It will be noticed that not one of these is really a big ship and that while the average is somewhere between 400 and 500 tons, yet not one exceeds 495 tons. The directors settled the size of ship required and the owners saw that it was supplied. The size of the crews will be seen to be very large, but this is explained not only because wages were low in those days and safety was a dominating factor—allowing plenty of men in each watch for handling sail—but because each ship carried about thirty guns, and though both broadsides would not be fired at once, yet even half those guns would necessitate a good number of the crew. At various dates during the eighteenth century, when the country needed ships, the Admiralty commissioned a number of these East Indiamen and also gave commissions in the Royal Navy to their commanders.

Those were the days, too, when merchantmen frequently obtained letters of marque for acting against the ships of a nation with which our country was at war. During the year 1739 Britain declared war against Spain, and so one comes across a document of that year in which the directors of “The United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies”—for this was the official style of the East India Company at that time—petition for “Letters of Marque or General Reprizals against Spain.” The request is made on behalf of their ship, Royal Guardian, 490 tons, 98 men and 30 guns; and for other vessels of their fleet. These were duly granted, and such stout, well-armed craft were able to render an excellent account of themselves against the foe. They were necessarily built of great strength, they carried so many guns, their crews were such seasoned men, and their commanders such determined fellows, that they formed really a most valuable reserve to the Royal Navy. They were not individually a match for the biggest of the enemy’s battleships, but none the less they were equal to any frigate and of far greater utility to the King’s service than any merchant liner would proportionately be to-day in the time of war.

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 seemed to be engaged in hostilities, the custom was for the Admiralty to appoint a fresh code so that the naval and the Company’s ships might know each other. This code was then sent sealed to the Secret Committee of the East India Company, and handed over to the latter’s commanding officers. Similarly special signals were arranged so that when calling at St Helena the Governor of that island might be able to recognise the homeward-bound East Indiamen.

The following document, dated 5th November 1733, from the Admiralty will give some idea of the nature of these signals:—

And in order to know any of his Majesty’s ships when encountered in the East Indian waters the signal was to be as follows:—The ship to windward was to hoist an English Jack at the fore t’gallant masthead, and the ship to leeward was to answer by furling the mizen topsail and hoisting a French Jack at the mizen topmasthead.

The Company had their own agent at Deal, and considering the number of days that were spent by the East Indiamen in the Downs, both outward and homeward bound, his presence was very necessary. The ships were taken down the Thames by the Company’s own pilots, and this corporation owned its own pilot-cutter, which was a 60-ton craft with a master and six men, her cruising ground being between Gravesend and the Downs. However, even then, the Company’s ships were by no means immune from getting ashore, although it ought to be mentioned that by the middle of the eighteenth century a really good chart of the Thames estuary did not exist, and the exact nature of some of the numerous shoals was unknown. It is not surprising, therefore, to find casualties occurring as these big ships went up and down the London river. For instance, in March 1734 the East Indiaman Derby, outward bound in charge of a “Pylot,” ran aground “on the Mouse Sand below the Nore.” (This shoal is a few miles to the east of Southend pier.) She sustained so much damage that she had to put into Sheerness for dry-docking and repairs.

So also, a few days before Christmas in the year 1736, the East Indiaman Lyell “by the Unskilfulness of the Pilote has been Onshore on the Spaniard Sand,D in going down for the Downs.” So she also had to use Sheerness dock for repairs. Captain John Acton, the commander of the Lyell, in his report stated that the “Pylots” pretended not to have seen the “Buoy of the Spill,” and “borrowing too near on the Kentish Shore, he run us aground on the Spaniard at High Water, the wind blowing fresh N.W.” The “Spill,” or, as it is now called, the “Spile” buoy, marks the western end of the Spile Sand. The pilots had clearly got out of their course, for these East Indiamen, drawing as they did 20 feet of water, would never have taken the inner passage along the Kentish shore known as the Four Fathoms Channel. They should have left the Spile buoy to starboard and not to port, as clearly was the case in the present instance among the shoals. The north-west was a fair wind from the Thames to the Downs all the way, so that no one except by accident would have chosen to take such a ship so far out of the main, deep-water channel.

The ship was hard and fast on the Spaniard, and the conditions could scarcely have been worse—a fresh onshore wind, and the accident occurring at top of high water. All night the ship lay on the shoal bumping and injuring herself so that there were soon seven feet of water in the hold, and the pumps could not cope with it. But on the morning of Christmas Eve by a great piece of luck the ship was got off, for the wind veered to the north and sent in a bigger tide, as of course it would, and a local fisherman—doubtless from Whitstable or the East Swale—came and assisted with his local knowledge so that “thank God the ship floated and we got her off here.” Making a fair wind of it the Lyell then ran into the East Swale and anchored off Faversham. And a very handsome sight she must have looked lying to her hempen cable in that winding river.

