THE EAST INDIAMEN’S ENEMIES
The East India Company had recovered from their period of desolation.
They had set their house in order, had been granted a further extension
of their monopoly, were opening up a good trade with China, and had
received fresh capital for their operations in wider spheres. The trade
of the East was practically now in the hands of England, the Dutch
East India Company having suffered very heavily, and the French East
India Company after languishing had come to an end in 1790. Although
there had been formed the first Danish East India Company as far back
as 1612, and a Spanish Royal Company for trading with the Philippines
incorporated in 1733 and an Ostend East India Company incorporated
by the Emperor of Austria in 1723; yet the last-mentioned had become
bankrupt in 1784, and now the English East India Company, after many
vicissitudes, was left practically the sole surviving trading power in
the Orient.
Under Pitt’s Act the directors of the English Company were allowed to
superintend their shipping and matters of commerce as before, yet the
Board of Control exercised its influence both in England and India.
Each year the Company settled the number of ships to be built and
their sizes. For instance, in 1784, as they saw that at least four more
ships would be required, they ordered six to be built. The keels were
to be laid down within six months, and the ships were to be launched
within twelve months of the laying of the keel. The following year they
decided to have three sets of shipping with about thirty ships in each
class, so leave was given for eight ships to be built. Tenders were
therefore advertised for in January 1786, much to the indignation of
the owners, who complained that this advertisement was directed against
their interests. They denied that hitherto their rates for freight
had been exorbitant, and protested that they had embarked on immense
shipbuilding programmes expressly for the Company’s benefit. The
Company therefore replied, inviting them to send in tenders, which was
done, the same rate being offered as in the preceding season—viz. £26 a
ton to China direct, £27 for coast and China, Bombay £28, coast and bay
£29. On 9th June of that year a tender was offered the Company to build
a 1000-ton ship at £22 a ton for the first two voyages, and £20 for the
third and fourth voyages.
Up till the year 1789 the size of the Company’s recent big ships had
been from 750 to 800 tons. But in this year it was decided to build
five ships of from 1100 to 1200 tons. The following May the Court
resolved that from past experience ships could quite well make three
voyages without stripping off their sheathing. And, further, those
ships which had been accustomed to make the fourth trip their repairing
voyage might with perfect safety perform even six voyages. A by-law of
1773 had restricted the employment of ships for more than four voyages,
but this was now modified, and instead of four voyages agreements were
entered into with the owners for the ships to run six.
It was decided also by the Company in the year 1789 to allow the
commanders and officers of their ships to fill, freight free, all such
outward tonnage as might be unoccupied by the Company, and to allow
the Company’s servants and merchants residing under the Company’s
protection in India to fill up such homeward tonnage as might be
unoccupied by the Company, at a reasonable freight. When we come to
the year 1793 we have to deal with an important Act of the reign of
George III., which had far-reaching effects. The Company’s charter
was extended until 1814, but provision was made for opening up the
Indian trade to private individuals, and thus the long-lived monopoly
of the Company was doomed. At length the agitations of the Liverpool
and Bristol shipowners to be allowed to participate in the East India
trade were to have some sort of effect, though it was far from what was
desired. However, one of the conditions of the renewal of the Company’s
exclusive privilege under this Act was that any of the Company’s civil
servants in India, and the free merchants living in India under the
Company’s protection, might be permitted to send to Europe on their own
account and risk in the Company’s ships all kinds of Indian goods with
the exception of calicoes, dimities, muslins and other piece-goods.
And “for insuring to private merchants and manufacturers the certain
and ample means of exporting their merchandize to the East Indies, and
importing the returns for the same, and the other goods, wares and
merchandize, allowed by this Act, at reasonable rates of freight,” the
Company was ordered to set apart at least 3000 tons of shipping every
year. The charge was to be £5 a ton on the outward voyage in times of
peace, and. £15 homeward. But in the time of war the rates should be
increased if the Board of Control approved. It was further stipulated
that his Majesty’s subjects might be allowed to export from England
to India any produce or manufactured goods except military stores,
ammunition, masts, spars, cordage, pitch, tar and copper. But in all
cases of exports and imports in this Anglo-Indian trade the goods must
travel in the Company’s ships. These vessels, provided under the Act,
thus became known as “extra East Indiamen,” and sometimes in reading
books of voyages and travel of this period you will find the narrator
informing the reader that he travelled to the East on board the “extra”
East Indiaman so-and-so. It may be stated at once that though the Act
was obeyed, it produced little result, for considering that the Company
still had such a powerful monopoly of trade in the East, it was quite
impossible for home merchants to compete with such a corporation.
