. Near the dock is a convenient place to grave several ships at once, which is done as well, and with as great expedition, as in any dock in England. Near the dock-yard is a rope walk, which for length, situation, and conveniency, equals any in England, that in the king’s yard at Portsmouth only excepted, and, like that, it has a covering to shelter the workmen from the inclemency of the weather in all seasons. Here are made cables and all sorts of lesser cordage, both for the royal navy, the company’s marine, and the merchant, ships which trade to these parts of India. Besides cordage made of hemp, cables, hawsers, and all kinds of smaller ropes, are made of the external fibres of the cocoa-nut, which they have in such abundance in India, as to make a great article of trade among the natives of this place and those along the coasts, between Bombay and Cape Comorin. The yarn made of these fibres is mostly manufactured in the towns and villages, on or near the sea coast of Malabar: many vessels belonging to the natives are laden entirely with this yarn, which they always find a quick sale for at Bombay and Surat, let the quantity be ever so great, as it is the only cordage made use of amongst the small trading vessels of the country: large ships use much of it, made into cables, hawsers, and smaller ropes; it is called kyah. Ships built at Bombay are not only as strong, but as handsome, are as well finished as ships built in any part of Europe; the timber and plank, of which they are built, so far exceeds any in Europe for durability that it is usual for ships to last fifty or sixty years; as a proof of which I am informed, that the ship called the Bombay grab, of twenty-four guns, (the second in size belonging to the Company’s marine) has been built more than sixty years, and is now a good and strong ship. This timber and plank arc peculiar to India only; the best on this side of India grows to the north of Bombay; what grows to the south, on the coast of. Malabar, is, however, very good, and great quantities of it are, brought to Bombay; it is called tiek, and will last in a-hot climate longer than any wood whatever.
In 1811 the British Royal Navy took over the Yard, continuing to work with the Wadia family as Master Shipwrights. There was much construction on the site around this time. Duncan Dock, which was the largest dry dock outside Europe at the time, was constructed in 1807-1810, and remains in use today.[4] The main Dockyard building, which fronts on to Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, dates from 1807, as does the administration block. The nearby Great Western Building (formerly Admiralty House) had housed the Port Admiralfrom around 1764-1792.
Today the Yard serves as the premier repair yard of the Indian Navy. It employs 10,000 workers (mostly civilians) overseen by an Admiral Superintendent.[5]
View of the dockyard from the sea
Notes[edit]
^ Jump up to:a b Arnold, 101-102
^ Jump up to:a b c d Early History (Indian Navy), National Informatics Center, Government of India
Jump up^ Abraham Parsons, Travels in Asia and Africa, London, 1808, p. 214-215
Jump up^ "Indian Navy (heritage)".
Jump up^ "Indian Navy website".
Shipbuilding at Bombay R. K. Kochhar The arrival of the Portuguese by sea in 1498 introduced navy as a new parameter in the Indian geopolitical equations, placing the Indian rulers at a disadvantage for all times to come. The Portuguese and the Dutch success in East Indies as brought home by the capture of their ships brought the British to the Indian shores in 1608. The trade was extremely lucrative despite the risks. During the third voyage cloves were purchased at Moluccas for £2948, which on return to England fetched £36,287. The first 11 years of trading with East Indies- (including India) "gave clear profits, seldom below one hundred~ and often more than two hundred, per cent, on the capital invested on the voyage'. The Portuguese violently opposed the British presence in what they considered to be their own zone of influence. The British decided to meet force with force and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Portuguese on sea in 1612. The chain of events that culminated in the 1757 battle of Plassey in Bengal had its beginning in this sea skirmish. The naval prowess and the religious neutrality of the British greatly impressed the Mughal emperors who though powerful on land like the elephant were helpless on sea which was infested with European crocodiles. The British were asked to contain the fanatically anti-MusliIn Portuguese, who were particu larly severe on the Haj pilgrims. In return the English merchants received attractive