One bleak day in January 1737 the East Indiaman Nassau had the misfortune to run on the south end of the Galloper in a “hard gale at SW,” as her captain reported. The Galloper is a treacherous bank in the North Sea off Harwich, and many a ship used to get picked up here in the olden days. The Nassau was now in a critical position, and every moment those on board expected her to go to pieces: “but,” wrote her skipper, “by the Providence of the Almighty in about an Hours time we forc’d her off again with her head sails, but had the misfortune at the same time of losing our Rudder, Main and Mizen Top Mast which obliged us soon after to come to an anchor.” But here again, just as had been the case with the Lyell, local assistance came to them. For after a time the Harwich packet passed them bound for Holland, and her captain, seeing the Nassau, hailed her skipper and advised her to stand in for Orfordness, and even sent on board his mate, as he knew every inch of that coast. However, the wind now veered to the north-north-west, which made it fair for running down the North Sea, so the Nassau sailed down towards the North Foreland and anchored in Margate Roads, whence her captain was able to send information to the East India Company, where also he would wait for orders.

Another peril which these East Indiamen had to remember was the presence of pirates. These consisted not merely of local Eastern craft, but of such people as Captains Avery and Kidd, two of the most notorious men in the whole history of piracy. In the early part of the eighteenth century the latter were found in many parts of the Indian Ocean. Madagascar was a favourite base for these rovers, but they would be found off Mauritius, or at the mouth of the Red Sea awaiting the East Indiamen returning from Mocha and Jeddah. Not content with this, these European pirates would hang about off the Malabar coast, and the East India Company’s ships suffered considerably, and feared a repetition of these attacks. And yet, when we consider the matter dispassionately, were Avery, Kidd and his fellow-pirates very much worse than some of those captains who first took the English ships out to the Orient, who thought it no wrong but a mere matter of business to stop a Portuguese ship and relieve her of her cargo just as these eighteenth-century pirates would assail the ships of the present monopolists of the Eastern trade? The only difference that seems obvious is that Lancaster and those other early captains were acting on behalf of a powerful corporation having a charter from the sovereign: whereas Avery, Kidd and the like were acting on their own and were outlaws. And even this cannot be pushed too far, seeing that at one time of his career Kidd received a commission from William III. to go forth and, as “a private man-of-war,” capture other notorious “pirates, free-booters and sea-rovers,” on the old principle of setting a thief to catch a thief.

Sometimes these East Indiamen were taken for the enemy even by English men-of-war. You will remember the famous voyage of Lord Anson round the world in the years 1740-1744. One day whilst they were in the South Atlantic they saw a sail to the north-west, and the squadron began to exchange signals with each other and to give chase “and half an hour after we let out our reefs and chased with the squadron ... but at seven in the evening, finding we did not near the chace ... we shortened sail, and made a signal for the cruisers to join the squadron. The next day but one we again discovered a sail, which on nearer approach we judged to be the same vessel. We chased her the whole day, and though we rather gained upon her, yet night came on before we could overtake her, which obliged us to give over the chace, to collect our scattered squadron. We were much chagrined at the escape of this vessel, as we then apprehended her to be an advice-boat sent from Old Spain to Buenos Ayres with notice of our expedition. But we have since learnt that we were deceived in this conjecture, and that it was our East India Company’s packet bound to St Helena.” This is certainly a fair proof of the sailing qualities of the Company’s ships, seeing that not even the English cruisers could overhaul the merchant ship.

At this time the chief cargoes which these East Indiamen took out to the East still included those woollen goods which had been sent ever since the foundation of the first Company, and they continued to bring back saltpetre, but now tea was becoming a much more important cargo. But in addition to that tea which came home in the Company’s ships and paid custom duty, there was a vast amount brought in by smugglers. And one argument used to be that this had to be, because the East Indiamen brought back chiefly the better, higher priced kind, compelling the dealers to send to Holland for the cheaper variety.

The East Indiamen’s captains were not above engaging in the smuggling industry, at any rate as aiders and abettors. One of the methods was to wait until the ship arrived in the Downs. Men would come out from the Deal beach in their luggers and then take ashore quantities of tea secreted about their person. This was the reason why the Revenue cruisers were told to keep an especial watch on the Company’s ships when homeward bound, because of “the illicit practices that are continually attempted to be committed by them.” So notorious indeed and so ingenious were the methods to land goods without previously paying duty, that the Revenue cutters were ordered to follow these bigger ships all the way up Channel, keeping as close to them as possible as long as they were under sail, and when the East Indiaman came to anchor, the cutter was to bring up as near as possible to her. This was to prevent goods (such as silk and tea) being dropped through the ship’s ports into a friendly boat that had come out from the beach, a practice that was by no means unknown on board these merchant craft home from the Orient.

