Difference between revisions of "Kidderpore Docks"
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1812 – Built “Castle Huntly” at Kidderpore, 1276 tons. Built for a China ship. <ref>A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 104</ref> | 1812 – Built “Castle Huntly” at Kidderpore, 1276 tons. Built for a China ship. <ref>A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 104</ref> | ||
1813 - Launchings from Kyd’s dockyard were occasions attended by fashionable society. The Governor General, his wife “and almost all the beauty, rank and fashion of Calcutta” – 400 guests in all – attended the launch of “General Kyd”, 1279 tons. | 1813 - Launchings from Kyd’s dockyard were occasions attended by fashionable society. The Governor General, his wife “and almost all the beauty, rank and fashion of Calcutta” – 400 guests in all – attended the launch of “General Kyd”, 1279 tons. | ||
Revision as of 13:56, 16 March 2018
From the middle of the 18th Century, the East India Company became concerned with lack of docks in Calcutta as ships had to be taken over 2,000 miles to Bombay for repair. [1]
1780 - Colonel Henry Watson, chief engineer under Warren Hasting’s Government founded the docks. He was chief engineer under Warren Hasting’s government. He had acted as Sir Philip Francis’ second in his duel with Hastings. [2] The docks were later acquired by Mr A Wadell, the East India Company’s master builder.
1807 – Mr Waddell retires and he was succeeded at the Docks and in his post of master builder by Mr James Kyd who had been his assistant for some years.
Brothers James and Robert Kyd took over the dock. They were illegitimate sons of a British – Indian relationship. Some sources say their father was Major Alexander Kyd, Lieutenant General and Surveyor General of Bengal while other say it was Colonel Robert Kyd who founded the botanical garden in Calcutta. James Kyd was born in India in 1786. He went back to Britain with his brother as a youngster to learn shipbuilding. In 1800 they returned to Calcutta and were apprenticed to Waddell. [3]
They eventually became some of the richest and well-respected members of the Anglo-Indian community and took great efforts to raise up their community. [4]. While the sources disagree about whether Kidderpore was named after them, their family or some other source, there is still a Kyd Street in Calcutta to this day.
1808 – Built “Phoenix”, a yacht of 187 tons. Sold out of the government service. [5]
1811 – Built “Maitland” at Kidderpore, 634 tons. Sold at Calcutta for a free trader.
1812 – Built “Castle Huntly” at Kidderpore, 1276 tons. Built for a China ship. [6]
1813 - Launchings from Kyd’s dockyard were occasions attended by fashionable society. The Governor General, his wife “and almost all the beauty, rank and fashion of Calcutta” – 400 guests in all – attended the launch of “General Kyd”, 1279 tons.
1814 – Built “Lord Hungerford” at Kidderpore, 685 tons. James Kyd visited England in the “General Kyd” and received testimonials from the Admiralty and Court of Directors for the repairs executed by him to “HMS Semiramis” at St Helena. [7]
1815 – Built “East Indian” at Kidderpore, 553 tons. Lost on Saugor Sand in 1826. Built brig “Kandyan” built at Kidderpore, 190 tons. Built for Ceylon government
Built “Neptune” at Kidderpore, 537 tons. [8]
1816 – Built “Mary Ann” at Kidderpore, 587 tons. Built “Planet” at Kidderpore, 167 tons, later rebuilt and called “Bright Planet”. Built “Commodore Hayes” at Sulkea, 673 tons. 1822, sold in London, 1828 burnt off Calcutta. Built “Lady Kennaway” at Kidderpore, 542 tons. Built “Lady Pole” at Sulkea, 486 tons. Sold to Spaniards in 1817 and renamed “Gertrude”. [9] Built “Palmers”, 389 tons. Lost on the coast of Covomandel.
1817 – Built “Eliza” at Sulkea, 488 tons. Sold to the French and was called the “Gorrettee” then “Eliza” of Calcutta again. Built cutter “Waterloo” at Kidderpore, 60 tons. A river vessel. Built ship “Mary Anne”, 587 tons[10]
1818 – Launched “Hastings” a 74 gun ship at Kidderpore.[11] Built ship ”Burretto Junior”, 522 tons[12]
1820 – Built ship “Palmyra” [Palmira”], 602 tons [13] 10 October 1821 - Launched “William Money” at Kidderpore, 685 tons. Regularly sailed between Australia and Calcutta. She was sold to a Liverpool shipping firm in 1856. [14]
July 1823 - Launched steamer “Dianna” at Kidderpore, 89 tons. The first steam vessel built on the Hooghly. Dismantled 1836 and broken up. November 1823 - launched schooner “Freak” at Kidderpore, 91 tons. Sold at Hobart Town. [15]
1825 – Robert Kyd died. [16] 14th December 1826 - Launched steamer “Irrawaddy” at Kidderpore, 170 tons. Employed as a tug on the river Hooghly 1839.
1827 – Launched steamer “Ganges” at Kidderpore, 170 tons. Employed on the river Hooghly and to the Tenassiram Coast 1839 Built brig “William”, 134 tons[17]
1828 – launched steamer “Berhampooter” at Kidderpore, 152 tons. Lost in the Ganges near Buxar 1832. [18] February 1829 – launched barque “Anges” at Kidderpore, 286 tons. During the launch, she capsized as guns fired and “Rule Britannia” struck up, she floated on her beam down to Coolie Bazaar, luckily there was no loss of life. [19]
Late 1820s - Over 200 ships had been built on the Hooghly, with most of them built at the Kidderpore docks. [20]
1830 – Built “Experiment” for the Bengal Government. It was employed as an accommodation vessel in the river near Calcutta. [21]
1830s – James Kyd lived in the fashionable area of Chowinghee, Calcutta where “there were paved streets and handsome squares of town houses in the neo-classical style with white stucco colonnades and green venetians blinds”. [22]
May 1831 – Launched “Water Witch” at Kidderpore, 369 tons. Of all the vessels built at Calcutta she was assessed by mariners as “perhaps the most beautiful clipper we have seen”. She often went to China, taking Opium and bringing back tea. She also carried mail between England, Calcutta and Canton. She was phenomenally fast and in 1836 she took only a fortnight to reach Singapore from Calcutta. [23] 1836 – Launched Lord Auckland at Kidderpore, 479 tons.
26 October 1836 – James Kyd dies and he is buried in the Scotch burial ground. [24]
December 1836 – Calcutta Docking Company buys the Kidderpore Yard which consisted of two docks and a house, from Mr J Kyd’s estate for 3,63,733 Company Rupees. The eastern end of the yard was then sold to the Bengal Government for use as a yard and workshop for their iron river steamers. [25]
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise by Kartar Lalvani, page 64
- ↑ Calcutta: Past and Present by Kathleen Blechynden, page 188
- ↑ Dictionary of Indian Biography, page 241
- ↑ India in the World Economy: From Antiquity to the Present by Roy Tirthankar, page 40
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 103
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 104
- ↑ Dictionary of Indian Biography, page 240
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 106
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 107
- ↑ Lloyd’s Register Collection LRF/PUN/Lon597
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page xiii
- ↑ Lloyd’s Register Collection LRF/PUN/Lon595
- ↑ Lloyd’s Register Collection LRF/PUN/Lon597
- ↑ The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise by Kartar Lalvani, page 65
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 110
- ↑ Dictionary of Indian Biography, page 240
- ↑ Lloyd’s Register Collection LRF/PUN/Lon597
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps, page 113
- ↑ Poor Relations: The Making of a Eurasian Community in British India, 1773-1833, By Christopher J. Hawes, page 186
- ↑ The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise by Kartar Lalvani, page 64
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 205
- ↑ Poor Relations: The Making of a Eurasian Community in British India, 1773-1833, By Christopher J. Hawes, page 186
- ↑ The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise by Kartar Lalvani, page 64
- ↑ Bengal Hurkaru, 27th October 1836
- ↑ A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India by John Phipps page 93