business concessions. (Another factor in favour of the British was the expertise of its ships' doctors, which was made available to the Mughal umra, that is nobility.)2 To protect its trade from the Portuguese and the pirates, the English merchants at Surat locally established, in 1613. east India company's marine. The small naval service consisted of coastal boats. known as grabs and gallivats, on which were mounted two to six guns and which were manned by volunteers from the company's ships who fought as well as traded. This service developed first into Bombay marine and finally into Indian navy3 (see Table 1). Generally speaking, marine was meant to protect the coastal area, whereas the navy could cast its net wider. It is said that at one time when Lord Nelson, 'the future victor of Nile and Trafalgar was in embarrassed circumstances, he was a candidate for the appointment of the superintendent of the Bombay marine,4. The seaport of Surat was located some 12 miles to the west at a village called Swally. The British repaired their old ships here and in course of time started building new ones. Surat had a long tradition of shipbuilding and even the Mughal emperors got their ships built here. (Figure I shows a traditional boat that was used on the eastern waters.) Once the British shifted from Surat to Bombay~ shipbuilding activity was also transferred. The tirst Europeans to touch Bombay were the Portuguese who arrived at Mahim in 1509 and took over the island in 1534. In 1538 (or 1541) Bombay was rented in perpetuity to Garcia d 'Orta., a physician and professor of Lisbon (and said to be a converted Jew). He paid a yearly quit rent of about £85. In 1563 he wrote a book "Dialogues on simples and drugs' where he mentions the island under the names of Bombaim and Mombaim. D'Orta lived in India from 1534 to 1572 (ref. 5). Bombay While Portugal and Britain were engaged in bitter rivalry in India, they entered into a royal marriage contract which had far reaching consequenceso. The English king Charles II married princess Infanta Catherine of the House of Braganza of Portugal. According to the 11th article of the treaty of marriage, Table 1. The evolution of I ndian navy 1612-1950 1613-1686 1686-1830 1830-1863 1863-1877 1877-1892 1892-1950 1950- East India company's marine Bombay marine Her majesty's Indian navy Bomqay marine Her majesty's Indian marine Royal Indian navy Indian navy , CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 66. NO. 12~ 25 JUNE 1994 dated 23 June 1661, her dowry included 'the Port and Island of Bomhay in tttl: East Indies, together with all the rights. profits, territories, and appurtenance~ thereof whatsoever'. The small island, some eight miics long and three miles wide~ no doubt mattered little to the king of Portugal. But it enclosed a landlocked bay and its natural harbour could shelter a large fleet. When the news reached India, the Portuguese circles in - India were dismayed and immediately pointed out the disadvantages of making such a gi ft. An attempt was nlade to purchase the island back from England, but Charles II wanted such large sums 'that they reach to millions'. The island of Bombay was finally transferred to England on 8 February 1665, without any trace of grace or pleasantness that one normally associates with a bride's dowry. The king's govcrnor of Bombay soon discovered that the island cost more to govern than it yielded as revenue. By a charter datcd 23 March 1668, Charles II granted the port and island of Bomhay to the East India Company 'to be held to the said Company... in perpetuity and in free and common soccage at a fee farm rent of £ 1 () payable on the 30th or September yearly at the Custom-house'. The island of Bombay was formally handed over to the east India company on 23 September 1668. While opposing the inclusion of' Bombay in the dowry. the Portuguese viceroy of Goa f Antonio de Mellow de Castro] had' written7 , 'I foresee that India will be lost the same day on which the English Nation is settled in Bombay.' These words were prophetic indeed. The British shifted their capital from Surat to Bombay in 1686. The little island' became the naval fortress from where Britain went ahead to build a vast overseas colonial empire. Dockyard Bombay h:ad taken to shipbuilding in the Portuguese time itself. In 1625 when the English and the Dutch jointly raided Bombay they found two boats under constructi'On which they pron1ptly put to 965 HISTORICAL COMMENTARY AND 'NOTES >, • , , , ,',\ ' '.' I" Figure 1. 'Decca Pulwar', of 17 ton burden, used on the eastern branches and upper channels of the deltas of Ganga and Brahmaputra. The bottom of the boat resembles the immersed portion of the nautilus shell. 