Bombay Dockyard
Encyclopedia
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n shipbuilding yard at Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
.
Shipbuilding was an established profession throughout the Indian coastline prior to the advent of the Europeans and it contributed significantly to maritime exploration throughout Indian maritime history
Indian maritime history
Indian maritime history begins during the 3rd millennium BCE when inhabitants of the Indus Valley initiated maritime trading contact with Mesopotamia. The Roman historian Strabo mentions an increase in Roman trade with India following the Roman annexation of Egypt. By the time of Augustus up to 120...
. Indian rulers weakened with the advent of the European powers during the middle ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Indian shipbuilders, however, continued to build ships capable of carrying 800 to 1000 tons. The shipbuilders built ships like HMS Hindostan
HMS Hindostan (1795)
HMS Hindostan was a 56-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was originally the East Indiaman Hindostan, and was bought by the Admiralty in 1795...
and HMS Ceylon, inducted into the Royal Navy. Other historical ships made by the Indian shipbuilders included HMS Asia
HMS Asia (1824)
HMS Asia was an 84-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 January 1824 at Bombay Dockyard.She was Codrington's flagship at the Battle of Navarino....
(commanded by Edward Codrington
Edward Codrington
Admiral Sir Edward Codrington GCB RN was a British admiral, hero of the Battle of Trafalgar and the Battle of Navarino.-Early life and career:...
during the Battle of Navarino
Battle of Navarino
The naval Battle of Navarino was fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of Independence in Navarino Bay , on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. A combined Ottoman and Egyptian armada was destroyed by a combined British, French and Russian naval force...
in 1827), HMS Cornwallis
HMS Cornwallis (1813)
HMS Cornwallis was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 May 1813 at Bombay. She was built of teak. The capture of Java by USS Constitution delayed the completion of Cornwallis as Java had been bringing her copper sheathing from England.On 27 April 1815, Cornwallis...
(on board which the Treaty of Nanking
Treaty of Nanking
The Treaty of Nanking was signed on 29 August 1842 to mark the end of the First Opium War between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Qing Dynasty of China...
was signed in 1842), and HMS Minden
HMS Minden
HMS Minden was a Royal Navy 74-gun Ganges-class third-rate ship of the line, launched on 19 June 1810. She was named after the German town Minden and the Battle of Minden of 1759, a decisive victory of British and Prussian forces over France in the Seven Years' War...
(on which The Star Spangled Banner was composed by Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet, from Georgetown, who wrote the lyrics to the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".-Life:...
).
Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia
Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia was a Parsi from Surat, India and was a member of the Wadia family of shipwrights and naval architects.Known for his high standards of workmanship, Lovji Wadia secured contracts with the British East India Company to build ships and docks in Bombay in 1736...
and the Wadia
Wadia family
The Wadia family is a Parsi family originally based in Surat.Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia began the Wadia shipbuilding dynasty in 1736, when he obtained a contract from the British East India Company for building docks and ships in Bombay...
family in particular:
A contemporary British traveller, Abraham Parsons, wrote in 1775: