First Steamer To Sail From England To India, 1900 Glass Photo
An old 1900 glass slide photo of the first steamer that sailed from England to India in 1825. The steamer is the “Enterprise” the first to sail from England to India. Before the use of steamers (steamships), ships used sails and depended on winds to travel on the high seas. The use of steam to propel boats had begun in the late 1700s.
An American engineer Robert Fulton was the pioneer of the steamboat in 1807. Fulton expressed that steamboats would be of huge commercial and military value to the East India Company. An initial scheme to introduce steamers to India was formulated in 1812. The steam technology would make river transportation in Bengal faster and easier. Freeing it from the uncertainties of wind, current, and tide.
In that nascent period, steam was on the verge of revolutionizing transportation by way of steamers and railways. In 1823, a steam navigation company was formed in Britain with the support of European funds from Calcutta. It financed the construction of the “Enterprise”, a 60-horse power vessel that made the inaugural steam journey from England, rounding the Cape of Good Hope to India, arriving at Calcutta in late 1825. The Suez Canal opened only in 1869, greatly reducing the journey from England to India.
Did you know – this attempt did not bring much financial success to the British investors. Nevertheless, the voyage certainly took a permanent position in the history of steam navigation. Being the first steamship that came to India from England.
Past posts – 1964 M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal Art Abstract (#17)., Aerial View of India’s Parliament, 1930 Postcard., Bandora or Bandra In British Era Bombay, 1882 Print., Tipu Sultan’s Ceded Territories, Old Map 1800.