Just as there was serious friction sometimes between the Revenue cutters and the ships of his Majesty’s navy concerning the wearing of pendants, so these incidents were not unknown to happen to the ships of the Honourable East India Company. As an instance, Captain Balchen, R.N., during the year 1726 wrote to the latter complaining that one of their ships had hoisted a broad red pendant at the main topmast head. There was certainly no possible defence, and the Company were compelled to reply that they were “entire strangers” to the complaint, and would give directions to prevent this occurring again. But otherwise these East Indiamen were treated with far more respect than any other merchant ships. No finer ships other than men-of-war sailed the seas. On arriving at their port in India they were always saluted, and their captains ranked as Members of Council, being saluted with thirteen guns when they landed, and the guard turning out when they entered or left the fort. No one, in fact, other than officers of the Royal Navy received such respect. Under the captain were from four to eight officers in the bigger ships, who all wore uniforms, the duties on board being carried on with just the same discipline as in a man-of-war.

Some of the Company’s servants were making handsome profits even when the Company itself was doing badly. Eastwick mentions the name of a purser who had such nice little perquisites out of his office that he left the service and became owner of a ship which traded between London and Calcutta. She was a ship of no mean size, for she carried thirty cabin passengers and 300 lascars, together with a large mixed cargo of the value of £13,000. And you may judge of the profits from the passenger source alone when it is stated that one of these cabins cost four hundred guineas for the voyage. The affairs of the Company had for some years been in a rather bad way. Instead of being able to pay to the Government the stipulated sum of £400,000 a year, the directors were actually compelled to ask the Government for a loan of £1,000,000. This was in the year 1772. The affairs of the Company were brought before Parliament, and a Committee exposed a series of intrigues and crime. It was to remedy this rotten condition of things that in June of 1773 two Bills were introduced, of which one authorised the loan just mentioned, and the other, celebrated as the India Act, effected most important changes in the Company’s constitution and its relations to India. A Governor-General was appointed to reside in Bengal, to which the other presidencies were to be made subordinate. A supreme court of judicature was inaugurated at Calcutta. The salary of the Governor was to be £25,000 a year, and that of the Council members at £10,000 each, the chief judge receiving £8000 a year. From this time forth the Company’s affairs were brought under the control of the Crown, all the departments were reorganised, and all the territorial correspondence had to be laid before the British Ministry.

It was certainly high time that the Company’s affairs were taken in hand. Our present inquiry is concerned only with its merchant shipping, so we may confine ourselves strictly thereto. Had it not been for the wonderfully popular taste which the United Kingdom had now shown for tea, the Company’s ships would have been compelled to cease trading with the East. When, in 1773, the Company’s charter was once more renewed, a grant was made of a monopoly also to China. From about the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the Company had become more of a military than a trading concern, yet the latter was anything but insignificant. Enormous tracts of land had been obtained in India. The governments of the native princes were corrupt, and the East India Company was strong. The British Government was some thousands of miles across the sea, so gradually but surely, without much interference, the Company had obtained a strong grip on the natives. From that followed extortion, and when the Company’s servants returned home they came with fortunes, even though the Company itself was doing badly.

In the year 1772 the East India Company were employing fifty-five ships abroad, aggregating 39,836 tons. At home they owned, and there were being built for its service thirty ships of an aggregate of 22,000 tons. In 1784 the number of its ships at home and abroad was sixty-six. The chief object of the inquiry into the Company’s trade with the East by the Committee just alluded to was apparently to see if the ships could be built and run more cheaply than under the present method of chartering. It was seen from the evidence of Sir Richard Hotham that the existing method of freighting the Company’s ships could be improved upon to effect greater economy, for whereas the Company were paying in the year 1772 as much as £32 a ton for the carriage of fine goods, this expert witness expressed himself as willing to bring goods from any part of the East at £21 a ton.

