The shipbuilders at the Bombay Dockyard visited by lady Maria Callcott as described in her book published in 1813

Lady Maria Calcott wrote a book dealing with her residence in India. Here she visited Pestenjee Bomanjee at his home. He was the grandson of Lowjee and part of the family of master shipbuilders so important for the dockyard at Bombay. If you forget the attitude of the European visitor, see the last sentence!, her notes can be appreciate.(1)

P. 43: “The grandfather of Pestengee was Lowjee, who came from Guzerat to work in the dock-yard as a day-labourer; but having genius and perseverance, he made himself master of the art of

p.44: ship-building, and was employed by the Company as masterbuilder. He has transmitted his talents with his place to his grandson Jumsheedjee, who is now at the head of the dock-yard, where I visited him, and was conducted by him all over the Minden, the first line of battle ship he ever built, with the pride of a parent exhibiting a favourite child. It was singular enough at first to see all the shipwrights in white muslin dresses, caulking the ship with cotton instead of oakum. All the workmen in the yard are Parsees, and the greater number come from Guzerat, where they leave their families, and come to Bombay for a few months or years, saving their wages carefully, and mostly subsisting on what they earn by chance-work, till they have amassed a sufficient sum to go home and set up a trade for themselves. Jumsheedjee is a clever workman, but his son Norozejee has more science, and I am told that his draughts have very great merit. This young man testifies the greatest desire to visit the great English yards, but his father cannot spare him from Bombay. The whole family, including Peslenjee and Hormuzdjee, the brothers of Jumsheedjee, speak and write English so well, that if I did not see their dark faces and foreign dress, or read their unusual names at the end of a letter, I should never guess that they were not Englishmen.”

Source

Journal of a residence in India by Lady Maria Callcott, Maria Graham. London, 1813. Digitized by Google.

Note

1. See also the other notes on this weblog dealing with the Bombay dockyard.