The First Steamship To Sail From England To India, 1900 Photo
A 1900 glass slide photo of the first steamship (steamer) that sailed from England to India. The steamship is the “Enterprise,” the first to sail from England to India in 1825. Before the use of steamships, ships used sails and depended on the winds to sail the high seas. The use of steam to propel boats began to be used in the late 1700s.
An American engineer, Robert Fulton, was the pioneer of the steamboat, a boat propelled by steam, 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 planned 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 railways, steamers, and experimental road vehicles. 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-horsepower vessel that made the inaugural steam journey from England, rounding the Cape of Good Hope to India, arriving at Calcutta in late 1825. The route was further shortened after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. This greatly reduced the time and money to sail from England to India and the Far East.
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.