The result of this inquiry was that important changes had to be made. The Company began to put its shipping business into proper condition. The Company decided to build for its own use a number of bigger ships than they had been wont to use, and thus those wonderful East Indiamen, for which the eighteenth century will ever be famous, came into being. They were of 1200 to 1400 nominal tons, though their real measurement was greater than this. Such ships began to be built about the year 1781, though in earlier days, as the reader is aware, the ships had recently averaged between 400 and 500 tons, not exceeding the latter figure. The new type, of course, did not entirely drive the smaller ones straight off the sea, but the two classes existed side by side. We alluded just now to the terrible national evil of smuggling. This vice had reached amazing limits during the eighteenth century, and the country was in such a state of alarm, and honest traders complained so bitterly of the disastrous effects on their prosperity, that in the year 1745 a beginning was made of an inquiry by a Parliamentary Committee into the causes of smuggling and the most effectual methods to stop it. We have seen that tea, because of its recent popularity, was especially an article beloved by these smugglers. We need not enter further into this inquiry, but evidence showed that one of the best means of ending this illicit trade would be to reduce the duties, thus not making it worth while for the illicit trader to carry on his work. Now when Pitt did reduce the duties on various Indian productions, but especially on tea, it was found that a complete change was made in the demand for this commodity. Many thousand more pounds’ weight were now required, the sales were trebled, and thus there was a much greater shipping business. The export trade to China now began to be most important also, and the Company was prospering.

But before we proceed any further we must just see the conditions which were in existence up to 1773 in regard to the method of chartering ships by the Company from the owners. It was agreed that these hired ships were to be surveyed by the Company whenever the latter desired, and it is typical of the times that the proviso had to be inserted that the Company’s surveyors “are to be civilly treated.” In order that the ship might be efficiently armed, the commander and owners were liable to a fine of £40 for each gun that was wanting. If any of the guns were sold, the owners and commander were to be fined £100 for each gun, and the commander to be dismissed the Company’s service. The commander was also to obey the Company’s orders during the voyage, as well as their agents and factors. In order to encourage the seamen, the Company agreed to reward them when the ship returned to the Thames from the East Indies at the end of the voyage—that is to say, if they had been able to prevent any wilful damage to the Company’s property, or save them from being lost, a reward suitable for the benefit was to be made. If a seaman were to lose his life in defending the ship, his next of kin was to receive £30. If he lost a limb, he himself was to have the same sum. If he received minor wounds he was to be given some smaller monetary reward and to be “cured of his wounds” at the Company’s expense.

The Company expressly forbade these hired ships from calling at places other than those which it ordered, or to take any foreign coin or bullion, goods or provisions at any place short of her consigned port. The cargo was to be disposed in the best manner to prevent damage, and so that the working of the ship and her efficient defence would not be interfered with. Pepper was not to be shot loose between decks or the freight would not be paid for. If the ship should touch at St Helena or the island of Ascension she was not to sail without the permission of the Governor and Council. Nor was she to touch at Barbadoes, or any American port, or any of the western islands, or even Plymouth, without orders or some unavoidable danger of the sea, under a penalty of £500. The commander, chief and second mates were to keep journals of the ship’s daily proceedings, from the time when she first took in cargo in the River Thames to the time of her return and discharge of her cargo in England. Wind, weather, and all the remarkable transactions, accidents and occurrences during the voyage were to be noted in these journals, as also of everything received into the ship. These journals were to be delivered up to the Company afterwards, on oath, if required.

No unlicensed goods were to be carried in the ship nor any passengers to be taken without permission. The ship was to have her full complement of men during the voyage, and none of these crews was to be furnished by the master or officers with money, liquor, or provisions beyond the value of one-third of what the wages of such seamen should amount to at that particular time. The paymaster (who was appointed by the Company and owners jointly) was to pay the seamen’s wives one month’s wages in six. The commander was to have the use of the ship’s great cabin, unless it were required for the Company’s servants voyaging out or home. It was the duty of the part-owners or the master to send in the ship always the sum of £500 in foreign coins or bullion for use in the case of extraordinary expenses during the voyage. The commander was also to be supplied with £200 a month for paying wages and provisions while in India or China. And whenever lascars were hired, the Company were to pay for their hire. We shall refer to the subject of these lascars again presently, but we may now go on to witness the development of the Company’s shipping after the inauguration of those reforms at which we hinted just now.

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 been formed the first Danish East India Company as far back as 1612, and a Spanish Royal Company for trading with the Philippines incorporated in 1733 and an Ostend East India Company incorporated by the Emperor of Austria in 1723; yet the last-mentioned had become bankrupt in 1784, and now the English East India Company, after many vicissitudes, was left practically the sole surviving trading power in the Orient.

