CHAPTER XVI CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

We have seen something of the lives of the officers and men in the Company’s ships at sea: we desire now to learn more of their conditions of employment—what was their uniform, what were their rates of pay, privileges, pensions according to their different ranks, the kind of accommodation for the passengers, the nature of their cargoes, and so on. In other words, we are to endeavour to fill in those details of the picture already roughly sketched.

Dating back from the time of the first East India Company, the commanders were always sworn into the service. So likewise were the first four officers. Before being allowed to proceed to his duty on board, an officer had to sign a contract for performing the voyage, and a petition for his “private trade” outwards. As the latter was so very lucrative to him, it may be well to give details. Particulars had to be sent in this petition to the Committee of Shipping of the East India Company, giving the dead-weight of the articles they proposed to take out to the East. These consisted of almost anything, from wines to carriages. This “private” trade allowed to the commanders and officers of the East India ships, allowing them to participate in the Company’s exclusive monopoly, did not permit woollen227 goods and warlike stores, but otherwise the ship’s officers could reap a fine income by taking out English goods and bringing back Eastern products which would be sure of a market at home.

There was a proper schedule, and the following were the officers and petty officers enabled to avail themselves of this privilege:—Commander, chief mate, second mate, third mate, purser, surgeon, surgeon’s mate, fourth mate, fifth mate, sixth mate, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, four midshipmen, one midshipman (who was also the commander’s coxswain), six quartermasters, commander’s steward, ship’s steward, commander’s cook, carpenter’s first mate, caulker, cooper, armourer and sailmaker. Reckoned for a ship let for 755 tons and upwards, the commander was allowed as much as 56 tons, or 20 feet of space, for all articles (excepting liquors) which weighed more than they measured were reckoned according to their weight. The chief mate was allowed eight tons, the second mate six tons, and so on down the list, even a midshipman being allowed a ton, the purser three tons, the surgeon six, and each quartermaster as much as a midshipman. In the case of the China ships only, if it was not practicable to invest in goods to the following amounts respectively, the Company allowed them to carry out bullion to make up the amount:—Commander, ￡3000, chief mate, ￡300, and so on down to carpenter, ￡50.

Homeward-bound East Indiamen were similarly allowed privileges to their officers. Ships lading from India might not bring back tea, china-ware, raw silk, or nankeen cloth: and ships lading from China might not bring back China raw silk, musk, camphor,228 arrack, arsenic or other poisonous drugs. But otherwise the commanders of China ships were allowed homeward 38 tons, the chief mate 8 tons, the second mate 6 tons, and so on down to the carpenter 1 ton. But the other homeward ships allowed the commander 30 tons or thirty-two feet, the chief mate 6 tons or sixteen feet, and so on down to the carpenter, who was allowed thirty-two feet. These importers, of course, had to pay the customs and also three per cent. to the Company for warehouse room on the gross amount at the sale of the goods in the case of Indian products, and a bigger percentage in the case of goods from China. But the wily old commanders were not always content with these privileges. The reader is doubtless familiar with the word dunnage. This consists of faggots, boughs, canes or other similar articles, which are laid on the bottom of a ship’s hold and used for stowing the cargo effectively. Now when it was found that there was a good demand in London for Eastern bamboos, ratans, and canes a commander would see that his dunnage consisted of a very ample amount of these realisable articles, and far beyond what was necessary for the protection of the cargo. The result was that the Company had to step in and make very strict regulations to stop this abuse, so that if the dunnage did not seem absolutely necessary and bona fide it was charged against the amount of tonnage allowed to the commander and officers.

Tea was allowed to be brought home from China and Bencoolen according to a schedule, the captain being allowed as much as 9336 lb., down to the carpenter, 246 lb., but a big percentage was charged on its sale value. Piece-goods were allowed to be229 brought home on paying the customs and ￡3 per cent. for warehouse room. These articles were disposed of at the Company’s sales, which took place in March and September. Although the importation of china-ware was reserved to the Company, yet “as the Company do not at present import any China-ware on their own account” they allowed their officers to do so, “during the Court’s pleasure,” provided it was brought as a flooring to the teas and did not exceed thirteen inches in height. This made, therefore, another source of revenue to the officers, for as much as 40 tons of this ware could be permitted in the 1400-ton ships and 30 tons in a 1200-tonner. The commander could also bring home two pipes of Madeira wine in addition to the above allowances.