'These are well-built boats of hard wood, and use square sails.' (Henderson A., British Association for the Advancement of Science Report for 1858, p. 272.) flames. As soon as Bombay passed into the British hands~ repairs and shipbuilding were started under the new auspices. The British repaired their merchant ships. In addition they built new ones to deal with the menace of piracy from Indian and foreign adventures as well as to meet the threat from their European competitors. There were problems~ though. The Portuguese obstructed the supply of timber~ and the Mughal authorities did not permit good carpenters to leave Surat. Most of the carpenters at Surat were Parsis. A letter from Bombay to Surat dated 10 January 1736 states that 'We have intention to build a new grab but we are in want of a good carpenter. We are told that there is one in Surat named Lowjee. If he will come hither he shall have aJl fitting encouragement'. Lowjee Nusserwanjee [Wadia] arrived in Bombay from Surat in March 1736~ accompanied by ten other carpenters. The salary demanded by them was prelt: high. but the Bombay governmCl)1 hoped that 'they would deserve it by their performance'. (The hope was certainly fulfilled. Lowjee was designated master builder in 1740. The post remained with his descendants ti 11 1884 when the dockyard was transferred from the Bombay government to the Indian governments. Figure 2 shows Lowjee or Lowji's son and successor l\1aneckji Lowji. The surname Wadia was not appended inofficial correspondence.) This was tl1~' lime when the British were engaged 1 n a bitter fight against the piracy 01 ! Il~ Angrias, which lasted morc than -4( I )- cars from about 1707 to 1751. COnlld.l(;(; or Kanhojec [Kanha-ji] Angria ,\ as a common seaman in Shivaji's neet, but rose to command a fleet of his own. • Animated by a lust for plunder, there now flocked to his standard numerous adventurers, including renegade Christians. mostly Dutch and Portuguese, Arabs, Mussulmen and Negroes, a most daring and desperate band,0. (Note the selective use of the adjective renegady.) Kanha-jee Angria died in about 1731 and was suceeded by his son Sambh~~ee. He was finally defeated by the British in 1751. During the period Bomba:v built a number of coastal boats apart from repairing merchant ships. In 1745 two boats were made for the viceri,oy of Goa for usc against his enelnies. This was done as the 'same will be th(~ means of keeping a number of workmen lupon the Island and be otherwise benefidal'. In' addition to meeting its own f(~quirements on the west coast, Bombay; also built ships for Calcutta and Madra~~. Construction of a dry dock was taken! up in 1749. This first dry dock to be built in India is still in use, now known as the upper old Bombay dock. Others were built in the following years. In the first phase of shipbuilding the emphasis had been on repairs and construction of coastal boats for protection. The things however soon changed. Increasing prosperity of the east India company meant building of bigger and larger number of ships in England. This and the marine rivalry in Europe resulted in large scale fell ing of oak trees in Britain. Accordingly in 1772 the company was prohibited from building any large ships. They were asked instead to either build their vessels in India or colonies or to charter vessels built there. Preservation of British oak forests was one rcason. Superiority of teak over oak was another. Oak contains lignic acid ·which corrodes and consumes the very metal (iron) which is employed to unite and secure it in the various forms into wh.ich it is converted for the purposes of naval architecture'. In contrast teak "abounds with oleaginous particles. the best and certain defence of iron from corrosion by the action of the acid'. In addition "teak was not disposed to splinter to the same extent as oak' and thus "the eflcct of shot upon teak is Hu less dangerous than upon oak 10 , , ' Figure 2. Maneckji Lowji Wadia (1720- 92), the second master builder of Bombay dockyards 1774-92 (picture courtesy: Neville N. Wadia). 966
