Page:The Cyclopedia of India (Specimen Issue).pdf/84

 Tits B. I. S. N. Uta—The coni- merctnl history 0! India would be my incomplete without mention of the British India Steam Navigation Company. Sn catensire are the operations of this Company that its inﬂuence extends to every port in the littoral of the East Indies. and to those at the East African Coast. the Persian Gulf. Burma. the Malacca Straits. as tar north as Jephar. and as in West as Ipndon. It was incorpo- rated in $56, and although it has been in existence only a half century}; it possesses a ﬂeet of one hundred and twenty-four steamers. The aggregate tonnage ot the ﬂeet is over four hundred thousand tons

The birth «I the Company was in the year t855. In consequence o! a desire on the

THE CYCLOI’EDIA OI" INDIA.

monstratcd by the energetic young Company, and simultaneously orders were gireri for more ships.

Sir William Mnclrinnon. Chairman of the Company. came to Indira in ism-6: and inaugurated in general I) stern of extension on the Company's lines. A coasting service was opened up embracing the whole of the Indian Coast. and contracts being entered into with the Indian Government, lines were run to the Persian Gulf and the Malacca Straits. Under these contracts the Company under- took to deliver the mail to the prin- cipal ports in these places an a schedue varying (mm a fortnight to six weeks according to the distance of the ports from Calcutta At the time it was a large undertaking the

foundered on a voyage from Raogcon to Calcutta in a great cyclone which swept our the Bay at Bengal : and in the lam: tempest four other steamers were driven ashore. Despite this series of disasters the Company maintained its Contract sen ice without brcalt.

The part taken by the new steamers of the Company It the beginning of the Ahyssinian campaign is worthy ol mention Nine of these had been re- quisitioned by the Government. and on arrival at Anncsly Bay they were most opportunately able to render aid to the troops in a time of pressing want. by condensing water Through Oversight none of the other steamers utilized had been ﬁtted with conl'etr tors. and the 30.000 gallons a day

deliiered by

part of the the statues: East India of the British Company Ior India Corn~ amaﬂservice > pany were between Cal- < just suﬁicient cButta a3: fortrogpsand urtna. antma “Calcutta The open- and Burma in; of the Stenrn Navt- Suez Canal gatior’t' Corn. in 1869 pro- pany was duced a re- then formed relation in bySir‘jftlhsm the shipping Macktnnori, tarde of Irv thehtefhaut: dia. In this man 0 connection it Company. is worthy of Two small mention that steamers, the the SS. " In “Cape OI din" of this GoodI‘I: " Cnmpariywas gm ‘ Mantras-on Gnu. CMa‘lTI.‘

chased in England. and bronght to India rid the Cape of Good Hope. Under a contract with the Govern- ment a aemimonthly service between Calcutta and Myab. Rangoon and Moulrnein was then instituted. This was the beginning or a mail service. maintained Ior the Government by this Company. that has gradually increased until the annual mileage traversed under mail contract now exceeds one million tnﬂes.

In t858 and '59 two more vessels were purchased hy the Company. and trade was opened up with the ports between Calcutta and Madras. a: the time such a service was considered impracticable o! accomplishment by the “nine authorities. The practi- cahility oi it was however soon de-

Company was entering upon. nnd more steamers became at once A necessity. By the year 1863 therefore seventeen steamers ﬂew the ensign of the C. a: B. S. N. Company and four more were in process of construction. About this time under sanction oi the Board 0! Trade. the name of the Company was altered to the "British India Steam Navigation Company." The first serious reverses received by the Company were sustained in rem-63. when the Steamer "Burma" was lost on the Madagascar Coast, fortunately without loss of lite. The new steamer “Bussont” was lost on her maiden soysgc to India, and the "Coringa" was driven ashore during a gale in Muscat Harbour. Within the year the steamer "I'ersia"

don with an Indian argo. I’roposalstor lurthcr local extensions of the regular services were received by the Com. pany in the year following. and in r873 a new contract led to the intro. duction of several new mail lineaand the doubling oi the existing services. Simultaneously a monthly service be- tween Aden and Zanzibar was inaugu- rated under arrangement with the Home Government. This line was subsequently extended to Mozambique. taking in several other East African Coast ports.

In times of Iarnine and war. the British India Beet has always been prominently to the front. 006 a! prompt and expeditious service has earned many encomit-rns in 055cm quarters. When the South African