[382] Previous to 1828, owing to the bad state of the Ganges, arising from the sand-banks and heavy floods, against which native genius and native boats were unable successfully to contend, communication with the interior was alike slow and expensive. Thus, it took two and a-half months to go from Calcutta to Benares; three and a-half to Caunpore; six to Agra; and seven and a-half to Delhi. The premium of insurance on a voyage from Calcutta to Caunpore was 3½ per cent.—as much as to England. Treasure, too, and other valuable property was constantly lost by the upsetting of the boats.
[383] See ante, [vol. iv. p. 145].
[384] This vessel was built by Messrs. M. Pearce and Company, of Stockton-on-Tees, and her principal dimensions are as follows: length over all, 377 feet; beam, 46; breadth over paddle-boxes, 74; depth of hold, 5 feet; working draught of water, 2 feet; displacement at 2-feet draught, 739 tons. The engines (built by Messrs. James Watt and Co., of London and Birmingham) are 220 nominal horse-power, having horizontal cylinders of 55 inches diameter, and 6-feet stroke, and the diameter of the paddle-wheels is 26 feet. The hull of the vessel is constructed of puddled steel, and is strengthened longitudinally by four arched girders, two of which carry the paddle-wheels, while the other two run fore and aft, extending nearly the whole length of the ship. Similar means are employed for strengthening the vessel athwartships. She is steered at each end by means of “blades,” which, instead of being worked from side to side in the ordinary manner of rudders, are made to rise out of, or lower into, the water at the proper angle. Both sets of these “steering-blades” are worked simultaneously, but provision is made to work one set only, should an accident occur to the other.
[385] The John Bright is clipper form, barque rig, and fitted with the screw. Her dimensions are 250 feet in length between the perpendiculars: breadth 31 feet, and depth 22 feet 6 inches. She is propelled by engines of 250 horse-power nominal; and is 1192 tons builders’ measurement.
[386] The earliest, as well as at that time, the fastest steamers employed in the opium trade between Calcutta and China were the Fiery Cross, and the Lancefield, built on the Clyde, and owned by Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Company. These vessels invariably called at Singapore on their way to Hong Kong, where they waited for despatches from England by the steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Thus the owners of these vessels, which were much faster than the Mail boats, not merely realized large profits in their regular trade, but, with earlier information from home, than their competitors, had a great advantage in all other branches of commerce, as well as in that of opium.
[387] Lines of communication maintained by the steamers of the British India Steam Navigation Company (Limited): Line 1. Between Calcutta, Chittagong, Akyab, and Kyouk Phyoo, fortnightly. 2. Between Calcutta, Akyab, and Rangoon, fortnightly. 3. Between Calcutta, Rangoon, and Moulmein, weekly. 4. Between Calcutta, Chittagong, Akyab, Kyouk Phyoo, Sandoway, Bassein, Rangoon, Moulmein, Tavoy, Mergui Pakchan, Kopah, Junkseylon, Penang, Malacca, and Singapore, every four weeks. 5. Between Moulmein, Penang, Malacca, and Singapore, fortnightly. 6. Between Calcutta, Port Blair, Camorta, and Rangoon, fourweekly. 7. Between Madras and northern ports to Rangoon, fortnightly. 8. Between Calcutta and Bombay, calling at ports in the Coromandel and Malabar coast ports, weekly. 9. Between Bombay and Karáchí, twice a week. 10. Between Bombay, Karáchí, Muskat, Bunder Abbas, Linga, Bushire, and Bussorah, weekly. 11. Between London, Lisbon, Algiers, Red Sea ports, Karáchí, and Persian Gulf, every four weeks. 12. Between Aden and Zanzibar every four weeks. 13. Between Zanzibar, Mayotte, Nossi Bé, Majunga, Mozambique, and other East African ports, every four weeks.
The Holy Ship.
See Frontispiece, [first volume of this work]. Without entering into the vexed question of the antiquity of Indian naval architecture, it is certain that native-built vessels, dedicated to commercial purposes, have always been constructed with considerable skill and possess remarkable durability. One of these vessels, built in Surat, called the Holy Ship, as she was employed by the Muhammedans in going to and returning from Mecca on their pilgrimage from India, though, so far back as 1702, she was described as the Old Ship, continued to make an annual voyage for three-quarters of a century, subsequently, from Surat to Mocha, where her owners had the special privilege of taking on board a certain number of chests and cases of coffee and other produce, a privilege the more valuable, as the export duties were excessive. The Holy Ship was lost at last in a violent afflux of the river at Surat in the year 1777, but there is reason to believe that she had navigated the Indian seas for much more than a century, thus proving the superiority of her construction, and the durability of her timbers and planking. In constructing such vessels, the planks are not put together in the European manner, with flat edges towards each other, but they are rabbeted, and the parts are made to fit into each other with the greatest exactness, much time and attention being bestowed upon this operation. For this purpose the builders smear the edges of the planks, as they are set up, with red lead, and those which are intended to be placed next, are put upon them and pressed down, in order to be able to discern the inequalities which are marked by the red lead. These are afterwards removed, and the test is repeated, until the whole exactly fits; they then rub both edges with a sort of glue, which becomes by age as hard as iron, and they cover this with a thin layer of capoc, after which they unite the planks so firmly, and closely with pegs, that the seam is scarcely visible, and the entire frame seems to form one single piece of timber. The beams and ribs are fitted in the same way to the planks, so that a piece of wood is sometimes put in and taken out more than ten times before it is finally fixed. The knees, or crooked timbers, are generally by natural growth of the bent form required, without being forced or warped by fire, especially where special care is taken in the construction and no expense spared. Instead of bolts, pieces of iron are used, forged like spikes, the point of which is driven through, clenched on the inside, and again driven into the wood. The iron employed for this purpose is previously made very rough and flexible. A peculiar method is also employed for the preservation of ships’ bottoms, by occasionally rubbing them with an oil, called wood-oil, whereby the planks, imbibing this preparation, are greatly nourished and protected from decay.
[389] Mr. James Galbraith, the managing director of this company, is in every respect competent to carry out with success this interesting and important undertaking. He is the chief partner of the firm of Messrs. P. Henderson and Co., of Glasgow, and the senior partner of the firm of Messrs. Galbraith, Stringer, Pembroke and Co., of 8 Austin Friars, London—successors to the firm of W. S. Lindsay and Co., which I established, and from which I retired in 1862.