Most manufacturers and merchants declined to avail themselves of
this privilege, full well realising beforehand how useless it would
be. However, the Company fulfilled their obligation to provide this
additional tonnage, though it entailed a heavy expenditure without much
benefit to the public. The people who benefited most were the servants
of the Company, who, being homeward bound, were able to bring back to
England Indian produce that would find a ready market here.
In the year 1793 the Company had only thirty-six vessels of 1200
tons each and forty of 800 tons each. This of course represented the
whole of the British shipping trading to the East. Some idea of the
shipbuilding programmes of the next few years may be gathered from
the following facts, bearing in mind that the Company were trading to
China as well as to India, and that both big and moderate-sized ships
were deemed necessary. Thus in October of 1793 the Court decided that
sixteen ships of from 700 to 800 tons were necessary, and one of 1200
tons for the annual imports from India in their regular commerce; and
that fifteen large ships of 1200 tons would be required for imports
from China. When a ship became worn out by age, accident or inability,
an advertisement was published, describing the size of the ship
required, inviting tenders and specifying the rate of freight to be
paid for six voyages, the ship to be commanded by the captain of the
ship whose bottom was worn out. In December of the following year it
was resolved that ships of 1400 tons were the most suitable for the
Company’s trade to China, but that these ships should be tendered at
1200 tons only. So also the regular ships (as distinct from the extra
East Indiamen) which brought home their rich cargoes from Bengal and
Madras were not to exceed 820 tons and to be chartered at 799 tons. It
was further settled that ships of from 480 to 520 tons were the most
suitable craft for bringing home what were known as “gruff” goods—that
is, cargoes of Indian goods consisting of such raw materials as
cotton, rice, sugar, pepper, hemp and saltpetre. The silks, muslins,
tea and fine goods were carried in the Company’s larger ships, which
carried also the passengers. From the latter quite a large revenue
was obtained, as soon as the Company’s rule in India became fully
established.
The public were still very jealous of the Company’s private monopoly,
and the country was deluged by pamphleteers and tractarians giving
vent to this indignation. However, some benefit had been obtained by a
reduction in the freights, and it was brought about in the following
manner. The suggestion was made that great advantages would result if
India-built ships were employed by the Company for the spare freight
which was lying ready for shipment to Europe. English oak was getting
scarcer, and therefore dearer, and could ill be spared so long as the
Royal Navy continued to be wooden walls: whereas out in India the
Company owned inexhaustible forests. So from the year 1795 India-built
ships were for the first time allowed to take exports and imports. They
were commonly known as “country-built” ships, and in the year mentioned
twenty-seven of these craft were despatched from India with cargoes
of rice. The cost of engaging these ships was at £16 a ton for rice
and other deadweight goods and £20 a ton for light goods, the ships to
arrive and discharge in the Thames. As a result a saving in one season
alone was made of £183,316 in respect of freights. But there occurred
some keen disappointment to the owners of these India-built ships.
The arrangement had been that, having delivered the goods mentioned
in the Thames, they should be allowed to take back to India whatever
merchandise they cared to put aboard. Many of these ships had been
built as a speculation, their owners believing that they would be taken
into the Company’s regular service and so be employed permanently.
Notwithstanding that they had been warned against any such supposition,
it came as a bitter grief to them when they realised that after the
Company’s immediate requirements were completed the services of these
ships were no longer required; but for all that the day was now not far
distant when trade to India was to be thrown open altogether. It is the
last straw which breaks the camel’s back, and the load which had been
accumulating ever since the year 1600 was soon to reach the point when
something would have to give way.
It should be explained that this was one of the most critical periods
in the whole of England’s naval chronicle and therefore of her very
existence. The Battle of the Glorious First of June had been fought
in 1794, and in this same year Martinique had been captured from the
French. The year 1795 was to be even still more replete with naval
doings. Ships and men were required as they had never been wanted
before, and it was just in this respect that the existence of the East
India Company was of the greatest direct benefit to the country and
the navy. It must always be to its honour that the Company which had
for so long enjoyed the privilege of the Indian monopoly was on this
especial occasion to have the privilege of assisting the nation in
a most valuable manner. At the opening of the year France possessed
advantages which she had never previously enjoyed. She had made peace
with Prussia, she had reduced Holland to submission and made a treaty
with the latter, the result of which was that the Dutch fleet of about
120 ships was placed at France’s disposal. These were well-built
craft, manned by excellent crews who were seamen to their finger-tips.
