The famous Parsee master shipbuilders at the important dockyard at Bombay belonged to one family. In the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of 1834 is the following ‘anecdote’ published dealing with one family member, namely Jamsetjee.(1) “General Briggs relates a remarkable anecdote of the caustic sarcasm with which Jamsetjee, the celebrated Bombay Parsee shipbuilder of the dock yard, who had risen from the grade of a common ship carpenter to be master builder, acknowledged the epithet. He had completed, entirely by native labour, a frigate for the royal navy; she was ready for the launch, to which the governor, staff and naval officers were invited. During the preparations Jamsetjee walked round the vessel, viewing her with evident pride and complacency. He then went on board, and having gone quietly into the hold, he caused to be engraved upon the kelson :“This ship was built by a damned black fellow, A.d. 1800.” He said nothing about it at the time, but some years afterwards when the ship came into dock, he pointed out the inscription… ”.
Source
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1834, Volume 17, p 243. Digitized by Google.
Note
1. See also the other notes on this weblog dealing with the Bombay dockyard.
