The British East India Company and the dockyard at Bombay around 1802-1806 as described by George Annesley Mountnorris, [viscount Valentia]

Ron van Maanen

P.163: “It is in the light of a marine arsenal that Bombay appears of the greatest importance, and its value has been hitherto little diminished by the conquest of Trincomalee, which, at present, affords only a scanty and precarious supply of fresh provisions for a fleet. Here are established docks for the repair of the King's ships, as well as of the vessels belonging to the East India Company's marine, an establishment that seems, at present, -of little use, and of which the expence is incalculable. Most of the situations in it seem to have sunk into sinecure employments, and its very existence must have been doubted by its former enemies, the Pirates. If the East India Company are really in embarrassed circumstances, it appears to me that in no part of their establishment can they more easily oeconomise than in the marine of Bombay ; even if they do not think it advisable to abolish it at once. Were a new system adopted, and a reform carried into the higher and lower orders, I believe the marine might become a respectable and useful establishment. As far as the exertions of an individual can go to the completion of this, I have no doubt that success will attend on Captain Money, the present Superintendent of the marine; but it will require the power and the perseverance of a Hercules to cleanse this Augean stable. Some of the present arrangements of the marine seem to have been ingeniously formed for the sole purpose of acting contrary to the system of the King's navy. Instead of an officer who is appointed to a vessel, continuing for a length of time in her, till he is acquainted with the charac-

p.164: ters of those under him, it is a very unusual circumstance for an officer to command the same vessel for two successive voyages; and if, by accident, he should do so, it is probable that he may lose every officer under him. I have known a’ Lieutenant appointed to three different vessels in four days; and the Panther cruizer had three different commanders in one week. This system of perpetual change, annihilates that pride which a Captain in the King's navy feels in the neatness and good condition of his ship, and leaves to the Bombay marine commander, no motive for exerting himself to bring his vessel to the highest possible state of improvement. It has indeed no one advantage, and can only enable the Superintendent to provide whenever he pleases for a new favourite, and to keep in implicit obedience to his caprice the officers, who must be conscious that if they offend him, they can instantly be removed to the most disagreeable situations. If the East India Company determine to make their marine a respectable body, this evil must be rectified as well as many others; they must increase the number of their officers, which, at present, bears so little proportion to the size and number of their vessels, that the Mornington of twenty-four guns, and the Ternate of sixteen, when they sailed from the Persian Gulf, had each only one Midshipman. They must enforce the proper regulations in their vessels, and make the officers amenable to a strict judicature; and, above all things, they must avoid exercising that most mischievous of all privileges, the reinstating such officers as have been dismissed by a court of inquiry. They must also arrange with his Majesty's Government the real situation of their marine officers, who, at present, claim, under their directions,

p.165: a relative rank with the officers of the King's navy which is not recognised by them, owing to which, disputes often occur, and more serious consequences have frequently been expected to follow. The respectable officers of the marine would rejoice in every reformation, and would be fully repaid by the benefit which would accrue to the service, for any losses that they themselves might sustain. That there are some men of high honour and unimpeached bravery in the marine, I can vouch from my own knowledge, and I cannot have the least doubt that there exist many others, whom it was not my good fortune to meet during my short stay at Bombay. The establishment of the dock-yard is almost entirely composed of Persees, a people of whom I shall have much to say hereafter. It has been attempted to appoint an European master-builder, but the new comer has seldom long survived his arrival, and the only builders are now Persees. They are certainly fully equal to the business; but the absolute monopoly they possess has given rise to many abuses. The person who contracts to supply the timber, and the person who examines it on its receipt, are both Persees; consequently the articles are frequently of inferior quality. The master-builder has only people of his own persuasion under him; no complaint therefore is ever made of neglect of work on the one part, or of overcharges on the other. A still greater evil arises from the local circumstances of the dockyard, which is a perfect thoroughfare, nay more, a fashionable lounging place for all the idlers of the town. The consequence is, that instead of working the whole day, many of the artificers only make their appearance to answer to their name at the hour of calling the roll, and if they, please,

p. 166: depart immediately afterwards, without any possibility of their being convicted of the neglect of work; for the dock-yard is open to the town, and they may pass and repass as often as they choose. The frauds which must arise from the same cause are incalculable, and call aloud for reform; than which nothing could be more easy, by the shutting up of the yard from all but the workmen and Officers, and the introducti6n of the regulations of his Majesty's docks at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Chatham. The Bombay Government have, to a certain degree, felt themselves obliged to submit to these abuses, from the dread of the Persees giving up the ship-building business, of which they are the only possessors. I cannot believe that such would be the result of an attempt to reform abuses, though it might take place if they conceived their monopoly was in danger, as they are a rich and independent people, With caution, every necessary arrangement might be formed, and the workmen be retained in a situation, for which, by their talents and experience, they are now so well adapted.”

Source

George Annesley Mountnorris (Earl of) Valentia. Voyages and travels in India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt: in the years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806. Vol II. 1811. Digitized by Google.