As against this, England was in a condition of isolation and there was
a tremendous amount of work to be done and too few ships at hand. For
Brest had to be watched, and the Mediterranean fleet had to look after
the French based on Toulon. Admiral Duncan had to be sent across the
North Sea to prevent any Dutch ships from emerging out of the Texel,
but in the southern part of the world something much more historic
was destined to occur, for the Cape of Good Hope was captured from
the Dutch, and just at the time when our success hung in the balance
a strong squadron of East Indiamen arrived with a reinforcement of
British troops. The result was that against this force the Dutch
could no longer stand. The Dutch settlement (and incidentally a brig
belonging to the Dutch East India Company) now became British.
Never had the East India Company been more useful to the navy than
in this year. Ships and seamen cannot be got by the mere signing of
documents unless they already exist, and it was lucky for the nation
that such fine, stout craft, accustomed to long voyages and fighting,
manned with such able crews, should already be at hand under the East
India Company. At the time of which we speak no fewer than six of their
finest vessels were taken into the nation’s service straight away.
Eight others which had not quite finished building were also assigned
to the Government. In addition to these fourteen handsome craft, the
Court of Directors also decided on the 13th of March to raise 3000 men
at their own cost for the Royal Navy. This meant a loss of £57,000,
but the nation needed it and the Company did their duty. During the
ensuing July the Company further decided that fourteen East Indiamen
should be placed at the disposal of the Government in September ready
to carry troops across the ocean—a work for which they were extremely
well fitted—and we have just seen to what advantage this was done.
England at this time was distressed by the scarcity of corn, but in
order to relieve this distress in some measure large quantities of rice
were brought home by twenty-seven ships which the Company purposely
added to their fleet for the emergency, and these were the India-built
ships of which we spoke just now. Thus in more ways than one, but
certainly to the utmost of their ability, the East India Company had
come to Britain’s aid when she was passing through a time of great
crisis.
During this year the seas which wash the Indian coast were really
unsafe to merchantmen by reason of the presence of both French and
Dutch cruisers and privateers. The British naval strength in those
waters was very inadequate, and we had suffered some naval disasters
which were neither a credit to our seamanship nor likely to maintain
our prestige as gallant sea-fighters. The whole of the Bay of Bengal
was being scoured by French men-of-war ready to fall upon any merchant
craft that dared show herself. The privateers were both numerous,
well manned, well armed, well commanded and very fast sailers. The
consequence was that the East Indiamen never completed their voyages
without having some excitement. Nor were pirates exterminated;
especially along the Malabar coast, where they had many fastnesses,
their strongholds being protected by forts. These men feared nothing,
and had actually come out and defeated English, French and Dutch
men-of-war that had been especially sent out to punish them, in some
cases even capturing their enemy’s ships. A French 40-gun frigate had
been compelled to haul down her colours to these robbers of the sea:
one of the East India Company’s ships, armed with twenty guns, had also
been taken after a fair fight, and three Dutch men-of-war. For some
years they were crushed by the wholesome effect of a regular expedition
which the English had sent against them, but after a few years they
broke out again in their piracy and by the year 1798 they were freely
capturing European ships.
On at least one occasion, however, they made a serious mistake, which
might have been even still more grievous for them but for a piece
of luck. It happened that H.M.S. _Centurion_, a 50-gun frigate, was
cruising in the neighbourhood, and her the pirates mistook for a
merchantman, for the East Indiamen were very similar in appearance to
the frigates of the Royal Navy. One of the favourite devices of these
rovers was to creep up under cover of darkness and wedge the rudder
of the ship they intended to attack, their victim being thus rendered
unable to manœuvre. In the present instance they had succeeded in
carrying out this tactic to the _Centurion_, and then surrounded the
ship and began their attack. The frigate was certainly surprised, but
she soon had her guns loaded and brought them to bear on the pirates,
and so punished them with a hot fire, which had not been expected, that
they were glad to take to flight. It was only the fact of the wedged
rudder which prevented the _Centurion_ from being steered in pursuit
and capturing their craft. However, it was a lesson to them in the
future, and they attacked only when they were certain of their victim.