When outward bound the chief, second, third, fourth and fifth mates, the surgeon and his mate, the pursers, boatswains, gunners and carpenters were allowed as indulgence a liberal amount of stores, consisting of wine, butter, cheese, groceries, pickles, beer and also spirits for the respective messes. In the case of “extra” ships the commanders and officers were usually allowed 5 per cent. of the chartered tonnage, but the chief mate was always allowed three tons, the second mate two, the third mate one ton, and the surgeon two. The fourth officers and pursers in these ships were not acknowledged in this respect. As regards indulgence in stores, the chief mate, second mate and surgeon were allowed the same amounts as in the regular ships just mentioned, but the third mate was allowed not quite so much.

On the whole, it will be seen that every officer and230 petty officer of an East Indiaman, whether trading to India or China, had the opportunity of putting by very handsome perquisites, and so you can now easily believe Eastwick’s statement that a purser friend of his had retired and bought a ship for himself. But, of course, in addition to all these “privileges,” everyone received his salary or wages. The following is a list of the monthly pay to the commander, officers, petty officers, “tradesmen” (i.e. coopers and the like), and the able-bodied seamen, called foremast men. It will be found that this makes up a complement of 102 men, such as were employed in one of the big regular East Indiamen. The pay in the case of “extra” ships will be given after this list:—

Monthly Pay on Board a Regular East Indiaman
Commander     ￡10     0
Chief Mate     5     0
Second Mate     4     0
Third Mate     3     10
Fourth Mate     2     10
Fifth Mate     2     5
Sixth Mate     2     5
Surgeon     5     0
Purser     2     0
Boatswain     3     10
Gunner     3     10
Master-at-Arms     3     0
Carpenter     4     10
Midshipman and Coxswain     2     5
4 Midshipmen, each     2     5
Surgeon’s Mate     3     10
Caulker     3     15
Cooper     3     0
Captain’s Cook     3     5
Ship’s Cook     2     10
Carpenter’s 1st Mate     3     5
Carpenter’s 2nd Mate     2     10
Caulker’s Mate     2     15
Cooper’s Mate     2     10
6 Quartermasters, each     2     10
Sailmaker     2     10
Armourer     2     10
Butcher     2     5
Baker     2     5
Poulterer     2     5
2 Commander’s Servants, each     1     5
1 Chief Mate’s Servant     1     0
1 Second Mate’s Servant     0     18
1 Surgeon’s Servant     0     15
1 Boatswain’s Servant     0     15
1 Gunner’s Servant     0     15
Captain’s Steward     2     0 231
Ship’s Steward     2     10
2 Boatswain’s Mates, each     2     10
2 Gunner’s Mates, each     2     10
1 Carpenter’s Servant     0     15
50 Foremast Men, each     2     5

In the case of an “extra” ship the commander received ￡10 a month, the chief mate ￡5, the second mate ￡4, the third mate ￡3, 10s., the surgeon ￡5, the boatswain ￡3, 10s., the gunner ￡3, 10s., the carpenter ￡4, 10s., the two midshipmen were paid ￡2, 5s. each, the cooper and steward got ￡3, the captain’s cook ￡3, 5s., the ship’s cook ￡2, 10s., the boatswain’s mate and the gunner’s mate were each paid ￡2, 10s., the carpenter’s mate and caulker ￡3, 15s., the two quartermasters received each ￡2, 10s., the two commander’s servants ￡1, 5s. each, and the thirty foremast men ￡2, 5s. each. As to the last-mentioned, a vessel of from 400 to 500 tons carried twenty foremast hands. A ship of 500 to 550 had thirty hands, and the next size, from 550 to 600 tons, carried thirty-five. A 600 to 650 tonner had forty men, and a 650 to 700 tonner forty-five men. But a 700 to 800 ton ship had fifty-five men, and an 800 to 900 tonner sixty-five of these hands. The Company’s rule was that regular vessels of 750 to 800 tons were to carry a total complement of 101 officers and men. A 900-ton ship was to carry 110 men, a 1000-ton ship 120 men, a 1100-ton ship 125 men, and a 1200-tonner 130 men.

