14 THE SEA. 



and ceased to exist as a governing body. Retiring allowances were made to commanders and 

 officers. It may be interesting to note that up to 1814 trade with India, so long a jealously- 

 guarded monopoly with the Company, was thrown open to private competition, but that they 

 retained the exclusive trade with China for a long period after that date. 



A trifling digression may be allowed here, as it really bears on our subject. The 

 East India Company was long a synonym for everything that was rich and powerful, and 

 many of its civil servants visited or retired to England as opulent and independent 

 men. The maritime branch of the service received a goodly slice of the pie ; and some 

 i'acts relating thereto recorded by Lindsay, the authority before quoted, himself long a 

 great shipowner, will astonish and interest the reader. A commander's position in the 

 H. E. I. Co/s service was most assuredly worth having, for his salary was a very small part 

 indeed of his receipts. The Company granted a number of " indulgences " to their naval 

 officers, of which the following are only part. Ninety-seven tons of space were reserved 

 for the commander and officers, of which the former of course took the lion's share, 56| tons. 

 They were permitted to import on the homeward voyage tea to the following extent: 9,33 6 Ibs. 

 for the commander, 1,228 Ibs. for first mate, and the lower grades were each privileged in the 

 same way, but to a smaller extent. The officers might bring in China-ware as a flooring 

 for the tea-chests, the quantity of which might range from 20 to 40 tons, according to the 

 size of the vessel. They were even allowed surplus tonnage, when it could be safely and 

 conveniently carried. The commander received as his perquisite the passage-money paid 

 by all private passengers, the cost of their provisions and wine being alone deducted. His 

 table was luxuriously supplied, and he was allowed to import for his own use two butts of 

 Madeira wine. The first mate had, among his extra allowances, and quite apart from the 

 regular supply of provisions on board, 21 dozen of wine or beer, 2 firkins of butter, 1 cwt. 

 of cheese, 1 cwt of groceries, and 1 quarter casks of pickles for the voyage. Lindsay says, 

 " So many were their privileges, and so numerous their perquisites, that during five India 

 or China voyages a captain of one of the Company's ships ought to have realised sufficient 

 capital to be independent for the rest of his life.'" He was, in effect, a merchant, doing 

 business for himself while in the employ of a large mercantile concern, and his officers were 

 the same on a smaller scale. The above writer considers that the direct and inevitable 

 remuneration to a commander was from 3,000 to 5,000 per round voyage, out and home, 

 but that with his privileges and perquisites it might and often did reach 8,000 to 10,000, 

 or more. He mentions one instance which came within his own knowledge, where " the 

 commander of one of the ships employed on the 'double voyage' that is from London to 

 India, thence to China, and thence back to London, where he had a large interest in the 

 freight on cotton or other produce conveyed from India to China realised no less than 

 30,000." And yet some of them were not satisfied, and the Company had to make laws 

 and investigations concerning illicit trading and smuggling with the connivance of the 

 Custom House officers. Some of the commanders had even put into ports for which 

 they had no orders, to carry out their own purposes. 



The internal economy of an East Indiaman was, as regards discipline and order, 

 modelled for the most part upon that of a man-of-war, and carried more men, twice over, 

 than does many a modern steamer double her tonnage. Thus, one of the finest vessels of 



