The Old 'Country Trade' of the East Indies
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W OTTO HURRASSOWm THE OLD 'COUNTRY TRADE' OF THE EAST INDIES BY W. H. COATES, F.R.G.S., COMM., R.N.R. (retired). (Author of "The Good Old Days of Shipping. " Fuit Ilium: 1 Xonbon : IMKAY, LAUEIE, NOEIE & WILSON, LTD. 156, Minories, E. 1911. THK ANCHOR PRESS, LTI>., 1S6. MINORIES, LONDON, E. AND TIPTRKK, ESSFX. (iii) CONTENTS. PREFACE and Hydrography. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. The Classic Period 1-8 " " II. Early Country Trade 9-12 " " III. The Portuguese Country Trade - 13-17 IV. The Seventeenth Century 18-23 V. An Old-time Freelance - 24-31 VI. The 18th Century and Dutch " " Country Trade 32-39 VII. A Disastrous Voyage to Moco and Jodda- - 40-45 Part II. John Iver's Adventures - 46-50 VIII. The Parsee Shipowners - 51-55 IX. Rustomjee Cowasjee Banajee - 56-63 X. Dadabhoy and Manockjee Rustomjee (The Opium Trade) - 64-76 XI. The Early Part of the Nineteenth Century - 77-93 XII. Ship-building in India - 94-101 " " XIII. The Country Skipper 102-111 XIV. Some Early Steamers in India 112-122 XV. The Pilgrim Trade, past andpresent 123-130 XVI. The Bombay Steam Navigation Company (1845) 131-137 Part II. Messrs. Shepherd d Co. 138-142 6068^4 IV CONTENTS CHAPTEB. PAGE. XVII. The Bombay Coast and River 8. N. Company - 143-145 XVIII. The Bombay and Bengal Steam- ship Company - - 146-150 XIX. The Apcars, and The China Mer- chants Steam Navigation Co.- 151-155 XX. The Share-Mania Period 156-160 XXI. The Wadias, Ship-builders 161-166 XXII. The Bombay Shipping Co., and The Iron Ship Company - 167-170 XXIII. The British India Steam Naviga- tion Company, Ltd. (1856) - 171-190 XXIV. Some Latter-day Companies - - 191-205 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. YE LOST GALLEON - Frontispiece 2. YE PORTINGALL CARRACK - PAGE 16 - 3. A HEAVY SQUALL ,, 20 4. A LONELY SPOT IN UNDHERI - 32 5. AN OLDE DUTCH GUNNE 36 6. OLD BREMA DOCK GATES, MOULMEIN 96 7. YE PILGRIM SHIPPE, 1686 - - 124 - 8. A LITTLE BIT OF "OLDE BOMBAY" ,, 160 - 9. THE "CHARLES GRANT" H.E.I. Co. ,, 166 A MAP OF THE INDIAN OCEAN end. (v) PREFACE. " " To all lovers of old ships the Country Trade has ever presented an inexhaustible field of interest, the East Indies having found employment for almost every known descrip- tion of vessel, in every stage of existence, from the " " crack new teak-built ship, fresh from the hands of the Kidderpore or Damaun builders, to the ancient crock, wearily completing its last term of crazy decrepitude. Within the memory of the present generation have been seen, locally employed in the East, vessels of the most in- " congruous origin, though, in their sere and yellow leaf," harmonising peacefully together in the same trade. The ' " Lady Melville,' formerly one of Green's famous Black- " < wall liners the from ; the ; Suffolk,' Money Wigram 1 Merchantman,' a bitter rival, formerly one of Somes's " frigate-built ships, were often to be seen in the country " tiers in the Hooghly, perhaps alongside of the lowly * Bleng,' built at Whitehaven in 1841 to humbly follow the avocation of a collier, now out here in company with ships which in their time carried out the Governor- General. The 'Constance,' formerly one of the Honourable to Company's armed cruisers, was a frequent visitor Calcutta, (her main-mast was one of the longest single the ' Indomit- sticks I have ever seen), perhaps alongside " " able,' which, launched from Sunderland in the fifties of the with great eclat to take her place in the service " an inter- Australian Auxiliary Screw-Clipper Co./' ended ' of wood in esting career out here. The Canada,' built earned 1848 as a Cunard steamer, and which in her day was the reputation of a fast packet across the Atlantic, and was a familiar latterly converted into a sailing vessel, vi PKEFACE figure in the Calcutta and Mauritius trade. Green's old ' built in the world Tea- Wellesley,' 1844 ; renowned ' * Sir Lancelot the late Honourable clipper, ; Company's cruiser 'Ternate' etc., etc., the list is inexhaustible. Apart from the interest attaching to old ships the " " Country Trade carried a charm peculiarly its own, the charm of the EAST : for whatever adventures were incidental to the Western trade, were shared to the full by the " Country service," enhanced by the glamour attaching to the Orient. A century ago, when every known route was beset with " " its own dangers, the risks in the Country Trade were especially numerous, and it is difficult now to even believe, much more to realise, the vicissitudes to which a ship was liable in the iyth and i8th centuries from the time she left her anchorage under the friendly protection of the guns of old Bombay Castle. The Sidi Admiral at one time cap- had taken