PORT CITY OF BOMBAY | BOMBAY MARINES

Trace the rise and development of the port city of Bombay.

Account for the rise and development of the port city of Bombay.

Trace the development of the port city of Bombay in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

During the early years of the advent of the British in the East, the Indian seas were infested by corsairs and privateers of numerous belligerent nations as well as those of India. It was customary for the maritime nations involved in sea borne trade to take the precaution of arming their merchant ships against depredations at sea. The British East India Company commissioned armed trading vessels, capable of fighting at sea, in addition to being carriers of merchandise. The earliest such vessels to arrive at Surat on September 15, 1612, consisted of the Dragon and Hose Ander, the squadron being under the command of Captain Thomas Best. Soon after the arrival of Captain Best’s ships in India, they faced incessant attacks from Portuguese ships. The East India Company realized that the opposition of the belligerents in India was stubborn and that the simple precaution of arming their merchant men, manned by sailor-cum-traders on board, would not meet the situation adequately. They also appreciated the fact that when their armed merchant ships were away from the Indian shores on their mission of delivering goods in England, the port settlements were without seaward defense. These reasons led to the formation of the Indian Marine in 1613. The practice of using the East India Company’s Marine, consisting of armed merchant men, for shipping, however continued. 1613 should be noted as the historic year marking the beginning of the Navy in India. It should be of interest to mention that the first regular regiment of the British army in India was raised only in 1660, 47 years after the establishment of the navy in India.

A humble beginning was made in 1613 when the nucleus of a naval force consisting of grabs and gallivants was commissioned by the company. The service which came to be popularly known as the ‘grab service’, attracted enough British officers from the armed merchant vessels. These ships were manned by Hindu fishermen of the Konkan coast who were the first Indians to be employed as sailors by the company. The initial role of the Indian Marine was equally modest: it was to protect the Company’s shipping in the Gulf of Cambay, in the navigable estuary of the Tapi discharging at Surat, and in the river approaches of the Narmada at Broach. Soon after its formation, the Indian Marine was called upon to act in consort with Downtowns British Squadron against the Portuguese attacks. In these actions the Marine acquitted itself creditably. By 1615 the services of the Indian Marine were considered indispensable; the marine was reinforced attaining a total strength of ten grabs and gallivants.

In 1622, the Indian Marine was pressed into service to mount an expedition on Ormuz in the Persian Gulf in the possession of the Portuguese. The naval expedition, consisting of the ‘London, Jonas, Whale, Dolphin, lion’ and four pinnacles, set sail on December 23, 1621 and arrived off Ormuz on 19^th January 1622. The squadron acting in consort with the Persian army, stormed Ormuz. After protracted fighting with the Portuguese, Ormuz, which controlled the trade routes between the Persian Gulf and India, fell into British hands. In this operation the officers and men of the Marine earned well-deserved praise for their gallant action to devotion and duty. The morale of the Marine was very high.

The Marine steadily expanded. In 1635, four indigenously built pinnacles were added to the squadron. Its administration was improved, and it became a disciplined service. The Commander of the Marine was vested with disciplinary powers and was legally empowered to request for a court martial. The first court to assemble in India was the one to be held on board ‘Charles’ at Surat to try on Gregory Lillington who was accused of murder.

On the rise of the Maratha naval power in 1664, the Marine was constantly engaged in fighting Shivaji’s fleet. Paradoxically their first engagement was against the Maratha land forces. When on 5 January 1664, Shivaji made surprise attack on Surat, the grabs and gallivants of the Marine took their stations on the river Tapti and opened up at the horsemen attacking the factory. They put up such a barrage that the factory was saved.

With Shivaji’s fleet active on the Konkan coast and the Malabar corsairs still in operation on the West Coast, it became increasingly necessary for the Indian Marine to be reinforced to cope with the escorting of convoys in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. In 1669, orders were placed for the construction of two pinnaces and two brigantines at the Bombay dockyard.