Five supernumeraries were allowed to be carried, of whom two were to be allowed to walk the quarterdeck. No commander was allowed to increase the232 number of midshipmen under pain of being suspended for three years. This was to prevent him from taking a raw young officer out of consideration for a monetary reward. In order to act as a safeguard, if any person borne on the ship’s books as part of her complement were discharged in India, China or St Helena without permission of the Company, or if the commander were to act in collusion and allow him to quit his vessel, the commander was liable to a fine of ￡300. Nor could he bring home or carry out any passenger or person without the directors’ leave.

Owing to the fact that the men out of these East Indiamen were so frequently pressed into the British men-of-war whilst in the East, it was often enough necessary to ship a lot of lascars in order to get the vessel home at all. But these feeble-bodied men were accustomed only to voyages of short duration, and that in the fine weather season. They could not bear the cold, neither were they dependable when the East Indiaman had to defend herself against a privateer, pirate or enemy’s warship. Ignorant of the English language, they were not easy to handle. It was always reckoned that eighty or ninety of them were not quite the equal of fifty British seamen, and for every hundred of them employed four British seamen must be also. It was the India-built ships which were manned almost exclusively by these lascars, and a new problem arose, for these fellows used to remain behind in England, where their condition became piteous. There was an obligation that these lascars were always to be sent back to India, but in practice many of them “are turned off in London, where they beg and perish.” So wrote233 Macpherson in 1812. “The appearance of these miserable creatures,” he remarked, “in the streets of London frequently excites the indignation of passengers against the Company, who, they suppose, bring them to this country and leave them destitute,” whereas, in reality, these Easterns actually preferred to sink into degradation in our land rather than return to their own. Many of them never reached England, or, if they did, died on the return voyage: for the bad weather off the Cape of Good Hope and the rigours of the English climate caused considerable sickness and death.

English gentlemen who had been for some years under the Company in India, either in a civil or military capacity, were often wont to bring black servants home with them, and after these servants had been some time in England they were discharged. The result was that, under the terms of their obligation, the Company were put to great expense in sending them back to their native country. It was with a view to protecting themselves from this possibility that the Company used to cause the master of such a servant to take a bond in India as security for the cost of returning these coloured people, these bonds being sent to the commander of the ship in which the master and his servant was travelling to England. Otherwise, the commander was ordered by the Company to refuse to have the black man on board.

Before an officer could become commander of one of the Company’s ships it was necessary that he should be twenty-five years old and have performed a voyage to and from India or China in the Company’s regular service as chief or second mate, or234 else have commanded a ship in the extra service. A chief mate had to be twenty-three years old, have voyaged to India or China in the Company’s service as second or third mate. A second mate had to be twenty-two years old and have made a similar voyage as third mate. To become a third mate he had to be aged twenty-one and been two voyages in the Company’s service to and from India or China. A fourth mate had to be twenty years old and been one voyage of not less than twenty months to India or China and back in the Company’s service, and one year in actual service in any other employ, and of the latter he had to produce satisfactory certificates.

In the case of the extra ships the commander had to be twenty-three years old at least, have made three voyages to India or China and back in the Company’s service, one of which must have been as chief or second mate in a regular ship, or as chief mate in an extra ship. The chief mate must be at least twenty-two, and have made two of these voyages as officer in the Company’s regular service. The second mate had to be at least twenty-one and have performed two voyages as officer in the Company’s service to India or China and back. The third mate must be twenty years and been one voyage in the Company’s service, or two voyages as midshipman in the extra service.

It would not be untrue to say that officers of the early part of the nineteenth century in this service were excellent seamen and fair navigators, but many of them would not be sufficiently expert in navigation nowadays to have entrusted to them the work and responsibilities commensurate with those with235 which they were charged. It was in the year 1804 that the Company issued the following regulation:—

“That such of the officers as have not been already instructed in the method of finding the longitude of a ship at sea, by lunar observations, do immediately perfect themselves under Mr Lawrence Gwynne, at Christ’s Hospital, previous to their attending the Committee to be examined for their respective stations; and that they do produce to the Committee a certificate from that gentleman of their being qualified in the method.”

