>From Sea and Inland Navigation http://www.indianscience.org/essays/seaandinlandnavigation-EdtedbyPankaj-edit.shtml --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India *** Parsi Ship Owners of Sail Days *** Before the steamship, there were a large number of difficulties in Indian shipping; still there were several Indian merchants, chiefly among the Parsis of Mumbai, who had ventured into the shipping business. According to W.H. Coates, the Parsis started shipping in 1735 and the period comprising the early part of the 18th and the middle of the 19th century practically constituted their era and the halcyon days of their business trading. Framjee Cowasjee Banajee (1802), a great name among the ship owners attained "Sullimany" and from that time onwards the Parsis began to take great interest in the Indo-Chinese trade in cotton and opium as profits were massive and big fortunes were made. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy (1783-1859) had a substantial fleet of cargo boats to carry the merchandise in which he had an extensive business with the Far East, Egypt and the United Kingdom. The China War in 1840 and the failure of the Bombay Back Bay Scheme struck at the heart of Parsi ventures as many well-known Parsi ship owners had a monetary stake in this scheme. This was a great blow to the Parsi ship owners. Besides, these Parsi merchants were noted for their shipping activities. There were some Hindu merchants also who were renowned in the field of shipping. According to K.B. Vaidya, Motichand Amichand of Cambay who later established himself in Mumbai, owned a fleet of about 50 ships, each with a capacity of 600 to 1,000 tonne. He traded with many countries such as Burma, Java, Sumatra and China in the east and Europe, Arabia, Persia, Zanzibar, Mozambique and Madagascar in the west. During those sailing days India came into direct contact with the New World whose courageous sailors were already making a name for themselves on the high seas. Due to the efforts of innovative American ship owners, there started a flourishing commerce between India and America in the eighth decade of the 18th century. American traders made their residence at Calcutta and started direct communication with Indian merchants. Ramdeolal Dey who was a Calcutta merchant appeared to have been very popular among the Americans, who presented him with a life-size sketch of President George Washington. [Snip]