The operations of the Siddi in Bombay area and the increasing activity of the Marathas around Bombay drew much of the attention of the Indian Marine to this region in 1679. In the same year, the financial position of the Company having deteriorated owning to excessive expenses in maintaining the armed forces, the Marine was retrenched considerably. This was a retrograde step from the point of view of the British as this was the crucial time when the Maratha fleet was in the ascendant and Shivaji had occupied Khanderi. A few engagements ensured between the Marine and the Maratha fleet off Khanderi, in most of which Shivaji’s forces emerged victorious.

While the Indian marine was grappling with Shivaji’s fleet, a small group of military officers under the misguided leadership of Captain Richard Keigwin, commander of the Bombay garrison, revolted in 1683 against the Surat administration. The rebellion was gathering momentum and would have resulted in an ugly mutiny but for the timely intervention of Sir Thomas Grantham, acting under authority from the King of England. The Marine was in no way involved in this episode, except that some of the ships lying in Bombay harbor were seized by Keigwin.

With the increasing facilities at Bombay and the advantage of an excellent sheltered harbor there, Surat was losing its importance and in 1668, the seat of the British colonial government was transferred to Bombay. With this change, the Indian Marine came to be based at Bombay.

With the transfer of the base of the Indian Marine to Bombay in 1686, the force was redesignated the Bombay Marine. It continued its operation of the West Coast, convoying the British shipping; in the process it had a prolonged struggle with the Maratha navy. A little over a decade after being commissioned as the Bombay Marine, the force had to face stiff opposition at sea against Kanhoji’s fleet. The main function of the Bombay Marine during its existence was to protect Bombay from the naval threat by the Siddis and the Marathas. The Bombay Marine was, therefore, manned even at the peril of withdrawing seamen from the trading ships of the company.

For nearly fifty years the struggle with the Maratha fleet continued. There is no doubt that without the backing of the Royal Navy’s heavy ships, the Bombay Marine could not have wiped the Maratha fleet off the West Coast.

By 1716, the Bombay Marine had come to be of great use to the East India Company. The fleet was by then sizable. It had a 32-gun ship, four grab ships, each mounting 20-28 guns and twenty grabs and gallivants with guns ranging from 5-12 each. The whole was under the command of Commodore Mathews, who was designated by the Commander-in-chief of the Bombay Marine.

In 1722, it undertook operations against the Maratha Naval Power in collaboration with the Portuguese. The Europeans suffered heavy losses. The British suffered losses in ships not only in action but also due to a calamity of nature, in which it got destroyed many of its grabs. The Marine had good number of ships, grabs and was officered with good number of officers with almost 2000 men with which it was defending the trade interest of the company at sea from Persian Gulf to China. In the war with European powers it almost acted as a naval power of the company in connection with the Royal Squadron.

In 1742, the strength of the marine was reduced considerably on ground of economy despite the mounting threat at sea and there were only two principal ships – ‘the Restoration’ and the ‘Neptune’s Prize’. There was corresponding reduction in officers and men. The rank of the admiral was abolished. The Portuguese sailors were employed as Topasses.

In 1742, the promotion of officers was regulated by seniority and not by favoritism. The reduction in the strength of the marine resulted in exposing the fleet of the merchantmen to dangers at sea. As a result of which there was immediate downward trend in the volume of trade as a risk of running merchantmen with inadequate or no escort was not acceptable to the traders. The British realized the repercussions of the retrenchment of the Marine and were quick to restore some of the cuts earlier imposed. The only problem was the recruitment of crew, because men from Britain did not relish long service in the east and they mutinied in March 1748 on board of a marine ship Bombay. They had become homesick since they were away from their homes for quite a long period of time. since the whole crew could not be punished, their ring traders were tried by court martial.

When the British found that with the prolonged struggle with the Maratha Navy, they could not subjugate it, the improved their administration of the Bombay Marine and imposed strict discipline in the ranks of the service to enhance the moral of the Marine. By 1751, the East India Company was spending 50000 pounds annually for the maintenance of the Marine, but even then, they could not defeat the Maratha Naval Power. They realized that it could be defeated only by destroying the impregnable Naval bases at Colaba, Swarnadurg and Vijaydurg, and supporting smaller fortresses in the region. In order to do so they launched their first attack on the fort of Colaba which was one of the highly fortified bases of Kanoji Angre. But the British could not capture int in the life of Kanoji Angre and succeeded only in 1840.

