In his book dealing with the Government of India, Major-general Sir John
Malcolm wrote an interesting note dealing with the Indian Navy as published in
the Appendix A. Together with earlier notes published on this weblog, mainly
dealing with the yard at Bombay, we slowly get an impression of the warships
serving in British India.
p.36: “99. On war breaking out, these vessels could be soon manned, as
they have been before on emergencies occurring, with the whole or greater part
of their crew Europeans; and built and fitted out as the vessels of the Indian
navy would be, at a port whose resources for equipment of a naval force are not
surpassed by any in the world, there is no just ground to assume future
p. 37: inferiority. There has been, I admit, such inferiority, owing to
causes which no longer operate, but which the plan recommended by the committee
would restore in full force: I therefore trust that, if it be adopted, the
opinion of the superintendent will be acted upon, and that the service in its
present state will be abolished, and one of armed packets be substituted.
100. I have on several occasions stated the great importance of having
an establishment of steam-vessels attached to the Indian navy, both for
purposes of war, and for keeping up the communication with Europe.
There is yet only one steamer in the service, the “Hugh Lindsay” there cannot
be a finer vessel for the purpose for which she was built, that of an armed
steamer; she has two engines of eighty-horse power each, can carry eight guns,
with coals for six or seven days, and goes very fast, and against any sea. This
vessel, though too expensive and too large to take packets to Suez, has been
used for that purpose, and performed the voyage at a season of the year not the
most favourable, in twenty-one days’ steaming. She actually steamed at as high
a pressure as could be applied, the first stage to Aden, (one thousand six
hundred and forty miles) in ten days and nineteen hours, and that with a
contrary wind; she went, when deeply laden with coal, five and a hall knots,
but increased her rate to full nine knots when light.
101. It is the opinion of the superintendent of the Indian navy, and has
been transmitted as such to the Honourable the Court of Directors, that a class
of small vessels, like those employed in packet service from Milford Haven to
Ireland, would be the best to keep up a communication with Europe by the Red
Sea. This is also, I observe, from his Minute upon the subject, the opinion of
the Governor General and Captain Wilson ; the commander of the “Hugh Lindsay”,
on whose judgment, from his full knowledge of the seas, and experience of
navigation by steam, I would implicitly rely, thinks that a vessel of two
hundred and seventy tons, built more with a view to the capacity of stowing
coals than very rapid steaming, would make Suez in two stages, taking in coals
only at Mocha, where, if she did not draw more than ten feet, she could lie at
all seasons in smooth water, and with security against every wind. This voyage
would require that she should carry thirteen days’ coals, as it is a distance
of one thousand seven hundred and eighty miles, and cannot be expected to be
performed in less than eleven or twelve days.
102 If this quantity of coal cannot be carried, the first stage must be
Maculla, and the second Jeddah as at present. These are both excellent ports
for shipping coals, as a vessel can lie close to the shore; but having three
singes instead of two, would cause a delay of at least two days, and with two,
Captain Wilson calculates that the voyage from Bombay
to Suez cannot
be
p. 38: performed, to a certainty, under twenty-five days. It appears to
me, that if one of these vessels was to be kept at Mocha and had her furnace
lighted as another hove in sight, this voyage would be reduced to three weeks,
an ample opportunity given to the steamers to put in order or repair any slight
injury to the machinery, as well as to procure supplies. With this
establishment of packets the communication might be kept up, by vessels sailing
every five or six weeks from Bombay and from Suez, nine months of the
year. In June, July, and August, a steamer would easily come from the Red Sea, but could not return against the violence of the
south-west monsoon. There would be a great advantage in keeping a small steamer
at Mocha, from the power the Indian government would possess of sending, on
emergency, a sailing vessel or boat, during five months of the year, which,
having a fair wind, would be certain of that passage in fifteen or sixteen
days.
103. With this number of packets, and another armed steamer carrying
four or six guns, and not drawing more than eight feet water, Bombay would be complete in this essential
branch of naval establishment. Besides keeping up a rapid communication with
Europe by the Red SCR, that by the Persian Gulf would be improved; and we
should, beyond ordinary services and putting down piracy, be prepared to give
efficient aid in every naval service in India; nor is it being too speculative
to suppose that emergencies may arise on which the ready application of this
powerful arm of our force, on the Indus or the Euphrates, might be of the most
essential service to the general interests of the empire.
104. To secure all these objects, it is indispensable, in my opinion,
that in whatever way steamers are employed in this quarter, they should be
exclusively navigated by the Indian navy; for it is of much importance that a
scientific knowledge of the engines, and of their management, should be
generally diffused throughout this service. We must not omit the opportunity to
form men capable of performing and directing all the duties which belong to
such vessels. With the able and intelligent officers this navy can boast, and
the number of fine youths it contains, I cannot have a doubt but they will very
early attain a proficiency in this line of service, that may prove of much
consequence to the general interests; and I must further expect, that through
the instruction given to European and East Indian boys, at the Mint, and in the
steamers, we shall be early independent of those engineers now sent from
England at such expense, and which have proved themselves, in several cases, so
unworthy of the liberal treatment and confidence placed in them.
105. Much revision and reduction have taken place in different branches
of the Indian navy. An investigation into some
p. 39: irregularities and alleged abuses by subordinate clerks and
others in the Indian naval stores, has led to the nomination of a special
committee, which, from the instructions given, will, no doubt, make a report
that will become the ground of a thorough reform, and much saving of expenditure
in a department, the state of which has for many years been a subject of just
complaint with the Court of Directors.
106. An attempt that was made two years ago, to man the vessels of the
Indian navy by native seamen, regularly entered from Gogo in Guzerat, having
failed, the superintendent proposed to send a cruiser to the coast of Africa,
near Zanzibar, to enrol any youths who came as volunteers. This proposition was
fully approved, and the “Clive” (the vessel employed) returned in a few months
with thirty-four African lads entered in the books, clothed, fed, and doing
duty as European sailor-boys. Some time after the “Clive” reached Bombay harbour, rumours
were spread, and acted upon by his Majesty's Supreme Court, of the slave act
having been infringed by this proceeding. The trial of a gallant and zealous
officer, whom malice has not even accused of more than an error in judgment,
and want of knowledge of the clause of a statute, has not yet taken place. More
therefore cannot be said, than that clamour was excited, and the British law
called into action, in a manner that has injured the efficiency of the public
service, and for a period prevented numbers of human beings from being raised
from the lowest and darkest condition of human existence, into one of freedom,
usefulness, and independence, through means that were and are still believed to
be quite legal, and to which it is impossible to affix the slightest particle
of that stain which has so justly brought public indignation upon the slave-trade.”
Source
Major-general Sir John Malcolm. The Government of India. London, 1833. Digitized
by Google.
