The British India Steam Navigation Company dates from 1855, when the East India Company first took steps to establish a mail service between Calcutta and Burmah. In 1862 the name was changed from the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company to that which it now bears. Since then the business has greatly increased, and it now boasts of having more steamers than any company trading to the East. Its fleet consists of 106 vessels with a total tonnage of about 270,000. They are nearly all called by Eastern names, such as the Golconda, 6,036 tons; Matiana, 5,000 tons; Okhla, 5,283 tons; Onda, 5,272 tons, and Obra, 5,456 tons. The distance annually travelled by ships of this line counts up to 5,000,000 miles. The sailings are about fortnightly from London to Colombo, Madras and Calcutta. The fares to Madras and Calcutta are from £47 10s. to £52 10s., according to accommodation. The first steamers of the line—the Cape of Good Hope and the Baltic—were despatched to India via the Cape. The India of this line is said to have been the first steamer to pass through the Suez Canal. In 1872 a contract was entered into with the East India Company for a monthly service from Aden to Zanzibar. Then a coast line was established from Bombay to Calcutta, calling at eighteen intermediate ports, with a branch line running up the Persian Gulf. In 1880 arrangements were made with the Government of Queensland for a mail service that soon developed into a large trade. At the breaking out of the mutiny in 1857, a detachment of the 35th Regiment was brought up from Ceylon to Calcutta by one of the ships of this line most opportunely. Again, in 1863, thirteen steamers of this fleet were taken up by the Government in connection with the Abyssinian expedition.
Some years ago the Quetta, of this line, on her voyage from Queensland, struck a rock in Torres Straits and sank in a few minutes with the loss of 133 lives. Among the survivors was a plucky young lady, a Miss Lacy, who, after having spent twelve hours upon a raft, attempted to swim ashore, and kept afloat in the water for twenty-four hours without a life-belt or support of any kind, until she was picked up by a boat from a passing steamer.
THE “QUETTA” GOING UNDER, 1890.
The Clan Line, established in 1878, has a fleet of some thirty-five ships, all rejoicing in the prefix of “Clan” to their names. They are comparatively small vessels, the largest of them being the Clan Grant, 3,545 tons; Clan MacArthur, 3,934; Clan MacIntosh, 3,985; Clan MacPherson, 3,921, and Clan Matheson, 3,917 tons. They run from Glasgow and Liverpool to Bombay; from the same ports to Colombo, Madras and Calcutta; also to Cape Colony and Natal, Delagoa Bay, Beira and Mauritius. The saloon fare by this line from Liverpool to Madras or Calcutta is £45; second class, £30.
The Bibby Line has long been famous on the Mediterranean. It is now the direct route to Burmah, and controls a large share of the trade with Ceylon and southern India. It employs five of Harland & Wolff’s first-class steamships—the Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire, twin screw ships of 6,000 tons; and the Lancashire and Yorkshire of 4,260 tons each. This line is the recognized route for officers returning from India at the expiry of furlough. The sailings are from Liverpool to Egypt, Colombo, southern India and Rangoon. Only first-class passengers are carried. Fare to Rangoon, £50.
The Shaw, Savill & Albion Company, formed some thirteen years ago, has been very successful. It has five fast mail steamers—the Arawa, 5,026 tons; Doric, 4,786; Ionic, 4,753; Tainui, 5,031, and the Gothic, 7,730. Besides these they have a large number of cargo steamers and sailing ships. The Gothic is said to be the largest steamship employed in the Australian trade, and the Arawa the fastest, having made the run from Plymouth to New Zealand in 38 days, 30 minutes; and from New Zealand to Plymouth in 35 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes—the fastest on record.
The Union Steamship Company of New Zealand advertises to take passengers from Auckland to England, via San Francisco, in thirty-one days! Saloon fare, £66; steerage, £32 11s. 7d.
The Anchor Line has two services to India: (1) from Liverpool to Bombay and Kurrachee; (2) from Liverpool to Calcutta. The sailings in each case are about once a fortnight. Though chiefly adapted for freight, they carry a considerable number of passengers at low rates, say, to Bombay or Calcutta, first-class, £45, and second-class, £30. The City Line has also two distinct services, the same as the Anchor Line, to Bombay and Kurrachee and to Calcutta. The fares are the same. This line has a fleet of fourteen steamers, among the largest of which are the City of Bombay, 4,548 tons; City of Vienna, 4,672 tons; City of Oxford, 4,019 tons; City of Calcutta, 3,906 tons.