In 1755, the British in collaboration with the Peshwas could capture Swarnadurg and Vijaydurg. When the Bombay Marine was occupied on the West Coast, the French naval forces were active on the East Coast. The Bombay Marine had gained valuable experience in the combat operations against the Marathas and were shaping into a well-knit naval organization. It had developed itself into a disciplined service and reached a stature of a small navy.

Two years before the outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession, the apparent fall in hostilities led the British to reduce imprudently the Bombay Marine to a very small size, the ‘Restoration’ and ‘Neptune’s prize’ were the only two major ships apart from a few grabs and gallivants. They realized their gave error early when they found that the ever-increasing merchant fleet was inadequately protected. Consequent to the threat of war with France, the Bombay Marine was enlarged at the eleventh hour, and the expanded force now consisted of three 28 gun ships, one 20 guns ship and about 14 grabs and gallivants.

During the long series of Anglo-French wars, the ships of the Bombay Marine took an active part in the operations at sea, side by side with the Royal Navy Ships ‘Revenge’ and the ‘Protector’ participated under Pocock’s fleet int eh struggle against the French naval forces. The natural outcome of the participation of the Bombay Marine in these wars was the steady progress of the service.

When Commodore James assumed the office of the commander-in-chief of the Bombay Marine in 1751, the composition of his flotilla was as follows: ‘Protector (Flagship) – 44 guns capital cruiser’, ‘Bombay’ – 32 guns ‘frigate’, ‘Guardian’- 28 gun frigate, ‘Revenge’ – 28 gun frigate, ‘Drake’ – 14 gun grab, ‘Prince Augustus’ – 14 gun grab, ‘Resource’ – 14 gun grab, ‘Success’ – 14 gun grab, ‘Defense’ – 14 gun Ketch, ‘Swallow’ – 14 gun Ketch, ‘Triumph’, ‘Viper’ – Bomb Ketch and over a dozen gallivants.

These ships were officered only by Europeans, but the complement of the crew was mixed and contained in some ships up to three fourths of locally recruited sailors. Thus, the Marine was getting into a well-organized service primarily for defending the company’s trade interests at sea. So long as there was peace with European powers it undertook the whole burden of defense from the Persian Gulf to China. When war with European powers occurred, it dealt with the lesser navies of the country powers either singly or in conjunction with the Royal Squadron.

A series of improvements in the service were introduced in 1761. Till that year the personnel int eh Marine Service were free to wear any kind of clothing, but now a regular uniform was prescribed which reform was conducive to discipline.

In 1756, the Naval expedition of the Bombay Marine successfully eliminated the Malvan Pirates who were operating from a strong fort of Malwan in Kolhapur district and had become a menace to merchant vessels. The services of the Bombay Marine were also utilized in the consolidation of British power in India.

In 1772, with the help of Bombay Marine, the British annexed several places of strategic and commercial importance in India. For e.g., Broach, Islands of Salsette, Elephanta, Karanja, Port of Bassein. Thus, Bombay Marine was capable of giving support in local operations to the Royal Navy in Indian waters.

The Bombay Marine, from its humble beginnings, gradually grew into a disciplined service and reached the stature of a small navy, although its designation remained the same. No doubt, the presence of their ‘big brother’, the ‘Royal Navy’ overshadowed the activities of the Bombay Marine and stole the thunder of the Marine’s glory to a great extent. As admiral Sir H. W. Richmond observes, ‘The fact that no spectacular battles were fought at sea by that force must not blind our eyes to the importance of the work of this detached flotilla; for though in normal times when no European naval forces were in the eastern seas, it was a navy in itself, with its own capital ships and lesser classes, in this was it was strategically a flotilla’.

The Bombay Marine was called upon to undertake a sea borne assault on Hyder Ali’s ports on the Malabar Coast, which ended in a complete success. The Marine was utilized int eh capture of Trincomalee from the Dutch, in annexing Perim in 1799 and during the Napoleanic Wars, in the sea borne assault on Java and Sumatra. In these operations the Bombay Marine established supreme devotion to duty and earned commendations for their action.

