Calcutta’s first Steamboat

Anindita Mazumder

We have all heard the story of James Watt and the kettle, leading to the invention of steam engine which then powered the Industrial Revolution. As was the case in every sector, steamboats too made an impact in India, reducing the duration of the voyage between London and Calcutta and enabled the colonial rulers to administer inland areas better from their headquarters in Calcutta. A Calcutta-made steamboat, Diana even helped the British to salvage their prestige in the swamps of Burma during the first Anglo-Burmese War. But not before steamboats were pronounced to be utter failures!

The idea of using steamboats in rivers of Indian subcontinent originally came from private entrepreneurs. The first steam boat was built in 1819 as a pleasure boat for the Nawab of Oudh. The steamboat which navigated River Hooghly for the first time was Pluto, built in 1822, but only as a harbour dredge as it did not transport passengers. The first steamboat to navigate the Hooghly was Diana, launched by Messrs Kyd & Co. from Khidderpore dockyards in 1823. It was not only the first steamer to be built in India and the first one to ferry passengers, it was also a pioneer as a steam-run British gun boat.

In June 1822, pair of 16 horsepower engines was brought to Calcutta. In fact, meant for Canton, they were first shipped to China by one Mr JT Roberts. However, he sent them to Calcutta after his health took an adverse turn. The engines were equipped with a copper boiler and fitted with an English Oak frame. It was offered on sale to the British government for Rs 65000 but they declined and instead it was bought by a group of merchants from Calcutta. After replacing its English Oak frame with teak for about Rs 10,000 the ship was named Diana, after the figure head of the Roman goddess adorning its deck. A cutter, Diana was fitted with both steamrun paddles and sails. It worked as a passage boat in Hooghly for a year and drew the natives on the banks everyday because of its speed and smoke. It had a tonage of 160 and a speed of five knots. But as a passenger carrier Diana did not turn out to be profitable.

Meanwhile, in 1823, a consortium of businessmen headed by the ruler of Oudh offered a prize money of Rs 80,000 to any steam boat owner who could reach India from any European port in less than 70 days. A group of businessmen in England took up the challenge and procured Enterprise, a steamship to open a steam communication route between India and England via the Cape of

Good Hope. It took 113 days to reach Calcutta. The speed of the Enterprise was disappointing as were the discomforts of coal dust and engine heat. Though it failed, the consortium paid half the prize money for proving that steamships were capable of making the long journey between Calcutta and London.

In the meantime, in 1824, the then governor-general Lord Amherst decided to punish the Burmese monarch for invading Assam. It was not an easy task considering Burma was surrounded on three sides by mountains and could not be reached except through the valley of River Irrawaddy. The first Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26) was considered by some as the worst managed war in British military history. Ill prepared, the British blundered by sending their army at the beginning of rainy season.

The Burmese successfully thwarted the British attacks by employing their local boats ‘praus’, the fastest of their kind in eastern seas. They were pulled by 100 double banked oars wielded by trained oarsmen and could go at 7 to 8 miles per hour. The brigs and schooners deployed by Bombay Marine and the Royal Navy were ill-suited for the swampy terrain and narrow and sharp turns of Irrawady. Consequently, the British lost 75 per cent of their troops during the first few months. But someone remembered about the steamboats lying in Calcutta godowns following their commercial failures in Indian waters. The Diana purchased at Rs 80,000 after being found sea worthy and along with Enterprise and Pluto was directed to steam towards Arakan.

The steamships were ideal for river warfare because of their power and light draft. The Enterprise carried troops and mails from Calcutta to Rangoon, Pluto participated in attacks on Arakan Peninsula and Diana did both. She was the star of the campaign, armed with swivel guns and Congreve rockets and could easily outpace the ‘praus’ without the aid of wind. Although Diana was basically a 32 horsepower river paddle steamer, it could tow a men-of-war vessel up the Irrawaddy River. During the war, Diana chased a fleet of oar driven Burmese imperial boats and destroyed them with its guns, spreading confusion and apprehension among enemy ranks. The British advanced 400 miles upriver during its Burma campaign and this was only due to the timely intervention by the steamers from Calcutta.

The Company, impressed by the role of steamers in Burma now used them as tugs in Hooghly. It turned out to be a great success and more steamers were used for inland transportation. In 1828, urged by the new governor general Willian Bentinck, Captain Thomas Princep successfully journeyed up the river till Allahabad. By 1830, steamboats were regularly plying on the Ganges carrying both government and private cargo and passengers. They were not meant for transporting native population but for carrying British troops, Company officials and magistrates and treasures from taxes collected from upcountry richer provinces. Not many people other than bishops, planters and Indian princes could afford the fare.

Diana, however, continued to be deployed in Burmese coast until 1831 when it was sent back to Calcutta for complete overhaul before being redeployed. Finally, it was sent back to Calcutta to be broken up. The engines of Diana were salvaged and fitted into a new vessel of the same name and dimensions built by JA Currie &Co. at Sulkea near Calcutta. The new vessel was launched in October 1836 and sent to Singapore to fight against sea pirates. Once, six large ‘praus’ carrying pirates attacked Diana taking it to be a sailing ship and therefore an easy prey. They fired upon her but much to their horror Diana sailed against the wind and advanced upon them while firing at each of the prau. Diana’s long innings at sea despite not being a seafarer, was a testimony of the advancement in engineering achieved by the dockyards of Calcutta.