And within six weeks after each ship had arrived home, the commander and officers had to attend a Committee of the Company which dealt with the reasons for any deviation which the ship might have made during the voyage.

As touching the accommodation in these ships, the officers had canvas berths only, laced down to battens on the deck, with upright stanchions, a cross-piece, and a small door, with canvas panels, the canvas being capable of being rolled up. On the gun-deck the chief mate’s berth was on the starboard side from the fore part of the aftermost port, to the fore part of the second port from aft, the space being eight feet broad. The second mate was located on the opposite side to correspond, but his space was six inches narrower. Between the second and third ports two similar berths, each six feet long and seven feet broad, were fitted up for the third and fourth mates: and two more for the purser and surgeon between the third and fourth ports. Two others, slightly smaller still, were located between the ports on this deck for the boatswain and carpenter. And no alteration from this was allowed to be made during the voyage.236 The captain’s “great cabin” was in the steerage, and he was forbidden to partition it off in any way without special orders from the Company. When a ship went into action, those canvas berths or cabins of the officers just alluded to were taken down. The reader will recollect the capture some pages back of the Brunswick by the Marengo. Addison in his journal mentions that when he and his fellow-officers were taken on board the latter they were marched below to the ward-room. He then adds that, “being cleared for action, the cabins were all down, and the whole deck clear fore and aft, open to the seamen.”

The full uniform for the commander of one of the Company’s ships was as follows:—Fine blue coat, black Genoa velvet round the cuffs, four holes by two’s, three outside, one inside. Black velvet lapels, with ten holes by two’s. Black velvet panteen cape, with one hole on each side, straight flaps, with four holes by two’s. The fore parts were lined with buff silk serge, black slit and turns faced with the same. One button on each hip, and one at the bottom. The buttonholes were gold embroidered throughout and gilt buttons with the Company’s crest. The chief mate wore a blue coat with black velvet lapels, cuffs and collar, with one small button to each cuff. The buttons gilt, with the Company’s crest. The second, third and fourth mates’ uniforms were similar to that of the chief mate, except that the second had two small buttons on each cuff, the third had three, and the fourth had four.

THE “JESSIE” AND “ELIZA JANE” IN TABLE BAY, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, 1829.

(By courtesy of Messrs. T. H. Parker Brothers)

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In the extra ships the commander wore a blue coat with black velvet lapels, cuffs and collar, with only one embroidered buttonhole on each cuff, and on each side of the collar. His buttons were gilt237 with the Company’s crest. The chief mate’s uniform in these extra ships consisted of a blue coat, single-breasted, with a black velvet collar and cuffs, and one small buttonhole on each cuff, with gilt buttons as before. The second and third mates’ were like this with the difference of two or three small buttons on each cuff as mentioned. And it was strictly ordered that officers were always to appear in this uniform whenever they attended on the Court of Directors, their Committees, any of the Presidents and Councils in India, or at St Helena, or the select Committee of Supra-Cargoes in China.

Some of the officers when they came up to be sworn in before the Court of Directors did not always appear in the prescribed uniform, and the Company sent out a warning against coming into their presence in boots, black breeches and stockings, except in the case of deep mourning. When appearing before the Court of Directors the officers were compelled to wear full uniform, but when attending the Committee they were to wear undress.

Whenever the ship dropped down from Deptford or Blackwall to Gravesend the captain was to be on board. There were two sets of pilots. One took the ship from Deptford or Blackwall to Gravesend, and another took her from Gravesend to the Isle of Wight. Whilst the ship lay at Gravesend the commander was ordered to go aboard her once a week in order to report her condition to the Committee. Before sailing, the ship took on board a sufficient amount of lime-juice to last the crew through the whole voyage. And the commander had strict instructions to see that his new hands—“recruits” the Company called them—wore the clothes which238 the Company provided, and that the men did not sell them for liquor; also that these men did not desert. For this reason no boats were allowed to remain alongside the ship without having been made fast by a chain and lock—thus preventing any possibility of the men escaping to the shore. No boat was allowed to put off from the ship until every person in her had been examined, lest one of the crew might be in her. And a quarter watch was to be kept night and day to prevent the loss of recruits. If any did desert, then the commander would most probably have to pay the cost which this involved.

