1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



243 



& Co. were employed to build for governnipnt in 1822. Tliis boat 

 (the Plato) was builf, being f'urnislied witli a double set of buckets to 

 dredge on both sides; but, on the breaking out of the Burmese war, 

 these buckets were taken off, and she was fitted up as a floating bat- 

 tery, and sent with the expedition to Aracan, where she rendered 

 services the most important, passing the troops over the creeks and 

 estuaries of that coast. The original form was that of a barge, flat 

 bottomed, and square at both ends ; but when fitted up as above 

 described, a false bow was attached to her and other alterations were 

 made. 



The boat built at Lucknow, by Mr. Wm. Tuckett, for the Nawaub, 

 was the first vessel in India propelled by steam; the plan and engine 

 were brouglit out by Mr. W. Jessop, in 1819. The engine was eight- 

 horse power, giving the boat a speed of 7 or 8 miles per hour ; the 

 total cost, including freight, was about .£7000 when landed in China. 

 This boat, originating in the caprice of the late king, was soon hiid 

 aside and suffered to go to ruin. 



The Diana, one of the steam boats still in active service, was ori- 

 ginally sent out on a speculation of Mr. Robarts, a member of the 

 Factory at Canton : the Directors, on the unfounded representations 

 of some individuals, declining to employ it. Mr. Robarts obtained a 

 pair of 16-horse engines, boiler, and other requisites, of Messrs. 

 Maudshiys, and having fitted it out employed it on his own account. 

 The vessel, 110 tons burthen, found its way to Calcutta, and after re- 

 maining there some time it was purchased by subscription, and en- 

 tirely altered and enlarged at a cost of 75,000 rupees. This vessel 

 was also purchased by the Indian government for the expedition to 

 Rangoon, and employed as a transport, rendering the most important 

 service and being mainly instrumental to the success of that expedi- 

 tion ; the novelty of this engine of war producing, says Mr. William 

 Prinsep, an effect analagous to that of the Spanish liorses in Mexico. 

 During nearly the whole time she depended almost entirely upon 

 wood fuel which was found to answer very well. 



The Entcrprize, launched in 1825, cost 43,000 rupees, was con- 

 sidered a failure, disappointing public expectation ; the Burmese war 

 relieved the proprietors of, to them, a bad speculation, and after per- 

 forming important services at Rangoon she was consigned to the 

 Bombay government. 



The Comet and Firefly, two vessels still in active service, were 

 launched separately in 1826 ; these vessels were built by native car- 

 penters,'the engines and fittings being supplied by Messrs. Maudlays ; 

 the engines 10 horse power have a stroke of 2 feet, and make 32 to 

 36 revolutions per minute, consuming 480 lbs of coal per hour ; the 

 vessels draw from 4 to 5 feet, and have capacity for nearly 11 tons of 

 coal. These vessels are competent to ascend the river in the rains 

 and during a great part of the dry season. A short time after this a 

 steamer on a smaller scale was constructed at the Fort Gloucester 

 Mills (below Calcutta) for the use of that establishment, and furnished 

 with a single four horse high pressure engine, made at that factory, 

 and this was followed up with another boat 50 ft. in length, with (3 

 horse power engines working upon a pressure of 45 lb. to the square 

 inch, draught 17 inches, with a speed of miles per hour, and carry- 

 ing fuel for 13 days. 



The next vessels built in the country were the Hooghly and Bur- 

 hanipootur, carrying engines of 25 horse power, the latter having her 

 service assigned to her in the Assam Valley ; the former, after her 

 experimental trips, was found so wholly insufficient for the navigation 

 inland as to be laid aside, a new vessel having been built on a plan 

 better adapted to encounter the shoals and shallows of the navigable 

 river. It had also been discovered that the draught should in no in- 

 stance exceed four feet, and it was therefore necessary to construct 

 vessels accordingly, and which experience has proved enables them to 

 navigate in the upper provinces during the whole period of the dry 

 season. The necessity of having vessels of small draught led to the 

 idea of employing iron steam boats, and the material of two boats was 

 sent from England to be put up in that country. These vessels have 

 since been serviceably employed on the river. 