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 66. NO. 12, 25 JUNE 1994 HISTORICAL COMMENTARY AND NOTES The shipbuilders in Britain were not impressed by these arguments. Their main concern was loss of business. As a sop to them, the British parliament ordered that the crew and the captain of Indian ships should be Englishmen. The British Indian government chipped in by levying 150/0 duty on goods imported into India in India-built ships but only half this amount on goods brought in British-built ships. In addition, it was stipulated that only British ships could import goods 'froin south and east of the Cape of Good Hope'. Ship-building industry in Bombay under the leadership of the Lowjee falnily now entered its golden agel I. The frigate 'Cornwallis' built for the company in 1800 by Jamsetjee Bomanjee was found to be so beautifully constructed and of such great strength, that it was purchased by the admiralty. J anlsetjee took a pri vate revenge for the racial insults that were the order of the day. On the kelson of this ship, he carved the words 'this ship was built by a d-d Black Fellow A.D. 1800'. Attention was drawn to this by Jamsetjee himself when the ship, renamed Ackbar by the admiralty. returned to the Bombay docks many years later 12 • In 181 O~ Bombay built a 74 gun vessel 'Minden' for the British navy. It was the first line of ship of the admiralty built outside UK 13. At about the same time "a similar vessel was subscribed by the inhabitants of Calcutta, built at Kidderpore .. and presented to the Admiralty,14. The admiralty however was not impressed and -did not oblige by placing a further order for a vessel of that size with the Calcutta shipwrights' 15. An 18 gun ship 'Clive' built at BOlnbay in 1826 lends itself to a brief mention of the prevalent slave trade and the patronage it received 16. Commander of the ship, 10hn Croft Hawkins, was asked in 1830 "to proceed to the coast of Africa and islands in its vicinity' and "to adopt the best means of entering for the service as many able-bodied lads as you can, in age from twelve to eighteen, free from all disease and bodily infIrmity. and of that compact symmetry best calculated for seamen.' On his return Hawkins was tried for slave trade. It became certain that there were other secret instructions that were never brought on record. Hawkins in fact did not permit his lawyer to address the court lest the lawyer compromise for the sake of his client the navy superintendent or the government. It was implied that the case was brought to trial not because of the illegality involved but because the judge of the high court wished to embarrass the Bombay governor (Sir 10hn Malcolm) and his brother. the navy superintendent (Sir Charles Malcolm). The court pronounced Hawkins guilty of slave trade and condemned him to 'be transported to the east coast of New South Wales for the term of seven years.' The sentence was however subverted. Hawkins was put in a navy ship with clear instructions that he be treated as an officer and a gentleman. When the ship touched Madras, Hawkins and the ship commander "were feted for three days by the community'. At Batavia [Jakarata], the conlmander decided with a straight face that his ship could not proceed to Sydney. It nlust be diverted to England to deliver some important despatches that had accumulated at Batavia. In London. the president of the company obtained an interview with the king who pardoned Hawkins and "graciously commanded that he should appear at the next levee.' "Commander Hawkins obeyed the royal mandate, when His Majesty received him with great kindness, and conversed with him.' Hawkins was paid his back wages as well as lawyer's fees and reappointed to the command of his old ship "Clive'. He rose to become the superintendent of Indian navy. Steam navigation Although a patent had been obtained as early as 1736 (by Jonathan Hull) for applying steam engines to propel ships, it was not till the steam engine was perfected by James Watt that steam navigation could show signs of success. The lead came from USA, which did not have roads but had large tree-lined rivers. The first steam vessel that was a practical success and remunerated its owners was a river boat 'Clermont' that in 1807 ran the 146 mile distance between New York city and Aibany. It was almost immediately followed by the first sea-going vessell 7 • In Britain steam navigation was established in 1817 with a small 3.5 HP steam boat ~Comet' on river Clyde. The first regular sea-going steamer, 'Bob Ray' ~ with a 30 HP engine commenced operation in 1815 between Glasgow and Belfast. In 18] 9~ the British navy acquired its first steamer, named 'ComeC. CURRENT SCIENCE~ VOL. 66. NO. 12,. 