During the course of every watch the ship was to be pumped out, and entries made in the log. And as regards divine worship, the slackness of the previous period mentioned in an earlier chapter was no longer tolerated. “You are strictly required to keep up the worship of Almighty God on board your ship every Sunday, when circumstances will admit, and that the log-book contain the reasons for the omission when it so happens; that you promote good order and sobriety, by being yourself the example, and enforcing it in others; and that you be humane and attentive to the welfare of those under your command, the Court have resolved to mulct you in the sum of two guineas for every omission of mentioning the performance of divine service, or assigning satisfactory reasons for the non-performance thereof every Sunday, in the Company’s log-book.”

From the Company’s India House in Leadenhall Street the commander was supplied with charts. These had to be returned at the end of the voyage, together with the commander’s journals and track charts. What were known as free mariners must have239 performed two voyages to India or China and back in the Company’s ships, or else have used the sea and been in actual service for at least three years. The reader is aware that many a time the Company’s ships were endangered by the naval authorities impressing so many men from them. At last, after many protests, the Admiralty instituted a new regulation, so that, although it was still not possible to abolish this impressment, yet the evil so far as the East Indiamen were concerned was mitigated and controlled. A letter was sent to the Rear-Admiral of the Red on the East Indies station instructing him to order his captains and commanders to conform to this new regulation. A proper scheme was drawn up, showing what officers and men in East Indiamen ships of varying tonnages were to be exempt from impress, though this protection applied only until the ship should reach Europe. However, even if the whole exemption could not be obtained, a portion thereof was better than nothing at all, especially as the Company attributed so many of the losses of their ships to having been deprived of their best men.

In addition to their wages, the men became entitled to a pension from what was known as the Poplar Fund. Any commander, officer or seaman, or anyone else who had served aboard any of these East Indiamen for eight years and regularly contributed to this fund was entitled to a pension. But if a man had been wounded or maimed so as to be rendered incapable of further service at sea, he could still be admitted to a pension even under eight years. The size of the pension was based on the amount of capital which the officer possessed.240 Thus, if a commander stated that he was not worth ￡2500, or ￡125 a year, he received a pension of ￡100. Similarly, if a chief mate had not been able to amass ￡1300, or had ￡65 coming in every year, he was granted a pension of ￡60. And so the scale descended down to the rank of midshipman, who was granted a ￡12 pension if he was not worth ￡400, or ￡20 a year. Allowances were also made for the widows and orphans of those who had served the Company for seven years.

Before a candidate could be appointed as ship’s surgeon, those who had already made one voyage in the Company’s service, or acted twelve months in that capacity in his Majesty’s service in a hot climate were given priority. After a qualified surgeon had served in one of the extra ships for one voyage to India and back he was eligible for the regular service. Both surgeon and a surgeon’s mate had to produce a certificate from the examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons and also from the Company’s own physician. The surgeons were allowed, in addition to their salary and their privilege of private trade, fifteen shillings per man on the voyage for medicine and attendance on the military and invalids. But they were no longer required, as part of their duties, to cut the hair of the Company’s servants! The assistant-surgeon had to be at least twenty years old, and possess a diploma from the College of Surgeons of London, Edinburgh or Dublin, and a certificate from the Company’s own physician.

The gunner and his mate were examined as to their efficiency by the Company’s master-attendant, who after approval gave them a certificate. Volun241teers for the Company’s Indian Navy, otherwise known as the Bombay Marine, had to be between the ages of fourteen and eighteen; for their cavalry and infantry, between sixteen and twenty-two.

To many passengers this voyage to the East was one of terror. Eastwick tells a yarn about an assistant-surgeon in one of these ships. For five days on the way out a great storm had been raging. This had evidently so impressed this surgeon that the night after the storm abated he dreamt that there was a great hole in the ship’s side. Jumping out of his cot with alacrity, he knocked over the water-jug, and feeling the cold water about his toes he ran headlong up on deck, clamouring that the ship was sinking. For some time he was believed. The carpenter and some of the officers hurried to his cabin, and meanwhile the passengers had become alarmed and left their cabins, congregating by the boats. The story, however, does not give the remarks of the carpenter and officers when they found the assistant-surgeon had been romancing.