Under Pitt’s Act the directors of the English Company were allowed to superintend their shipping and matters of commerce as before, yet the Board of Control exercised its influence both in England and India. Each year the Company settled the number of ships to be built and their sizes. For instance, in 1784, as they saw that at least four more ships would be required, they ordered six to be built. The keels were to be laid down within six months, and the ships were to be launched within twelve months of the laying of the keel. The following year they decided to have three sets of shipping with about thirty ships in each class, so leave was given for eight ships to be built. Tenders were therefore advertised for in January 1786, much to the indignation of the owners, who complained that this advertisement was directed against their interests. They denied that hitherto their rates for freight had been exorbitant, and protested that they had embarked on immense shipbuilding programmes expressly for the Company’s benefit. The Company therefore replied, inviting them to send in tenders, which was done, the same rate being offered as in the preceding season—viz. £26 a ton to China direct, £27 for coast and China, Bombay £28, coast and bay £29. On 9th June of that year a tender was offered the Company to build a 1000-ton ship at £22 a ton for the first two voyages, and £20 for the third and fourth voyages.

Up till the year 1789 the size of the Company’s recent big ships had been from 750 to 800 tons. But in this year it was decided to build five ships of from 1100 to 1200 tons. The following May the Court resolved that from past experience ships could quite well make three voyages without stripping off their sheathing. And, further, those ships which had been accustomed to make the fourth trip their repairing voyage might with perfect safety perform even six voyages. A by-law of 1773 had restricted the employment of ships for more than four voyages, but this was now modified, and instead of four voyages agreements were entered into with the owners for the ships to run six.

It was decided also by the Company in the year 1789 to allow the commanders and officers of their ships to fill, freight free, all such outward tonnage as might be unoccupied by the Company, and to allow the Company’s servants and merchants residing under the Company’s protection in India to fill up such homeward tonnage as might be unoccupied by the Company, at a reasonable freight. When we come to the year 1793 we have to deal with an important Act of the reign of George III., which had far-reaching effects. The Company’s charter was extended until 1814, but provision was made for opening up the Indian trade to private individuals, and thus the long-lived monopoly of the Company was doomed. At length the agitations of the Liverpool and Bristol shipowners to be allowed to participate in the East India trade were to have some sort of effect, though it was far from what was desired. However, one of the conditions of the renewal of the Company’s exclusive privilege under this Act was that any of the Company’s civil servants in India, and the free merchants living in India under the Company’s protection, might be permitted to send to Europe on their own account and risk in the Company’s ships all kinds of Indian goods with the exception of calicoes, dimities, muslins and other piece-goods. And “for insuring to private merchants and manufacturers the certain and ample means of exporting their merchandize to the East Indies, and importing the returns for the same, and the other goods, wares and merchandize, allowed by this Act, at reasonable rates of freight,” the Company was ordered to set apart at least 3000 tons of shipping every year. The charge was to be £5 a ton on the outward voyage in times of peace, and. £15 homeward. But in the time of war the rates should be increased if the Board of Control approved. It was further stipulated that his Majesty’s subjects might be allowed to export from England to India any produce or manufactured goods except military stores, ammunition, masts, spars, cordage, pitch, tar and copper. But in all cases of exports and imports in this Anglo-Indian trade the goods must travel in the Company’s ships. These vessels, provided under the Act, thus became known as “extra East Indiamen,” and sometimes in reading books of voyages and travel of this period you will find the narrator informing the reader that he travelled to the East on board the “extra” East Indiaman so-and-so. It may be stated at once that though the Act was obeyed, it produced little result, for considering that the Company still had such a powerful monopoly of trade in the East, it was quite impossible for home merchants to compete with such a corporation. Most manufacturers and merchants declined to avail themselves of this privilege, full well realising beforehand how useless it would be. However, the Company fulfilled their obligation to provide this additional tonnage, though it entailed a heavy expenditure without much benefit to the public. The people who benefited most were the servants of the Company, who, being homeward bound, were able to bring back to England Indian produce that would find a ready market here.

In the year 1793 the Company had only thirty-six vessels of 1200 tons each and forty of 800 tons each. This of course represented the whole of the British shipping trading to the East. Some idea of the shipbuilding programmes of the next few years may be gathered from the following facts, bearing in mind that the Company were trading to China as well as to India, and that both big and moderate-sized ships were deemed necessary. Thus in October of 1793 the Court decided that sixteen ships of from 700 to 800 tons were necessary, and one of 1200 tons for the annual imports from India in their regular commerce; and that fifteen large ships of 1200 tons would be required for imports from China. When a ship became worn out by age, accident or inability, an advertisement was published, describing the size of the ship required, inviting tenders and specifying the rate of freight to be paid for six voyages, the ship to be commanded by the captain of the ship whose bottom was worn out. In December of the following year it was resolved that ships of 1400 tons were the most suitable for the Company’s trade to China, but that these ships should be tendered at 1200 tons only. So also the regular ships (as distinct from the extra East Indiamen) which brought home their rich cargoes from Bengal and Madras were not to exceed 820 tons and to be chartered at 799 tons. It was further settled that ships of from 480 to 520 tons were the most suitable craft for bringing home what were known as “gruff” goods—that is, cargoes of Indian goods consisting of such raw materials as cotton, rice, sugar, pepper, hemp and saltpetre. The silks, muslins, tea and fine goods were carried in the Company’s larger ships, which carried also the passengers. From the latter quite a large revenue was obtained, as soon as the Company’s rule in India became fully established.

