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BOOKS OF TRAVEL
BOOKS OF TRAVEL
Demy 8vo. Cloth Bindings. All fully Illustrated THROUGH UNKNOWN NIGERIA By John R. Raphael . 15s. net. A WOMAN IN CHINA By Mary Gaunt . 15s. net. LIFE IN AN INDIAN OUTPOST By Major Casserly . 12s. 6d. net. CHINA REVOLUTIONISED By J. S. Thompson . 12s. 6d. net. NEW ZEALAND By Dr Max Herz . 12s. 6d. net. THE DIARY OF A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE By Stanley Portal Hyatt . 12s. 6d. net. OFF THE MAIN TRACK By Stanley Portal Hyatt . 12s. 6d. net. WITH THE LOST LEGION IN NEW ZEALAND By Colonel G. Hamilton-Brow
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THE OLD EAST INDIAMEN
THE OLD EAST INDIAMEN
Author of “Sailing-Ships and their Story,” “Down Channel in the ‘Vivette,’” “Through Holland in the ‘Vivette,’” “Ships and Ways of Other Days,” etc. ILLUSTRATED LONDON T. WERNER LAURIE LTD. 8 ESSEX STREET, STRAND Introduction The Magnetic East The Lure of Nations The Route to the East The First East India Company Captain Lancaster distinguishes Himself The Building of the Company’s Ships Perils and Adventures Ships and Trade Freighting the East Indiamen East Indiamen and the Royal Navy The Way t
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PREFACE
PREFACE
The author desires to acknowledge the courtesy of Messrs T. H. Parker Brothers of Whitcomb Street, W.C., for allowing him to reproduce the illustrations mentioned on many of the pages of this book; as also the P. & O. Steam Navigation Company for permission to reproduce the old painting of the Swallow . Owing to the fact that the author is now away at sea serving under the White Ensign, it is hoped that this may be deemed a sufficient apology for any errata which may have been allowed to
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THE OLD EAST INDIAMEN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
THE OLD EAST INDIAMEN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
In this volume I have to invite the reader to consider a special epoch of the world’s progress, in which the sailing ship not only revolutionised British trade but laid the foundations of, and almost completed, that imposing structure which is to-day represented by the Indian Empire. It is a period brimful of romance, of adventures, travel and the exciting pursuit after wealth. It is a theme which, for all its deeply human aspect, is one for ever dominated by a grandeur and irresistible destiny.
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CHAPTER II THE MAGNETIC EAST
CHAPTER II THE MAGNETIC EAST
Within human experience it is a safe maxim, that if you keep on continuously thinking and longing for a certain object you are almost sure, eventually, to obtain that which you desire. There is scarcely any better instance of this on a large scale than the longing to find a route to India by sea, and the attainment of this only after long years and years. As a study of perseverance it is remarkable: but the inspiration of the whole project was to get at the world’s great treasure-house, to find
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CHAPTER III THE LURE OF NATIONS
CHAPTER III THE LURE OF NATIONS
When once it was realised how wonderful was Portugal’s good fortune in the East, the nations of Europe one and all desired to enjoy some of these riches for themselves. Even during the time of Henry VIII. one Master Robert Thorne, a London merchant, who had lived for a long time in Seville and had observed with envy the enterprise of the Portuguese, declared to his English sovereign a secret “which hitherto, as I suppose, hath beene hid”—viz. that “with a small number of ships there may bee disc
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CHAPTER IV THE ROUTE TO THE EAST
CHAPTER IV THE ROUTE TO THE EAST
I want in this chapter to call your attention to a very gallant English captain named James Lancaster, whose grit and endurance in the time of hard things, whose self-effacing loyalty to duty, show that there were giants afloat in those days in the ships which were to voyage to the East. The account of the first of these voyages I have taken from Hakluyt, who in turn had obtained it by word of mouth from a man named Edmund Barker, of Ipswich. Hakluyt was known for his love of associating with se
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CHAPTER V THE FIRST EAST INDIA COMPANY
CHAPTER V THE FIRST EAST INDIA COMPANY
Although the expedition of those three tall ships related in the previous chapter had been commercially such a dismal failure, it had shown that James Lancaster was the kind of man to whom there should be entrusted the leadership, not only of a single ship, but of an entire expedition. With the greatest difficulty he had prevented his unruly crew from excesses, he had taken his ship most of the way round the world, he had shown that he could put up a good fight when needs be, and that he possess
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CHAPTER VI CAPTAIN LANCASTER DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF
CHAPTER VI CAPTAIN LANCASTER DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF
On the 20th of February the two ships were ready for sea. “We went all aboord our ships, shot off our ordnance, and set sayle to the sea toward England, with thankes to God, and glad hearts, for his blessings towards us.” On the 13th of March they crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, steering south-west “with a stiff gale of wind at south-east,” and this was sending them over the Indian Ocean towards the African coast in fine style. But “the eight and twentieth day we had a very great and a furious