The passengers in these ships were made as comfortable as possible, though they had to pay fairly heavily for the same. We have seen that they were entertained with dances whenever possible. They brought with them on board their servants, their furniture and their wines. But the conduct of some of these passengers became so highly improper at times that the Company found it necessary to frame regulations for the preservation of good order on board, and these had to be enforced strictly by the commander. In the words of the Court of Directors, they bewailed the fact that “the good order and wholesome practices, formerly observed in the Com242pany’s ships, have been laid aside, and late hours and the consequent mischiefs introduced, by which the ship has been endangered and the decorum and propriety, which should be maintained, destroyed.”

One of the great terrors on board these vessels was the possibility of fire at sea. We shall have the account presently of the loss of the Kent East Indiaman in the Bay of Biscay, through that species of disaster, in the year 1825, and there were other instances. It was in order to guard against this possibility that no fire was allowed to be kept in after eight at night except for the use of the sick, and then only in a stove. Candles had to be extinguished between decks by nine o’clock, and in the cabins by ten at the latest. This was before the days when ships were compelled by Act of Parliament to carry sidelights. In fact, just as in medi?val days not even the boatswain was allowed to use his whistle, nor a bell to be sounded, nor any unnecessary noise made after dark, lest the ship’s presence should be betrayed to any pirate in the vicinity, so in the case of these East Indiamen, not only were there no sidelights, but the commander was enjoined that the utmost precautions be used to prevent any lights ‘tween decks or from the cabins being visible “to any vessel passing in the night.”

THE “ALFRED,” EAST INDIAMAN, 1,400 TONS.

(By courtesy of Messrs. T. H. Parker Brothers)

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The passengers used to dine not later than 2 P.M. And such was the authority of the captain that when he retired from the table after either dinner or supper, the passengers and officers must also retire. The captain was to pay due attention to the comfortable accommodation and liberal treatment of the passengers, “at the same time setting them an example of sobriety and decorum, as he values the243 pleasure of the Court.” Any improper conduct of the ship’s officers towards the passengers or to each other was to be reported quietly to the captain, and the decision left with the latter. But if anyone thought himself aggrieved thereby, he could appeal to the Governor and Council of the first of the Company’s settlements at which the ship should arrive, or, if homeward bound, to the Court of Directors.

And the following brief, common-sense paragraph summed up the whole situation:—

“The diversity of characters and dispositions which must meet on ship-board makes some restraint upon all necessary; and any one offending against good manners, or known usages and customs, will, on representation to the Court, be severely noticed.”

We can well believe that those military officers or civil servants of the Company who came on board homeward bound, after spending years in India without benefit to their livers and tempers, if to their pecuniary advantage, and were as ill-accustomed to the conditions of ship life as they were bereft of an adaptable spirit, needed all the tact and patience of the commander and ship’s officers to prevent matters being even more uncomfortable than they were. Those who had spent their lives wielding authority in India, and both honestly and otherwise making fortunes, were not the kind of mortals most easy to live with in the confined area of a ship not much over 1200 tons. However, every passenger who came on board was given a printed copy of the regulations, which had been formed for the good of all, and they were told very pertinently to observe them strictly, and the captains had to see that they did as they were told.

244

Certainly up to the second decade of the nineteenth century, the ships themselves also were in great need of supervision, as to their construction, though there were not many capable critics then in existence. All the Company’s ships were of course built of wood, but iron was already being extensively used for the knees. The idea was excellent, but in practice inferior material was actually employed and not the best British iron. And the same defect was noticeable with regard to anchors and mooring chains. Of those various losses which occurred to the East Indiaman ships about the year 1809, it was thought by some that the cause was traceable to these weak iron knees which had been put into the vessels. A certain Mr J. Braithwaite wrote a letter to the East India Company in December of 1809, in which he stated that he had been employed to recover the property of the Abergavenny, which had been lost off Weymouth; and he found, on breaking up the wreck, that many of the iron knees were broken, owing to having been made of such poor, inferior material. This, he noticed, snapped quite easily, and he was convinced that ships fitted with such knees would, on encountering gales of wind, be lost owing to the knees giving way. The East Indiaman Asia was thought to have perished owing to that reason.