The public were still very jealous of the Company’s private monopoly, and the country was deluged by pamphleteers and tractarians giving vent to this indignation. However, some benefit had been obtained by a reduction in the freights, and it was brought about in the following manner. The suggestion was made that great advantages would result if India-built ships were employed by the Company for the spare freight which was lying ready for shipment to Europe. English oak was getting scarcer, and therefore dearer, and could ill be spared so long as the Royal Navy continued to be wooden walls: whereas out in India the Company owned inexhaustible forests. So from the year 1795 India-built ships were for the first time allowed to take exports and imports. They were commonly known as “country-built” ships, and in the year mentioned twenty-seven of these craft were despatched from India with cargoes of rice. The cost of engaging these ships was at £16 a ton for rice and other deadweight goods and £20 a ton for light goods, the ships to arrive and discharge in the Thames. As a result a saving in one season alone was made of £183,316 in respect of freights. But there occurred some keen disappointment to the owners of these India-built ships. The arrangement had been that, having delivered the goods mentioned in the Thames, they should be allowed to take back to India whatever merchandise they cared to put aboard. Many of these ships had been built as a speculation, their owners believing that they would be taken into the Company’s regular service and so be employed permanently. Notwithstanding that they had been warned against any such supposition, it came as a bitter grief to them when they realised that after the Company’s immediate requirements were completed the services of these ships were no longer required; but for all that the day was now not far distant when trade to India was to be thrown open altogether. It is the last straw which breaks the camel’s back, and the load which had been accumulating ever since the year 1600 was soon to reach the point when something would have to give way.

It should be explained that this was one of the most critical periods in the whole of England’s naval chronicle and therefore of her very existence. The Battle of the Glorious First of June had been fought in 1794, and in this same year Martinique had been captured from the French. The year 1795 was to be even still more replete with naval doings. Ships and men were required as they had never been wanted before, and it was just in this respect that the existence of the East India Company was of the greatest direct benefit to the country and the navy. It must always be to its honour that the Company which had for so long enjoyed the privilege of the Indian monopoly was on this especial occasion to have the privilege of assisting the nation in a most valuable manner. At the opening of the year France possessed advantages which she had never previously enjoyed. She had made peace with Prussia, she had reduced Holland to submission and made a treaty with the latter, the result of which was that the Dutch fleet of about 120 ships was placed at France’s disposal. These were well-built craft, manned by excellent crews who were seamen to their finger-tips. As against this, England was in a condition of isolation and there was a tremendous amount of work to be done and too few ships at hand. For Brest had to be watched, and the Mediterranean fleet had to look after the French based on Toulon. Admiral Duncan had to be sent across the North Sea to prevent any Dutch ships from emerging out of the Texel, but in the southern part of the world something much more historic was destined to occur, for the Cape of Good Hope was captured from the Dutch, and just at the time when our success hung in the balance a strong squadron of East Indiamen arrived with a reinforcement of British troops. The result was that against this force the Dutch could no longer stand. The Dutch settlement (and incidentally a brig belonging to the Dutch East India Company) now became British.

Never had the East India Company been more useful to the navy than in this year. Ships and seamen cannot be got by the mere signing of documents unless they already exist, and it was lucky for the nation that such fine, stout craft, accustomed to long voyages and fighting, manned with such able crews, should already be at hand under the East India Company. At the time of which we speak no fewer than six of their finest vessels were taken into the nation’s service straight away. Eight others which had not quite finished building were also assigned to the Government. In addition to these fourteen handsome craft, the Court of Directors also decided on the 13th of March to raise 3000 men at their own cost for the Royal Navy. This meant a loss of £57,000, but the nation needed it and the Company did their duty. During the ensuing July the Company further decided that fourteen East Indiamen should be placed at the disposal of the Government in September ready to carry troops across the ocean—a work for which they were extremely well fitted—and we have just seen to what advantage this was done. England at this time was distressed by the scarcity of corn, but in order to relieve this distress in some measure large quantities of rice were brought home by twenty-seven ships which the Company purposely added to their fleet for the emergency, and these were the India-built ships of which we spoke just now. Thus in more ways than one, but certainly to the utmost of their ability, the East India Company had come to Britain’s aid when she was passing through a time of great crisis.

