There was a fixed rate of passage-money, and it was thought necessary to forbid the captains to charge passengers any sum above that specified for their rank. These were the respective rates, including the passage and accommodation at the captain’s table.
General officers in the Company’s service were charged for the passage from England ￡250, colonels or Gentlemen of Council ￡200, while lieutenant-colonels, majors, senior merchants, junior merchants and factors had to pay ￡150. Captains were charged ￡125. Writers in the Company’s service paid ￡110, subalterns the same, assistant-surgeons and cadets ￡95. If any of the two last mentioned proceeded to India in the third mate’s mess, the latter was not to demand more than ￡55 for the passenger’s accommodation. The money was paid direct to the paymaster of seamen’s wages at his pay office in London, who handed these respective sums over to the commander or third mate. In the case of military officers who were in his Majesty’s service and not in the East India Company’s army, the charges were slightly different. Thus general officers were charged ￡235, colonels ￡185, lieutenant-colonels and majors ￡135, captains and249 surgeons ￡110, subalterns and assistant-surgeons ￡95, for the voyage out.
For the homeward voyage the commanders of these East Indiamen were allowed to charge 2500 rupees from Bombay for lieutenant-colonels or majors, 2000 rupees for captains, and 1500 rupees for subalterns when returning to Europe, either on sick certificate or military duty, whether in his Majesty’s or the Company’s service. Regular East Indiamen were bound, if asked, to receive on board at least two of the above officers, and in this case the larboard third part of the captain’s great cabin, with the passage to the quarter-gallery, was to be apportioned off for their accommodation. In the case of an extra ship one such officer was bound to be carried if the commander were requested, and he was to be accommodated with a cabin on the starboard side, abaft the chief mate’s cabin, and abreast of the spirit-room. His cabin was to be not less than seven feet long and six feet wide. If the whole of one of his Majesty’s regiments were returning to England, the entire accommodation in the ship might be allotted as the Government in India deemed advisable, the sums for the officers being paid to the commander as just mentioned. Factors and writers homeward bound from Bombay were charged 2000 and 1500 rupees respectively.
Under no circumstance was a commander allowed to receive any gratuity above these sums, and to give effect to this he had to enter into a bond for ￡1000 before being sworn in. Similarly the third mate was equally forbidden to exact more than the sums mentioned under his category.
Some idea of the victuals which were carried on250 board a 1200-ton East Indiaman may be gathered from the following. Recollect that, of course, there was no such thing as preserved foods or refrigerating machinery in those days, but during these long voyages the passengers and crew were not pampered with the luxuries of a modern liner. The accommodation was lighted with candles and oil-lamps, the food was plain, the cooking very English. Beside the amounts which an Atlantic liner takes on board for her short voyage these figures seem insignificant: and there were none of those manifold articles for serving up the food in an appetising manner. For the strong, the healthy and vigorous, this plain, substantial living was all right: but for invalids, for delicate women, and for children naturally terrified of the sea and unable to settle down to life on board, the voyage was certainly not one long, delightful experience.
THE EAST INDIAMAN CRUISER “PANTHER,” KNOWN AS A “SNOW,” LYING IN SUEZ HARBOUR ON AUGUST 15th, 1794.
(From a sketch in the Journal of William Henry, a Midshipman serving in her at the time)
Larger image
For the use of the commander’s table 11 tons of ale, beer, wine or other liquors were carried in casks or bottles, allowing 252 gallons or 36 dozen quart bottles to the ton. There were also 40 tons of beef, pork, bacon, suet and tongues, 28 tons of beer (additional to the above), 350 cwt. of bread, 30 firkins of butter, 500 gallons of spirit for the commander’s table, 1040 gallons of spirit for the ship’s company, 20 cauldrons of coals, 50 dozen candles, 50 cwt. of cheese, ￡65 worth of “chirugery and drugs,” 6 cases of confectionery, 134 cwt. of flour, 21 cwt. of fish, 80 cwt. of groceries, 130 gallons of lime-juice, 50 bushels of oatmeal, 300 gallons of sweet and lamp oil, 500 bushels of oats, 15 tons of potatoes, 5 barrels of herrings and salmon, 2 chests of “slops” for the seamen to obtain new clothes, 11 hogsheads251 of vinegar, 6 chests of oranges and lemons and 70 tons of drinking water. In addition, 63 barrels of gunpowder, 6 tons of iron shot, 6 tons of iron for the store, 5 cwt. of lead shot, 20 barrels of pitch, 6 cwt. of rosin, 7 tons of spare cordage, 2? tons of sheet lead, 30 cwt. of tobacco, 20 barrels of tar, 3 barrels of turpentine and quantities of wood were also carried for the boatswain’s, gunner’s and carpenter’s stores.
As to the passengers’ baggage, Gentlemen in Council were allowed to bring three tons or twenty feet of baggage, two chests of wine being included as part of this baggage if returning to India. Their ladies were allowed to take one ton of baggage if proceeding with their husbands: but if proceeding to their husbands two tons. General officers were allowed the same as Gentlemen in Council, colonels were allowed three tons, but only one chest of wine, and so on down the scale. When a first-class passenger to-day goes aboard a liner he finds that his state-room contains everything that is required in the way of furniture: but had he lived in the days of the East Indiamen he would have to have taken on board a table, a sofa (or two chairs), and a wash-hand stand. This much he would have to acquire, and this much he was allowed. But in addition to bedding, sofa, table and two chairs, members of the select Committee could take three tons of baggage, supra-cargoes two and a half tons and writers proceeding to China one and a half tons.
If there was no duty payable on the baggage it could be shipped at Gravesend: but if otherwise it went aboard at Portsmouth. No other articles than wearing apparel and such things as were really252 intended for the use of the respective passengers on the voyage, including “musical instruments for ladies” and books, were allowed to be taken as baggage.