But there was also another reason why the ships of this period were unsatisfactory. They were built not under cover but outside, exposed to all the weather. But, in addition, there was a bad practice at that time which unquestionably caused a great deal of serious injury to the ship. When the ship was approaching completion, and before the sheath245ing had been put on, the sides and floor were deluged with water, the intention being to see if there were any shake in the plank, or butt or trenail holes, or if any of the seams had been left uncaulked. If the water poured through anywhere this would indicate that there was need for caulking before the ship was set afloat.

This was all very well in theory, but in practice it was very bad indeed, for the water thus admitted settled down into the innermost recesses, and the result was that the cargoes were always more or less affected injuriously by the damp. Similarly, it injured the ship herself, and dry-rot eventually shortened the vessel’s life. Damp, badly ventilated, these old East Indiamen were frequently the source of much anxiety to their managing owners or “ships’ husbands,” as they were usually called. Then there was another defect. The influence of the Middle Ages was not yet departed from shipbuilding: consequently trenails were still used. This meant that the ship was riddled with holes for the insertion of these wooden pegs. Speaking of an East Indiaman of this time, a contemporary says that thus “she appears like a cullender,” and “there is hardly a space of six inches in small ships that is not bored through” by a trenail of one and a half inches in diameter, being only six inches apart from the next trenail. Thus, of course, the timbers were weakened, and at a later date when the ship needed to be re-bored with holes for more trenails on the renewal of decayed planking, there were so many holes in the timbers that the ship was very considerably weakened thereby.

The method of the French in building ships had246 formerly been to use iron fastenings, but the plank grew nail sick, and the iron having corroded became very weak. Indian-built ships, however, were constructed in such a way that there were no numerous series of holes bored, and thus the hulls remained strong and stout. The planking was secured to the timbers by spikes and bolts of iron, yet—owing to the oleaginous sap of the teak from which they were built—the iron did not corrode as it did in the case of oak-built ships. So about the year 1810 the introduction of metal nails and bolts was advocated in connection with the building of ships.

After the Company had lost their China monopoly the class of ship that was built by the Greens, for instance, was composed of oak, greenheart and teak, and excellently constructed. Mr F. T. Bullen has written of such a ship, the Lion, which was launched in 1842 from the famous Blackwall yard. He tells us that this was the finest of all the great fleet that had been brought into being at that yard up to this date: how, decked with flags from stem to stern, with the sun glinting brightly on the rampant crimson lion that towered proudly on high from her stem, she glided down the way amid the thunder of cannon and the cheers of the spectators. She was afterwards given ten 18-pounders, with many muskets and boarding-pikes stowed away in a small armoury in the waist. This famous vessel, so characteristic of the best type of East Indiaman which succeeded the Company’s ships, was, in spite of her great size—as she was then regarded—far handier than any of those “billy-boys” which used to be such a feature of the Thames. “There was as much intriguing,” says Mr Bullen, “to secure a berth in the Lion for247 the outward or homeward passage as there was in those days for positions in the golden land she traded to. Men whose work in India was done spoke of her in their peaceful retirement on leafy English country-sides, and recalled with cronies ‘our first passage out in the grand old Lion.’ A new type of ship, a new method of propulsion, was springing up all round her. But whenever any of the most modern fliers forgathered with her upon the ocean highway, their crews felt their spirits rise in passionate admiration for the stately and beautiful old craft whose graceful curves and perfect ease seemed to be of the sea sui generis, moulded and caressed by the noble element into something of its own mobility and tenacious power.”

Like many other of the later-day East Indiamen, she was eventually taken off the route to India and ran to Australia with emigrants. With her quarter-galleries, her far-reaching head, her great, many-windowed stern, she would seem a curious kind of ship among twentieth-century craft. But she held her own even with the new steel clippers, and made the round voyage from Melbourne to London and back in five months and twenty days, including the time taken up in handling the two cargoes, finally being sold into the hands of the Norwegians, like many another fine British ship both before and since her time. The last act of her eventful life came when she crashed into a mountainous iceberg and smashed herself to pieces. It was a sad end to a ship that had begun so gloriously.