During this year the seas which wash the Indian coast were really unsafe to merchantmen by reason of the presence of both French and Dutch cruisers and privateers. The British naval strength in those waters was very inadequate, and we had suffered some naval disasters which were neither a credit to our seamanship nor likely to maintain our prestige as gallant sea-fighters. The whole of the Bay of Bengal was being scoured by French men-of-war ready to fall upon any merchant craft that dared show herself. The privateers were both numerous, well manned, well armed, well commanded and very fast sailers. The consequence was that the East Indiamen never completed their voyages without having some excitement. Nor were pirates exterminated; especially along the Malabar coast, where they had many fastnesses, their strongholds being protected by forts. These men feared nothing, and had actually come out and defeated English, French and Dutch men-of-war that had been especially sent out to punish them, in some cases even capturing their enemy’s ships. A French 40-gun frigate had been compelled to haul down her colours to these robbers of the sea: one of the East India Company’s ships, armed with twenty guns, had also been taken after a fair fight, and three Dutch men-of-war. For some years they were crushed by the wholesome effect of a regular expedition which the English had sent against them, but after a few years they broke out again in their piracy and by the year 1798 they were freely capturing European ships.

On at least one occasion, however, they made a serious mistake, which might have been even still more grievous for them but for a piece of luck. It happened that H.M.S. Centurion, a 50-gun frigate, was cruising in the neighbourhood, and her the pirates mistook for a merchantman, for the East Indiamen were very similar in appearance to the frigates of the Royal Navy. One of the favourite devices of these rovers was to creep up under cover of darkness and wedge the rudder of the ship they intended to attack, their victim being thus rendered unable to manœuvre. In the present instance they had succeeded in carrying out this tactic to the Centurion, and then surrounded the ship and began their attack. The frigate was certainly surprised, but she soon had her guns loaded and brought them to bear on the pirates, and so punished them with a hot fire, which had not been expected, that they were glad to take to flight. It was only the fact of the wedged rudder which prevented the Centurion from being steered in pursuit and capturing their craft. However, it was a lesson to them in the future, and they attacked only when they were certain of their victim.

Of the privateers which hung about in Indian waters, one of the most notorious was the Malartic, which had captured two of the East Indiamen, Raymond and Woodcot, of 793 and 802 tons respectively. Whenever it was known that this ship was in the offing, no merchantman dared put to sea. She eventually captured the Princess Royal, an 805 tonner, and other East Indiamen, but was herself finally taken by the Company’s ship Phœnix. So great was the relief occasioned by this deliverance that Captain Moffat, the Phœnix’s commander, was afterwards publicly presented with a sword of honour. But an even more dangerous privateer was the Confiance. This was a very beautiful ship, and the envy of every captain who set eyes on her. Captain Eastwick, who knew her well, and to whose account I am indebted, described her as follows:—“She sat very low upon the water, and had black sides with yellow moulding posts, and a French stern all black. She carried a red vane at her maintopgallant masthead, very square yards and jaunt masts, upright and without the smallest rake either forward or aft. Her sails were all cut French fashion, and remarkable, having a great roach and steering sail, very square. There was not a ship in those seas that she could not overtake or sail away from. It was the custom of her commander, Captain Sourcouff, to ply his crew with liquor, and they always fought with the madness of drink in them.”

It was this ship which attacked the East Indiaman Kent, and after a heavy engagement killed or wounded no fewer than sixty of the merchantman’s crew, with the result that the latter was forced to haul down her flag. When the news of this occurrence reached Calcutta, two of the Company’s frigates were sent in pursuit of the privateer, and both coming up with her began to attack with such determination that it was certain the Confiance would have to yield. This, however, she refused to do, and though she had only twenty-two guns, her captain fought his ship with great gallantry, and even though his losses were necessarily great, he was able at the end to escape by the speed of his ship. The Kent, however, was retaken from the clutches of the Confiance and brought into Calcutta, and a few years later the Confiance herself was also captured. And you may imagine with what joy the news of her capture was received when it was reckoned that within one single twelvemonth not less than £2,000,000 worth of British shipping had been captured or sunk by the French privateers or men-of-war.