In 1798, the Marine regulations underwent thorough revision. Till then the officers had been allowed to take part in trading ventures. This undesirable practice in a disciplined service was put to an end and the pay and pensions of the officers were revised to compensate for the loss in income. A Marine Board was constituted which comprised a Superintendent (Civil Servant), a Master Attendant (Senior most Marine officer) and the Commodore at Bombay. A directive was issued to the Marine which stipulated the following board duties required of it, defense of shipping, suppression of piracy, convoying of merchantmen, carrying of troops, execution of marine survey in Eastern waters, piloting in Bombay harbor and other general duties of men-of-war.

The Marine’s contribution towards the charting of the oceans and the sea approaches to harbors. Despite its preoccupation with operational duties, it found it possible to initiate a surveying expedition as early as 1772, not only for the survey of Indian ports but also for some of the ports outside India. Their survey was headed by Lieutenant Robinson and a team of officers consist of Lt. Porter and Midshipmen Blair and Mascall. The team set out to make a coastal survey of ‘Mekran, scind, Katiawar’, a portion of Persia and some of the coastal areas, though their instruments were not of any high standard. These surveys were of immense value to the navigators of that period. From such humble beginnings in 1772, the Marine Survey of India has progressed in the two centuries since. It is still conducted by the Indian Navy through a separate branch of the Service under the chief Hydrographer.

Suppression of piracy – The Bombay Marine was engaged throughout its career in tracking and destroying corsairs, not only in the Indian seas but beyond in the Persian Gulf. The Marine dogged the Joasmi pirates and finally annihilated them by 1830.

The last of the operations undertaken by the Bombay Marine before it was redesignated, was that of the Burma Campaign. In 1824, war broke out between the British government in India and the King of Burma; in the conflict the Bombay Marine was inextricably involved in the close support of the land battle. A squadron of the Bombay Marine sailed up the river Bassein. Throughout the prolonged operations this squadron cooperated with the British army in the capture of Tenasserim, Arakan, Cheduba, and Ramree. Only when the Burmese king sued for peace in 1826 did the units of the Bombay Marine return to their normal operations in India.

During the course of hostilities with Burma a program of ship building was initiated which however came to fruition only at the end of that war. Four ships were launched in succession from 1824 – 1826. A few more of lesser class of ships were added by 1828 and the Bombay Marines strength in that year stood as follows:

Hastings – 32 guns

Elphinstone, Amerst, Clive, Coote – 18 guns

Ternate, Benares, Aurora, Nautilus, Antelope – 14 guns

Thetis – 10 guns

Palinururs – 8 guns

Discovery – 6 guns (survey vessel)

Vigilant, Zephyr – 6 guns

And eight small crafts.

From 1827 to 1830, the service witnessed some desirable changes in its organization. By 1827, representations were received in London for improving the conditions of service, pay and pension and the status of the Bombay Marine. The first step taken that year to ameliorate the conditions in force was to confer on the officers of the Bombay Marine a status equivalent to that of the officers int eh Royal Navy of corresponding rank, with the provision that the Royal Navy officers would have precedence over the Marine officers. The other prudent measure introduced was that of command and control; neither service was vested with any powers of command over the other, unless agreed to between the respective government. So far, the units of the Bombay Marine had been only ‘Red Ensign’ Ships. On June 12, 1827, the King of England was pleased to grant the ships of the Marine the privilege of wearing the Union Jack and the pennant of St. George’s Cross. In the same year it was also decided to appoint a service officer, Captain Charles Malcolm, R. N. as superintendent of the Bombay Marine, an appointment hither to held by a civil servant.

Another extraordinary change took place in 1829, in regard to the discipline of the Bombay Marine. Though there was a system of instituting a Court of Inquiry, the naval court could not pronounce judgement and mete out any punishments which were the prerogatives of the government. To improve upon this system, martial law, already applicable to the British Army in India, was introduced into the Bombay Marine. To overcome the legal implications, a curious formula was devised by giving the naval officers army commissions, in addition to the naval commissions held by them and by naming the service ‘Marine Corps’.

The curious name ‘Marine Corps’ was to last only a year, for in 1830 in acknowledgement of its remarkable services at sea for over two centuries, the force was called the Indian Navy.