The Indus is a much less navigable river thau the Ganges, its shoals 

 are more numerous, and are said to be moreoften shifting their position, 

 and the currents in many parts are exceedingly rapid. On tile other 

 hand, it intersects a country occupied by barbarian tribes, who are 

 more desirous to gratify their love of plunder, than to aid in the ex- 

 tension of commerce; but this latter circumstance is a very powerful 

 reason for steam navigation on the river, as the best and most effectual 

 check to those unruly people, and a sure and certain source of power, 

 to which the Indian government can apply, should disturbances break 

 out, or should operations in some future day be directed against the 

 Punjaub. It is along this river the cotton districts spread, and it is 

 from the want of speeily conveyance to Sural or Bombay, that the 

 cottoD, by undue and protracted exposure to the atmosphere, becomes 



depreciated in value, and sometimes totally spoiled. The annexation 

 of Scinde to the territorial government of India will also be prode.ctive 

 of immense benefit, by insuring greater safety to our commercial in- 

 tercourse with the upper country ; and by becoming, under European 

 superintendence, the productive fount of great agricultural wealth, the 

 whole country being wonderfully fertile and productive, and the in- 

 habitants relieved from the tyranny of their rulers, will soon gladly 

 exchange their feudal thraldom for the more profitable and lasting 

 benefits derivable from their hitherto neglected lands. 



Of the extent to which navigation may be carried in Bengal, by the 

 powerful agency of steam, some judgment may be formed, when we 

 state, in the words of Mr. Prinsep, that it is not the Ganges only, as a 

 single stream, that confers these benefits which are derived from com- 

 merce, but all the large rivers that bring down the waters of the 

 northern hills are navigable more or less throughout the year, and 

 almost to the foot of tlie first range ; these, too, are sufficiently nu- 

 merous to sweep the commercial produce of all that track, without its 

 needing any land transportation, except the Ghauts were it is em- 

 barked. Taking the limits of the Ganges and Jumma to the West and 

 South in Hindostan and the Burharapootur and Megna to the East, 

 the country completely intersected with navigable canals, and within 

 which both trade and travel are mainly carried on by water, may be 

 computed to cover an area of not less than forty square degrees. 



With an extent of available water communication like this, inter- 

 secting in all directions a variety of rich and fertile soils, influenced in 

 their produce by a variety of climate, passing through lands occupied 

 by nearly one hundred millionsof people, the greater part of whom are 

 industriously inclined, and only await British capital to produce the 

 staple commodities to any extent, to compete with America with her 

 cottons, the Brazils and other slave states with their sugars, to re-open the 

 now closed silk factories, and to grow the thousand necessary require- 

 ments of life ; is it not wonderful that steam navigation should here 

 labour under such disadvantages in its extension ; and that advantages 

 tested and approved by experience, should be suffered to escape those 

 whose individual or conjoint interest it is to embrace them. 



The late Burmese war is a practical illustration of the political ad- 

 vantages derivable from small river steamers in the time of war, and 

 the still more recent military operations on the banks of the Indus, 

 demonstrate, in the strongest manner, the necessity there exists of the 

 Indian government having an effective steam force always at their 

 disposal, in order to overawe the turbulent, protect the navigation of 

 their rivers, facilitate communication, and open new sources of com- 

 merce, and consequently of revenue. The appeal to the mercan- 

 tile community is equally strong, and in fact much stronger, it 

 is to their vast individual advantage that a further extension of river 

 steam navigation takes place; the merchants of the upper provinces, 

 as formerly, know nothing of the trade of the lower provinces ; the 

 merchants of the lower provinces know nothing of what is passing 

 above Merzapore ; the goods transmitted by the common country boats, 

 whether up or down, are liable to so many accidents that the rates of 

 insurance are much higher than between India and Great Britain; and 

 these dangers, arising from their being continually exposed to eddies, 

 sudden and violent gusts of wind, shifting sands, sunken trees, and 

 fallen banks, are necessarily encountered by the present system of 

 tracking, and prolonged by this tedious and uncertain mode of travel- 

 ling ; added to this is the continual danger of robbery, and the impos- 

 sibility of guarding against it, from the circumstance of being compell- 

 ed to bring to every evening close in shore, and the increased expences 

 entailed and constant damage done to the goods. 



It is surprising to us at home that the lesson set by the Americans 

 has not been followed by the merchants of the East. India, like the 

 Western country, is the land of lakes and rivers. The American boats 

 somewhat resembling the floating baths at Paris, and differ little from 

 the first class budgerow of Calcutta, other than having an upper deck 

 for the accommodation of passengers, the funnel being placed in the 

 fore part of the boat; a description and drawing of one of these boats 

 is given in Mrs. Trollope's work on America. There is a striking 

 analogy between the rivers of the two countries, and although the 

 American maintain a greater depth of water all the year round, the 

 difficulties of navigation arising from natural causes are common to 

 both. Captain Hall, speaking of the steam boats which ply up and 

 down the Mississippi, observes — " Thirteen vessels of this description 

 were lying along the banks of the river. One of them, called the 

 Amazon, was just setting off for Louisville, in Kentucky, upwards of 

 1,-100 miles distant, in the heart of the continent, which they hoped to 

 reach in ten or eleven days, though they had to go in the very teeth of 

 the current." 



"These boats are employed exclusively upon the river, where the 

 water is always smooth, and where, also, they are well sheltered by 

 the woods. These circumstances allow of their accommodation being 