And there was the curious incident of the Lord Eldon being nearly captured right on the doorstep, so to speak, of her home. This ship was an East Indiaman outward bound to India. At the moment of which we are speaking she had backed her sails and was lying off the Needles hove-to, as she awaited some passengers who had been delayed in joining her. But whilst she was thus hove-to a sea fog suddenly came down. Not far off was a French privateer hovering about, and this was the chance of a century. Under cover of this fog he approached the East Indiaman unobserved, so that he came right alongside. When the men on board the Lord Eldon discovered this big ship close up to them in the haze they were alarmed, but not for the reason that you might suppose. It did not occur to them that she was a privateer, but they assumed she was one of the King’s ships and was now about to impress the East Indiaman’s crew into the navy in the manner that we saw in an earlier chapter. As the crew had no desire to come under impressment, they at once hid, with the result that the privateer’s men had no difficulty in coming on board the Lord Eldon. The captain was below at the time, and hearing a noise and clamour came on deck to see what it was all about: and then to his amazement found that his ship was in the hands of the enemy. However, he was not one easily to be daunted, even by such a surprise as this. His life was made up of things unexpected, and knowing that his men were well drilled he called to them to repel boarders. They at once responded to the command and came out from their hiding-places, and after a sharp fight drove the invaders overboard. One Frenchman had even got possession of the Lord Eldon’s wheel, but the East Indiaman’s captain killed him with his own hand, cutting off his head with one stroke of the sword. In a very short time the privateer, who was now more surprised than the crew of the merchant ship, hurriedly made sail and disappeared into the fog. The incident well shows the fighting efficiency of the commanders and men of the Company’s vessels at this period.

During the early part of the eighteenth century about a dozen or fifteen of the Company’s ships would sail to the East Indies from London, but this average gradually rose till, about the year 1779, there were about twenty vessels going out each year. But thereafter the numbers increased to such an extent that in some years there were as many as thirty or forty: and in the year 1795 as many as seventy-six did the voyage. After that date the numbers became again normal, so that up to about the end of 1810 the average was more like forty or fifty. But even this meant a great deal of trade from which the country and Company were to benefit largely.

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 be forged, here new cables and ropes were made of all kinds. The cables were of hemp, but for the smaller ropes the external fibres of the cocoanut, so abundant in India, were made up into that inferior type of rope known as kyah or coir.

We called attention on another page to the introduction of India-built vessels into the Company’s service. India of course is famous for its teak, and every shipman knows what excellent material this wood is for building craft, owing to its hardness and durability. The vessels which Bombay built were fine, stout ships and excellently finished, and Indian shipbuilders even constructed some battleships and frigates for the British navy which were in every way splendid vessels. One vessel named the Swallow, which was built out here and launched in April 1777, was actually in use till she was lost on a shoal in the Hooghly in June 1823. But during this lengthy period of usefulness she had served in many seas and in various capacities. She was first employed as one of the Company’s packets between India and England. After that she was in the Bombay Marine, or the East India Company’s navy. After that she again resumed service as one of the Company’s merchantmen, where she remained for many years. About the beginning of the nineteenth century she was sold to the Danes, and from Copenhagen proceeded to the West Indies, where she was arrested as a prize by a British man-of-war. She was then employed in the King’s service and became a sloop-of-war, and afterwards sold out of the service to some merchants. In this capacity she again made several voyages between London and Bombay, and eventually brought her fine career to an end as stated.

Before the close of the eighteenth century the Battle of the Nile had been fought and won. The importance of this to India was tremendous. For had the result been otherwise Napoleon would have possessed himself of all that the English East India Company had done there. Our Anglo-Indian trade would have come to an end, and the ships which are the subject of our present study would have been no longer required, or else compelled to sail under the French flag. Nelson, in fact, had despatched a messenger overland to the Governor of Bombay, informing the latter of the arrival of the French in Egypt, for he knew well that Bombay was the objective of the enemy if they could get there. However, Nelson’s victory at the Nile quite altered all this, and when the East India Company afterwards voted the gallant admiral the sum of £10,000, it was to show how deeply indebted was this corporation for the welcome relief from catastrophe.

Before we leave the eighteenth century we have to consider some of the more important changes and developments which were taking place. We have seen that the size of these East Indiamen had gradually increased during the century. About the year 1700 the biggest vessels were under 500 tons. Some were even much smaller, as, for instance, the Juno, of 180 tons, and the Success and the Borneo of similar size, but there was also the Arabella, of only 140 tons, and the Benjamin, of 160 tons. Between the years 1748 and 1772 all the Company’s merchant ships are of one size—499 tons. There are very few exceptions indeed to this, and in those few instances you get an occasional ship of 180, 300, 350, 370 or 380 tons. Otherwise there is nothing but this stereotyped 499-ton ship year after year, season after season. This curious fact has puzzled many people, including those who in later days served in the Company’s service. Why was it?