25 JUNE 1994 Britain was now an industrial nation, and captive India was the best thing happening to it. In the. year 1793, England sent out cotton goods worth £ 156 to India. In the year 1802 the figure was £27,876, while 10 years later it had gone up to £ I O~.824. In 1813, the British parliament abolished the trade monopoly of the company. so that the British manufacturers and traders were now free to enter the huge Indian market. During the 16 years after 1813, the company's annual trade averaged £ 1 ,882,718 whereas private trade was three tin1es higher at £5,451.452 (ref. 18). (In 1833 the company ceased to be a trader altogether. It became administrator and ruler of India, deriving its dividend from the revenues from the country. Control of India passed to the crown in 1858, and the company was wound up in 1874.) The merchants were keen to introduce steam navigation on three routes: on the placid north Indian rivers, in the opiumtea trade with China, and for steam communication between Calcutta and England. Early steam machinery was rather daunting. It used coal voraciously and was extremely complex for easy maintenance. Merchants neither had the capital nor the patience to see it through the developmen~al stages. The cOlnpany. no longer the monopolist it once was, had no intention of sinking its money into stearn for trade, but it had wars to win. What saw the steam navigation through was the Burmese war 1824-26 (refs 19, 20). Captain Charles James Collie Davidson of Bengal engineers and son of a Calcutta merchant brought an 8 HP engine with an iron boiler and meant for a river boat. It was the first steam engine in India. It was left to rust till the company bought it in 1822 for use in a dredging boat. When the Burmese war. broke out it was converted into a pedal boat and fitted out as a floating battery. 'Though her speed was only 4 knots, much benefit was derived from her in the passage of troops over creeks and estuaries of that [Arakan] coast'. IncidentaIly~ the first steam-propelled vessel in India does not belong to the realm of compulsions of history, but to the romance of history, as exemplified by the idiosyncracies of a nawab. Displaying a magpie like fascination for novelties and probably as a commemoration of declaration of "independence ~ from the titualar emperor of Delhi~ nawab Ghazi-ud-Din Haider of 967 HISTORICAL COMMENTARY AND NOTES the 1 tch north Indian state of Oudh t. , .. orrectly Avadh) got a river boat built for hin'l)elf at Calcutta, in 1819. It has un 8 HP butterfly engine which gave the boat a ')peed of 7-8 miles an hour. The :)cat was a toy; when the governorg~!l.:ral of India visited Lucknow. the huat was decked up for inspection. (The nawab, who had a European wife, also built a short-lived modern observatory at Lucknow. )21 The economics of early steam navigation can be seen from Calcutta's first steamer, 'Diana'. A member of the company's factory at Canton ordered a pair of 16 HP engines with a copper boiler and the whole frame with a view to getting a river steamer built for service on the Canton river. UI1able to go ahead with his scheme, he reshipped the whole thing to Calcutta and offered it to the government for Rs 65,000, which was however refused. A group of 111erchants bought it and spent another Rs 10.000 to replace the original oakwood frame with the sturdier one of teaK. The steamer was launched in 1823. The next year. luckily for the owners, the government bought it for Rs 80,000 for the Burmese war22. "Diana', unaffected by the south-west monsoons, was the 'star of the war'. Called 'tire devil' by the Burmese, it easily brought about British victory which secured Assam and added the provinces of Arakan and Tenesserim to the Company's fold23 . The river steamers were no substitute for steam link between Calcutta and England, for which both the government and merchants worked. A steam fund of Rs 69 , 903 was collected at Calcutta and offered as a prize to anyone whose steamship could make four consecutive voyages between Bengal and England at an average of 70 days per trip (via the cape of good hope). Towards this fund Rs 20,000 came from thl: !:!overnofgeneral, Rs 2,000 from th~ na\Vab of. Oudh~ and the rest from various businessmen of Calcutta24 . The investors in England made a gallant attempt to rise to the occasion by building Britain's first sea-going ship propelled by steam25 . Aptly named 'Enterprize', it was a ship of 500 ton powered by two 60 HP engines, with copper boilers extending across the ship, and seven furnaces" each seven feet in length. Carrying passengers and 30 tons of coal, .. Enterprize left England in August 1825, and took as many as 1] 5 days' to reach Calcutta under steam and saiL The 968 performance was declared unsatisfactory by the mercantile community, because a splendid sailing ship could cover the same distance in 90 days. Steam enth usiasts were disappointed but not the investors. On its arrival at Calcutta, 'Enterprize' was purchased by the government for £40.000. and sent to Rangoon. It was put to use for towing ships between Calcutta and the newly acquired territories. It was not only