James Edward Alexander's description of the Bombay dock yard in April 1826

Alexander arrived in the morning of 20 April 1826 at Bombay where he visited the dock yard.

P. 70: "In the evening I visited the dock-yards, the master-builders in which, as well as the shipwrights, are all Persees, the finest and most enterprizing race in India. A large eighty-gun ship was on the stocks building for the Imaum of Muscat, who is possessed at present with the ship-building mania.(1) Our Government allow him to build as many vessels as he pleases, as it would be an easy matter

p. 71: to take them from him in the event of a war. Besides this ship there was a smart eighteen-gun sloop for the Bombay Marine, almost completed.(2) She possessed the advantage of being sufficiently high out of the water to admit of a tier of scuttles; a most invaluable acquisition in tropical climes, and which is found in none of the King's ships of her size. I saw the keel, sternpost, and stem of a seventy-four, intended for the Royal Navy, which was to be put on the stocks after the launched of the Imaum's ship. The docks do great credit to the engineer who constructed them. The timber used in them comes from the Malabar coast."

Sources

James Edward Alexander. Travels from India to England; comprehending a visit to the Burman Empire, and a journey through Persia, Asia minor, European Turkey. &c. in the years 1825-1826. London, 1827. Digitized by Google

J.J. Colledge. Ships of the Royal Navy. An Historical Index, 2 vols. David&Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969.

Ruttonjee Ardeshir Wadia. The Bombay dockyard and the Wadia Master Builders. 2004.

Notes

1. This must be the Imaum, launched 10 November 1826, in 1836 presented to the British king. She was renamed Liverpool.

2. Presumably the sloop Clive, armed wit 18 guns, and 420 tons large. According to Colledge with a builders measurement of 387 tons. Sold 1862.