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CHAPTER VII THE BUILDING OF THE COMPANY’S SHIPS
CHAPTER VII THE BUILDING OF THE COMPANY’S SHIPS
Now , before we proceed with the further voyages and trading of these Indiamen, we shall find it very interesting if we attempt to paint the picture of the building of these ships. Happily the data handed down are of such a nature that we can learn practically all that we should like to know on the subject. The reader will remember that the ships which went on the first and second voyages had been obtained by purchase. But, then, since it was obvious that more ships would be required as the trad
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CHAPTER VIII PERILS AND ADVENTURES
CHAPTER VIII PERILS AND ADVENTURES
It is only by examining the official correspondence which passed between the Company’s servants and themselves that we are able to get a correct insight into the lesser, though usually more human, details connected with these ships. In the last chapter but one we saw that the third voyage had been financially satisfactory. But there are a few sidelights which show that these voyages were not mere pleasure cruises. If this particular one earned 234 per cent. it was by sheer hard work on the part
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CHAPTER IX SHIPS AND TRADE
CHAPTER IX SHIPS AND TRADE
We alluded on an earlier page to what were known as “separate” voyages. In the year 1612 the owners of the different stocks joined together and made one common capital of £740,000. Until that year the custom had been for a number of men to subscribe together for one particular voyage out and home. This was found by no means satisfactory, for it meant there was too much rivalry and no co-operation. Before one voyage was completed another would be sent out, and it happened that out in the East sev
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CHAPTER X FREIGHTING THE EAST INDIAMEN
CHAPTER X FREIGHTING THE EAST INDIAMEN
The joint stock arrangement, as distinct from the separate voyages, which had been instituted in 1613 worked very well: and after the Restoration the practice of buying and selling shares became common, the system approximating to that of modern times. The Company’s ships were continuing to bring back much wealth to the shareholders, but again covetous desires had to be appeased. In the year 1649 the Commissioners of the Navy constrained the East India Company to lend them £4000. It was in the y
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CHAPTER XI EAST INDIAMEN AND THE ROYAL NAVY
CHAPTER XI EAST INDIAMEN AND THE ROYAL NAVY
The East India Company’s progress was anything but a straight, easy path. We must never forget that if it made big profits—and when examined these figures, taken on an average, are not so colossal as they seem at first sight—the risks and responsibilities were very far from insignificant. Quite apart from the difficulties out in India, and the absence of the invention of telegraphy thus making it difficult to keep a complete control over the factors and trade; quite apart, too, from the pressure
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CHAPTER XII THE WAY THEY HAD IN THE COMPANY’S SERVICE
CHAPTER XII THE WAY THEY HAD IN THE COMPANY’S SERVICE
In order that the East Indiamen might be able to make themselves known on the high seas to the British men-of-war, a special code of signals was accustomed to be arranged by the Admiralty for the former. This was for use during war-time, so that the Company’s vessels on meeting with other craft might know at a distance whether these were the friends who would convoy them or the enemy who would assail them. Some time during the autumn, during these eighteenth-century wars when England always seem
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CHAPTER XIII THE EAST INDIAMEN’S ENEMIES
CHAPTER XIII THE EAST INDIAMEN’S ENEMIES
The East India Company had recovered from their period of desolation. They had set their house in order, had been granted a further extension of their monopoly, were opening up a good trade with China, and had received fresh capital for their operations in wider spheres. The trade of the East was practically now in the hands of England, the Dutch East India Company having suffered very heavily, and the French East India Company after languishing had come to an end in 1790. Although there had bee
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CHAPTER XIV SHIPS AND MEN
CHAPTER XIV SHIPS AND MEN
Bombay had been first so called by the Dutch, meaning Good Bay. Owing to its spaciousness, excellent depth of water and other facilities it was well designated. By the end of the eighteenth century it had its dry and wet docks and every facility for careening and repairing ships, being of great utility to the Company’s merchant ships and its navy as well. Its dockyard was furnished with all kinds of necessary stores. Here there was always on hand plenty of timber and planking, here anchors could
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CHAPTER XV AT SEA IN THE EAST INDIAMEN
CHAPTER XV AT SEA IN THE EAST INDIAMEN
