Thanks to the fact that nowadays more and more books are digitized we are able to read books that are some times for decades no longer available for the public for several reasons. That's quite a pity while these books contains useful information while the archives are destroyed, incomplete or nor accessible. The paper was distributed to the journal by, lieutenant of the Indian Navy Carless and is dealing with the importance of the river Indus as a waterway and the maximum size of ships were able to enter the delta.
p. 145: “It has apparently hitherto been a matter of doubt whether vessels of a large size ever frequented the Indus or could at any period have navigated the rivers of the Delta. The point, however, is now completely set at rest by a discovery made a short time ago. About 20 miles above the mouth of the Hujamree, there is a large ship half embedded in the soil at a distance of 150 yards from the high steep bank of the river. Her upper works arc almost entire, and she cannot be less than 350 tons in burthen. She is of the old fashioned mild, 85 feet long, and pierced for 14 guns. She is said to have belonged to the fleet of the Kalora princes, and the natives assert that the remains of others of a large size are still visible in the vicinity of the Munnejah river. Forty or fifty years ago the Sinde monarchs appear to have possessed a navy of 15 large ships.(1) Individuals have been met with who, in their youth, served on board of them; and from their description one must have been nearly 1,000 tons in burthen and several of the others from 7 to 800. All of them were vessels of war, and they were stationed at Shahbunder, which owes its name (the king's port) to that circumstance. The largest is said to have been mounted with 30 guns. During the struggle that took place between the Kalora princes and the Talpoor chiefs, which ended in the expulsion of the former, they were deserted by their crews, and many of them destroyed. The rest were laid up by the victorious Belooche chiefs in creeks and canals, where they quickly became fixed by the accumulation of mud, and now remain to attest the wealth and power once possessed by their predecessors.”
Source
Calcutta monthly journal. Asiatic news 1836
Note
1. Shahbunder, Sindh, Pakistan.
p. 145: “It has apparently hitherto been a matter of doubt whether vessels of a large size ever frequented the Indus or could at any period have navigated the rivers of the Delta. The point, however, is now completely set at rest by a discovery made a short time ago. About 20 miles above the mouth of the Hujamree, there is a large ship half embedded in the soil at a distance of 150 yards from the high steep bank of the river. Her upper works arc almost entire, and she cannot be less than 350 tons in burthen. She is of the old fashioned mild, 85 feet long, and pierced for 14 guns. She is said to have belonged to the fleet of the Kalora princes, and the natives assert that the remains of others of a large size are still visible in the vicinity of the Munnejah river. Forty or fifty years ago the Sinde monarchs appear to have possessed a navy of 15 large ships.(1) Individuals have been met with who, in their youth, served on board of them; and from their description one must have been nearly 1,000 tons in burthen and several of the others from 7 to 800. All of them were vessels of war, and they were stationed at Shahbunder, which owes its name (the king's port) to that circumstance. The largest is said to have been mounted with 30 guns. During the struggle that took place between the Kalora princes and the Talpoor chiefs, which ended in the expulsion of the former, they were deserted by their crews, and many of them destroyed. The rest were laid up by the victorious Belooche chiefs in creeks and canals, where they quickly became fixed by the accumulation of mud, and now remain to attest the wealth and power once possessed by their predecessors.”
Source
Calcutta monthly journal. Asiatic news 1836
Note
1. Shahbunder, Sindh, Pakistan.