Calcutta that was interested in a steam link to England. Bombay was interested even more. Monsoon winds made it easier for a sailing ship to reach Calcutta than Bombay. Steam would give Bombay the benefit of shorter distance to Europe. The Bombay governor, Mounstart Elphinstone, made 'a distinct official proposition' in 1823 to the court of directors for the establishment of steam communication between Bombay and England, via the Red sea. (In the preSuez canal days this involved an overland journey across Egypt to reach the Mediterranean sea.) The proposal was renewed in 1826, "but the Court were unwilling to act upon the suggestion'. Elphinstone's successor, Sir John Malcolm, decided to go ahead on his own. A steamer was .Quilt at the Wadia dockyard and ironically named "Hugh Lindsay' after the sceptical company chairman. 'Hugh Lindsay' was a small ship of only 411 tonnes, with two 80 HP engines. It left Bombay in March 1830 on its experimental voyage of 3000 miles, to Suez. It had to carry sufficient coal to reach Aden., 1641 miles away. Before ~Hugh Lindsay' left, a collier brig. laden with 600 tonnes of coal, was dispatched so that coal could be stored at Aden, liddah and Suez. 'Hugh Lindsay' itself carried as much coal as it could, filling with coal more than two thirds of the space meant for passengers. The voyage was a spectacular success. The ship could reach Aden in 11 days under steam alone. The journey to Suez took a total of 32 days consisting of 21 days of actual journey and 11 for stoppages. 'Hugh Lindsay' made a total of five voyages to Suez till 1833, all heavily subsidized. The average expense of coal per voyage was Rs 46,250 while receipts from passengers and letters avt?raged only Rs' 14,225 (ref. 26). Finally in 1834, the parliamentary committee resolved that 'it is expedient that measures should be immediately taken for the regular establishment of steam communication27 with India by the Red sea', asking at the same time that "the expenses may be materially reduced' . Steam. navigation had far-reaching consequences. First, Bombay became gateway to India. It has continued since then as the business capital of India. Secondly, the Red sea and the Persian gulf area was scientifically surveyed. Finally, all the countries en route lost their independence28 . To provide "Hugh Lindsay' with fuel, the small island of Socotra, off the horn of Africa, was needed as a coaling station. Accordingly it was taken over by the British in 1835. Soon, it was realized that Aden was a better choice; it was taken by force in 1839. The only bottleneck in the Red sea route was the 10-day long arduous journey across Egypt. Suez canal was dug in 1869. Ironically, it was dug with French capitaL even though the biggest beneficiaries were the British interests. The first ship to pay the toll on the Suez canal was British. Egypt was added to the British colonial empire in 1882. Introduction of steam navigation did not mean immediate end of sailing ships. Early steamships were so unprofitable that they had to depend on government subsidies. The commercial viability of steam came only when engines were greatly improved and ships were made of iron and then of steel. This effectively brought teak-ship building at Bombay to a close, bringing to an end a chapter in the colonial history. From 1736 to ] 884 .. the Wadias built a total of 334 vessels for a variety of owners: East India company, private merchants. N izam of Hyderabad, Imam of Muscat, and the British navy. Out of these 334, 39 were either specitically built or subsequently acquired by the British navy during the period 1777- 1849. A frigate Trincomalee built in 1817 for the British navy is still afloat under the name 'Foudroyant'. The Wadia vessels were put to a wide variety of use, from carrying coal to the Bombay governor himself. For completeness it may be added that from 1885 to 1936 another 46 vessels were built at the Bombay dockyards29 . Britain owed its colonial empire to its sea power. The Bombay dockyard under the Wadias was an important, though small, contributor towards efficient and low-cost maintenance of that power. 1. Low, C. R.,. History of the Indian Navy, voL 1, 1877; see pp. 6, 12. [Gives CURRENT SCIENCE~ VOL. 66, NO. 12,25 JUNE 1994 HISTORICAL COMMENTARY AND NOTES a detailed account of events 1613- 1863.] 2. A ship's doctor [Gabriel Boughton] visited Shah lahan's court at Agra in 1645 and later served as a surgeon to the emperor's son Shah Shuja who was the viceroy of Bengal. Then in 1716, the company's embassy to Delhi included a surgeon [William Hamilton] who cured the emperor of a painful disease that had delayed his marriage. In both cases, medical services were reciprocated with handsome gifts and trading concessions. See Crawford, D. G., A History of the Indian Medical Service, 1914, vol. 1, pp.51,113. 