The first decade of the nineteenth century had been very unfortunate for the East India Company. There had been the losses of those ships already mentioned, owing to disasters at sea. This meant not only the loss to the Company of the rich cargoes, but of the advances to the owners amounting to thousands of pounds. The French war had also not merely interfered with the coming and going of the merchant ships, but it had thrown the whole of Europe into such a state of bewilderment that commerce ge
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CHAPTER XVI CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
CHAPTER XVI CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
We have seen something of the lives of the officers and men in the Company’s ships at sea: we desire now to learn more of their conditions of employment—what was their uniform, what were their rates of pay, privileges, pensions according to their different ranks, the kind of accommodation for the passengers, the nature of their cargoes, and so on. In other words, we are to endeavour to fill in those details of the picture already roughly sketched. Dating back from the time of the first East Indi
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CHAPTER XVII WAYS AND MEANS
CHAPTER XVII WAYS AND MEANS
There was a fixed rate of passage-money, and it was thought necessary to forbid the captains to charge passengers any sum above that specified for their rank. These were the respective rates, including the passage and accommodation at the captain’s table. General officers in the Company’s service were charged for the passage from England £250, colonels or Gentlemen of Council £200, while lieutenant-colonels, majors, senior merchants, junior merchants and factors had to pay £150. Captains were ch
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CHAPTER XVIII LIFE ON BOARD
CHAPTER XVIII LIFE ON BOARD
At 6.30 A.M. in these East Indiamen the crew began to wash down decks, and an hour later the hammocks were piped up and stowed in the nettings round the waist by the quartermasters. At eight o’clock was breakfast, and then began the duties of the day. E The midshipmen slept in hammocks also, but the chief mate and the commander were the only officers in the ship to have a cabin of their own. In no other ships outside the navy, excepting perhaps some privateers, was discipline so strict. The seam
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CHAPTER XIX THE COMPANY’S NAVAL SERVICE
CHAPTER XIX THE COMPANY’S NAVAL SERVICE
Primarily , of course, the East Indiamen were built fitted out and manned for the purpose of trade: but owing to circumstances they were compelled to engage in hostilities both offensive and defensive. The result was that these ships figured in more fights than any essentially mercantile ships (as distinct from pirates, privateers and other sea-rovers) that have ever been built. It is necessary at the outset to distinguish carefully between what became known subsequently as the Indian Navy and t
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CHAPTER XX OFFENCE AND DEFENCE
CHAPTER XX OFFENCE AND DEFENCE
We have made reference during the course of our story to the grave risks which were run by the mercantile East Indiamen in regard to pirates and privateers. It will now be our duty to give some instances of these and to show that if the captains and officers of the Company’s ships received big rewards for their few voyages, they were certainly entitled to a high rate of remuneration considering the dangers which had to be encountered as regards ships, cargoes and human lives. The very essential
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CHAPTER XXI THE “WARREN HASTINGS” AND THE “PIÉMONTAISE”
CHAPTER XXI THE “WARREN HASTINGS” AND THE “PIÉMONTAISE”
One of the most gallant duels which was ever fought between a merchant ship and a man-of-war is that which occurred in the year 1805: and though eventually the former was at last captured, yet the engagement none the less remains to her credit, since the fight lasted for four hours and the enemy was compelled to haul off several times during the action. The incident, in fact, affords an excellent example of the readiness for hostilities which was so marked a feature of the old East Indiamen. Jam
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CHAPTER XXII PIRATES AND FRENCH FRIGATES
CHAPTER XXII PIRATES AND FRENCH FRIGATES
Another pirate who was a thorn in the flesh to the East Indiamen was a man named Jean Lafitte, who was born at St Malo. This man was no stranger to the Eastern seas. He had been appointed mate of a French East Indiaman which was bound from Europe to Madras. But on the way out the ship encountered bad weather off the Cape of Good Hope, by which she was so damaged that the captain determined to call at Mauritius: and a quarrel having sprung up between Lafitte and the captain, the former decided to
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CHAPTER XXIII THE LAST OF THE OLD EAST INDIAMEN
CHAPTER XXIII THE LAST OF THE OLD EAST INDIAMEN
It must not be thought that even after that momentous change of 1834, when the “free traders,” as they were called, began to send their ships to India, the Company were freer of anxiety. It has already been shown that they were being badly defeated in the new competition. But this was not all. In the year 1816 the owners of thirty-four ships which had been engaged by the Company under the Act of 1799 for six voyages on a settled peace freight now complained that these rates were inadequate to me
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