The East India Dock Company, which we have seen was a subsidiary company of the East India Company, was governed by twelve directors, and the three dock-masters lived at the docks. Before the vessels were allowed to enter the dock they had to be dismantled to their lower masts, take out their guns, ammunition, anchors and stores while they lay at moorings. Before being permitted to enter, a report had to be made by the captain to the dock-master of the amount of water the ship was leaking every twelve hours for the previous three days. Whatever stores remained in her after coming into the basin had to be discharged before she was allowed to go into the inner dock. But all ships from the East Indies or China unloaded their cargoes within the docks, except in the case of the biggest ships, which had to unload some of their goods in Long Reach, so as to lessen the draught of water. Outward-bound East Indiamen used to load either in the dock or in the river below Limehouse Creek. Gunpowder was always unloaded before entering dock, and the Company’s servants would superintend the unloading of the cargoes when finally moored alongside the wharf. The goods were then taken away by the Company’s “caravans,” the tea being conveyed to the Company’s warehouses without being weighed at the docks.
Tea, of course, was not the only, though the principal cargo which these ships were bringing home. To give a complete list of the commodities would253 take up too much space, but we may be allowed to mention the following as being among those commonly found in the hold of a homeward-bound East Indiaman:—Aloes, drugs, buffalo hides, bark, coffee, camphor, cotton, cowries, silk, cochineal, coral, elephants’ teeth, ebony, green ginger, gum arabic, hemp, Japan copper, china-ware, shells, myrrh, nutmegs, nux vomica, opium, pepper, rice, redwood, spikenard, shellac, sugar, saltpetre, sago, sandalwood, as well as both black and green tea.
The Company had their warehouses in Fenchurch Street, Haydon Square, Cooper’s Row, Jewry Street, Crutched Friars, New Street, Leadenhall Street, and elsewhere in London. As to the private trade allowed to the commanders and officers by the Company, we have already shown what spaces were granted in these ships, but it may not be out of place to mention that the goods under this category used to include such articles as the following, which were much in demand in the East:—Carriages, ale and beer, earthenware, hosiery, anchors, books, charts, bar iron, looking-glasses, ironmongery, Manchester goods, cutlery, millinery, hats, clocks, chronometers and watches, boots and shoes, jewellery, saddlery, lead, port wine, stationery, window glass, wines, and so on.
Smuggling still went on even well into the nineteenth century from these homeward-bound ships, and commanders, officers and men were just as bad as each other. The Company and the Board of Customs did their best to stop it by regulations and threats, but there was a certain amount of satisfaction in cheating the State, and good prices were always offered and received for these goods from the254 East. The officers were always reminded when being sworn in that if they took any part in this illicit trade they would be dismissed the service, but it was most difficult to put an end to the offence, the chief goods illegally thus imported being tea, muslins, china-ware and diamonds: and the professional smuggler was always glad to give what help he could in running his small craft alongside the East Indiaman as she came up the English Channel and anchored in the Downs. It was for this reason that the Company took every care that their ships did not loiter off the British coasts when returning. But very often it happened that, after the officers of these ships had been detected smuggling by the Board of Customs officials, the Company never learned anything of the matter, for although suits were brought against the offending parties the latter used to compound and the matter ended, though not without loss to the Company itself.
The biggest East Indiaman in existence about the year 1813 was the Royal Charlotte of 1518 registered tons. She measured 194 feet long, 43 feet 6 inches wide, and had been built as far back as the year 1785. About the same size were the Arniston (1498 tons), Hope (1498 tons), Cirencester (1504 tons), Coutts (1504 tons), Glatton (1507 tons), Cuffnells (1497 tons), Neptune (1478 tons), Thames (1487 tons) and Walmer Castle (1518 tons). There were about 116 ships in the Company’s service at the time we are speaking, and these had been built either on the bottoms of other ships, or by open competition (in pursuance of the late eighteenth-century Act which had made this compulsory), or they were those much smaller “extra” ships. Some again had been built255 as a speculation, and had been taken up by the Company, whilst at least one—the Thomas Grenville—had been built at Bombay for the Company in the year 1809. And there were in process of construction in this year four vessels in India, and one in England for the season 1813-1814. The India-built ships were being constructed in Bombay, Bengal and Calcutta, and all these ships were of 1200 tons. The following, which is an example of a tender made under the new system of free and open competition, and accepted by the Company, indicates the prices per ton which were paid for engaging these East Indiamen in September 1796:—
“To China, and the several parts of India.
“Ganges, 1200 tons, William Moffat, Esq., for six voyages
￡17 10
Surplus tonnage, peace and war.
￡8 15
For difference of outfit, difference of Insurance beyond eight guineas per cent., maintaining seamen, returning lascars, and every other contingency and expence
￡18 10.”
The Company had its own hydrographer, who inspected the journals of the commanders and officers on the arrival home of the ships. Happily some of these are still in existence, and from them we are able to gather a good many details of the work which went on in the ships. Let us take, for example, the journal of Griffin Hawkins, who was a midshipman in the Triton during the years 1792-1794. This was one of the more moderate-sized East Indiamen of 800 tons. We have not space to go through the whole of this journal, which occupied256 a good many large and closely written pages, but it is merely to illustrate the Company’s standing orders which we have already chronicled, and to show the preparations which were made in getting these East Indiamen ready for sea, that the following brief extracts are made. You must think of her as lying off Deptford, and in order that you may be able to picture her the more easily, the accompanying sketch of her at anchor by young Hawkins himself is here reproduced. The time of which we are now to speak is the autumn of 1792, when the ship was in hand for the 1792-1793 season.
“Tuesday Oct. 30th ... at 11 A.M. came on board Mr Upham, Inspector, with Mr Bale............