3. Wadia, R. A., The Bombay Dockyard and the Wadia Master Builders, Bombay, 1957 (Reprint 1983), 2nd edn, see p. 20. 4. Ref. 1, p. 525. 5. Douglas, James, Glimpses of Old Bombay and Western India. 1893, vol. 1,p.249. 6. Ref. 1, p. 54. 7. da Cunha, Garson, Origin of Bombay, pp. 247, 258: cited in ref. 3, p. 9. 8. The Wadias received three grants of Inam land in Bombay~ they were the only ones ever granted. The first was in 1783, the second was in two instalments in 1821 and 1849, whereas the third was in 1884 on the retirement of the last master builder (ref. 3, pp. 167, 251, 319). In addition, there were a number of presents of medals, rulers and shawls. The prestige earned by the shipbuilding Wadias helped other branches of the clan in establishing themselves in various lines of business. 9. Ref. 1, p. 97. 10. Ref. 3, ch. 6. 11. This. ended the golden age of the Malabar-teak forests. Finally, in 1847 when iron was replacing teak as the material for building ships, a conservator of forests [Dr Alexander Gibson] was appointed at Bombay. 12. Ref. 3, p. 191. 13. The national anthem of USA, • starspangled banner') was composed by Francis Kay on board the 'Minden~ when it was in Baltimore. Ref. 3~ p.20S. 14. This was 'Hastings'. the 74 gun, solitary, line-of-war ship built at Kidderpore near Calcutta in 1818. The dockyard was established in 1780 by Henry Watson (1737-86) of Bengal engineers, on a piece of land obtained as a grant from the government. In 1781 he launched the 36 gun frigate 'Nonsuch'. In 1788 he launched another frigate, the 'Surprize', of 32 guns.
SIR LOWJEE NUSSERWANJEE WADIA(1720-1792)
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Bombay Dockyard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jump to History - A large proportion of them were built in Bombay, where the Company had established a small shipyard. In 1736 Parsi carpenters were ...
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Jul 9, 2011 - Naval Dockyard, Mumbai is the premier ship repair yard of the Indian Navy. With a history of over 200 years, it is one of the largest of its kind in Asia. ... Surat to Mumbai in 1736 and assigned him the task of ship construction.
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[PDF]Shipbuilding at Bombay - Indian Institute of Astrophysics
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Dockyard. Bombay h:ad taken to shipbuilding in the Portuguese time itself. In 1625 when .... During the 16 years after 1813, the company's annual .... to an end a chapter in the colonial history. From 1736 to ] 884 .. the Wadias built a total of 334 ...
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Tapan Raychaudhuri, Dharma Kumar, Irfan Habib - 1983 - Business & Economics
Although Bengal at this time competed seriously with Bombay, the latter maintained its ... The dockyard in Bombay was founded by Parsis in 1736, and the dock ...
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Attributed to J. Dorman, based on an earlier engraving after an original ... This familystory begins with Lowjee Nusserwanjee (c.1700-1774) the great (x2) ... his master's consent, and when finally given he moved to Bombay in 1736 with a small ... He had joined the dockyard in 1799 at the age of eleven and, on the death in ...
Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-year History
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Arnold Pacey - 1991 - Science
A Thousand-year History Arnold Pacey. responsibility. For example, when a dry dockwas constructed in 1750 for repairing ships, it was Lowjee who chose its site. The dock... Statistics on ships built at Bombay between 1736 and 1859 are presented in table 5.Since the shipyard was owned by the East India Company, it is ...
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Susan Morgan - 2008 - Literary Criticism
The harbor boasted an enormous dockyard, center of a major international shipbuilding ... that played a key role in the history of Bombay, of Europe, and of the Americas. In1736, the Company brought in a group of Parsi carpenters from Surat.
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Bimalendu Bhattacharya - 2006 - Urbanization
The unpopularity of Bombay, starting soon after Aungier had left the place, was the ... In 1736, the dockyards were extended under the guidance of a Parsi ... The history of the ultimate prosperity of Bombay is different from that of either Calcutta ...
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