Of the privateers which hung about in Indian waters, one of the most
notorious was the _Malartic_, which had captured two of the East
Indiamen, _Raymond_ and _Woodcot_, of 793 and 802 tons respectively.
Whenever it was known that this ship was in the offing, no merchantman
dared put to sea. She eventually captured the _Princess Royal_, an
805 tonner, and other East Indiamen, but was herself finally taken by
the Company’s ship _Phœnix_. So great was the relief occasioned by
this deliverance that Captain Moffat, the _Phœnix’s_ commander, was
afterwards publicly presented with a sword of honour. But an even more
dangerous privateer was the _Confiance_. This was a very beautiful
ship, and the envy of every captain who set eyes on her. Captain
Eastwick, who knew her well, and to whose account I am indebted,
described her as follows:—“She sat very low upon the water, and had
black sides with yellow moulding posts, and a French stern all black.
She carried a red vane at her maintopgallant masthead, very square
yards and jaunt masts, upright and without the smallest rake either
forward or aft. Her sails were all cut French fashion, and remarkable,
having a great roach and steering sail, very square. There was not a
ship in those seas that she could not overtake or sail away from. It
was the custom of her commander, Captain Sourcouff, to ply his crew
with liquor, and they always fought with the madness of drink in them.”
It was this ship which attacked the East Indiaman _Kent_, and after
a heavy engagement killed or wounded no fewer than sixty of the
merchantman’s crew, with the result that the latter was forced to haul
down her flag. When the news of this occurrence reached Calcutta, two
of the Company’s frigates were sent in pursuit of the privateer, and
both coming up with her began to attack with such determination that
it was certain the _Confiance_ would have to yield. This, however, she
refused to do, and though she had only twenty-two guns, her captain
fought his ship with great gallantry, and even though his losses were
necessarily great, he was able at the end to escape by the speed
of his ship. The _Kent_, however, was retaken from the clutches of
the _Confiance_ and brought into Calcutta, and a few years later
the _Confiance_ herself was also captured. And you may imagine with
what joy the news of her capture was received when it was reckoned
that within one single twelvemonth not less than £2,000,000 worth of
British shipping had been captured or sunk by the French privateers or
men-of-war.
And there was the curious incident of the _Lord Eldon_ being nearly
captured right on the doorstep, so to speak, of her home. This ship
was an East Indiaman outward bound to India. At the moment of which we
are speaking she had backed her sails and was lying off the Needles
hove-to, as she awaited some passengers who had been delayed in joining
her. But whilst she was thus hove-to a sea fog suddenly came down. Not
far off was a French privateer hovering about, and this was the chance
of a century. Under cover of this fog he approached the East Indiaman
unobserved, so that he came right alongside. When the men on board the
_Lord Eldon_ discovered this big ship close up to them in the haze
they were alarmed, but not for the reason that you might suppose. It
did not occur to them that she was a privateer, but they assumed she
was one of the King’s ships and was now about to impress the East
Indiaman’s crew into the navy in the manner that we saw in an earlier
chapter. As the crew had no desire to come under impressment, they at
once hid, with the result that the privateer’s men had no difficulty in
coming on board the _Lord Eldon_. The captain was below at the time,
and hearing a noise and clamour came on deck to see what it was all
about: and then to his amazement found that his ship was in the hands
of the enemy. However, he was not one easily to be daunted, even by
such a surprise as this. His life was made up of things unexpected,
and knowing that his men were well drilled he called to them to repel
boarders. They at once responded to the command and came out from their
hiding-places, and after a sharp fight drove the invaders overboard.
One Frenchman had even got possession of the _Lord Eldon’s_ wheel,
but the East Indiaman’s captain killed him with his own hand, cutting
off his head with one stroke of the sword. In a very short time the
privateer, who was now more surprised than the crew of the merchant
ship, hurriedly made sail and disappeared into the fog. The incident
well shows the fighting efficiency of the commanders and men of the
Company’s vessels at this period.
During the early part of the eighteenth century about a dozen or
fifteen of the Company’s ships would sail to the East Indies from
London, but this average gradually rose till, about the year 1779,
there were about twenty vessels going out each year. But thereafter
the numbers increased to such an extent that in some years there were
as many as thirty or forty: and in the year 1795 as many as seventy-six
did the voyage. After that date the numbers became again normal, so
that up to about the end of 1810 the average was more like forty or
fifty. But even this meant a great deal of trade from which the country
and Company were to benefit largely.