of Khundari tured Undheri ; Shivaji possession ; while freebooters of both were in great force. The Portu- guese, none too friendly, held Bassein to the north, and among other places, Goa to the south. Dutch ships, heavily armed, were ever on the look-out for stray English vessels. Pirates, cosmopolitan, Indian, Arab, even Eng- lish, cruised in Arabian seas. The Straits of Malacca fierce cut-throats the Gulf was a teemed with ; standing menace. These dangers were real. Old Horsburgk had not come among us then to confer the inestimable benefits of correct Charts and Sailing Directions ; the first intimation of a new shoal had often " " been rudely given by the ship bumping on it. The ' Law of Storms,' now so thoroughly elucidated and systematised, was then unknown, and the loss of life and property due to the want of knowledge of this subject alone was appalling. PEEFACE vii Ships, however, after the zyth century improved in sea- " going qualities, and in time of need "lay-to well. English vessels gradually reduced the enormous projection forward, " the beak-head," while carrying less overhang aft. The sterns too became of a less exaggerated height. Indian ships, more conservative, however, were built until about the end of the i8th century with that peculiar form of bow known as the "grab-bow," a survival of the "beak- head," which was designed to break the seas ahead of the " " ship, when, by the wind," or laying-to." It eventually degenerated into the familiar cutwater. Indian ships shewed other signs of conservatism in their barricades. Even in modern days the local shipbuilders clung with a pathetic obstinacy to their cherished square stern and quarter galleries. What is the stern of the buggalow or Arab dhow to this day but a reduced facsimile of the stern of the 1 8th or early igth century ship. Truly custom dies hard in the East. " " The precise origin of the term Country Service it is difficult to determine, and in 1838 discussion was invited on the subject. It was held to include vessels owned by Englishmen resident in India, as well as purely Indian ships, and seems to have been applied as far back as the end of the iyth century. In the middle of the igth century, when Steam displaced the sailing Opium-clippers, once the pride of Calcutta, and was gradually ousting the smart full-rigged Ships which carried on the coastal communication of India, when the romance in fact of the white wings was ended, the ex- " " pression Country Service seems to have fallen into desuetude. The early skipper had much to commend him to our interest. He was a natural product of those wild times, his keen eye ever on the look-out for trouble, his hand ever Vlll PEEFACE on his sword hilt. We can imagine him in the early days in Surat or Bombay, seated with the owner in the portico of the richly ornamented native house of the period, his lace ruffles, his large hat with sweeping feather carelessly laid on the table, his coat with its ample skirts, doubtless a great nuisance in that steamy atmosphere, his knee- breeches and handsomely buckled shoes, his sword, a sharp one, we may be sure, hanging at his side in a sling from his shoulder, a romantic picture. And we can imagine too the keen and venturous Indian dressed as the orthodox Cutch Memmon is to this day, turbaned, with a long, flowing robe and peaked shoes, dis- cussing with him the chances of the projected voyage to " " Moco and Jodda," or perhaps to the Gulf of Persia," whence the ship would return richly freighted with the dates of Basra, fiery steeds from Iran's steppes for Nawabs and Rajahs to disport themselves, pearls from Bahrein, and perhaps a bevy of beauteous slaves, brought down from Turkey-in-Asia to grace the harem of an Emperor or a Sultan. And we can imagine them weighing the "pros and cons," the expenses, the risks, the probable gains, until the latter expectations would weigh down the scales and the decision be made. The skipper would then enter his palanquin and be borne swiftly down to the bunder, whence his boat would convey him to the low-bowed, high-sterned, cum- bersome looking tub of the early part of the eighteenth century; the three "lanthornes" surmounting her high stern, her sides bristling with small guns. Ah well ! those days are gone. The modern country skipper now meets the owner in an airy office, lighted in the evening by electric light, and cooled during the day by electric fans. Business is even done by telephone. PBEFACE IX The modern steamer voyage can be estimated to within of coasts and seas are well a couple days ; surveyed. No French privateers are known to be cruising in Indian seas no ; lurking pirates, English, cosmopolitan, Arab, Seedee, or Mahratta, will sally forth to attack his ship; are his arrival the guns unnecessary.