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W. David Ashley

Foundation Db2 and Python

Access Db2 with Module-Based API Examples Using
Python
1st ed.
W. David Ashley
Austin, TX, USA

ISBN 978-1-4842-6941-1 e-ISBN 978-1-4842-6942-8

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-6942-8

© W. David Ashley 2021

Apress Standard

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks,

service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the
absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the
relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general
use.

The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the
advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate
at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Apress imprint is published by the registered company APress

Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY
10004, U.S.A.
This book is dedicated to teachers everywhere, but especially all those
who had me as a student.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1:​Introduction to Db2
What Is a Relational Database?​
The Relational Model
Domains
Keys and Indexes
Relationships
Transactions
Stored Procedures
Constraints
Normalization
SQL
Data Definition Language (DDL)
Data Query Language (DQL)
Data Control Language (DCL)
Data Manipulation Language (DML)
The ibm_​db Project
Summary
Chapter 2:​Installing Db2
My Development Environment
Installation Prerequisites
Planning the Db2 Install
Installing Db2
Db2 Post-install Tasks
Installing the Db2 Sample Database
Summary
Chapter 3:​Db2 Management
Db2 Instances
db2ilist
Instance Environment Commands
Creating an Instance
Arranging a Communication Port and Host for an Instance
Updating an Instance
Upgrading an Instance
Dropping an Instance
Using Other Commands with an Instance
Databases
Db2 Catalog Views
Locking Event Monitor
Tablespace Information
Storage Group Control Files
Global Configuration File
History Files
Logging Files
Automated Storage Containers
Creating a Database
Listing Databases
Activating a Database
Deactivating a Database
Connecting to a Database
Dropping a Database
Tables
 Table Types
Built-in Data Types
Creating a Table
Alter a Table
Other Table SQL Statements
Dropping a Table
Summary
Chapter 4:​Database Physical Design
Phase 1:​Data Gathering and Normalization
Data Gathering
Data Normalization
Business Rules
Phase 2:​Physical Design of the Database
Backups
Summary
Chapter 5:​Db2 Utilities
Backup Command
What Is a Backup?​
Backup Verification
Advanced Backup Options
Backup Syntax
Export Command
Command syntax
Usage Notes
Import Command
Command Syntax
 Load Command
Command Syntax
Restore Command
Command Syntax
Summary
Chapter 6:​Business Rules and Constraints
NOT NULL Attribute
Primary Key
Indexes
Foreign Keys
CHECK and Unique Constraints
DEFAULT Constraint
Triggers
Summary
Chapter 7:​Writing Good SQL for Db2
Relational Theory
Reduce Passes Through Data
Using Indexes to Increase Performance
Sorting and Grouping
Programs Containing SQL
Use Db2 Utilities Where Possible
Db2 Functions
Multiple Ways to Code SQL
Summary
Chapter 8:​Python and ibm_​db
Your First Python ibm_​db Program
 Using Parameter Markers
More on Parameter Markers
Producing Multiple Reports with Parameter Markers
Using Parameter Markers Without Binding Variables
Joining Tables
Inserts, Updates, and Deletes
Some Other ibm_​db APIs
Creating Database Objects
Obtaining Attributes of an Existing Table
Obtaining Attributes of a Result Set
ibm_​db_​dbi and Python
Where Is the ibm_​db Module Going?​
The ibm_​db_​dbi Module
The Django Database Interface
The SQLAlchemy Adapter
The Alembic Adapter
The Future
Summary
Appendix A:​Python ibm_​db API
ibm_​db APIs
ibm_​db.​active
ibm_​db.​autocommit
ibm_​db.​bind_​param
ibm_​db.​callproc
ibm_​db.​client_​info
ibm_​db.​close
ibm_​db.​column_​privileges
ibm_​db.​columns
ibm_​db.​commit
ibm_​db.​conn_​error
ibm_​db.​conn_​errormsg
ibm_​db.​connect
ibm_​db.​createdb
ibm_​db.​createdbNX
ibm_​db.​cursor_​type
ibm_​db.​dropdb
ibm_​db.​exec_​immediate
ibm_​db.​execute
ibm_​db.​execute_​many
ibm_​db.​fetch_​tuple
ibm_​db.​fetch_​assoc
ibm_​db.​fetch_​both
ibm_​db.​fetch_​row
ibm_​db.​field_​display_​size
ibm_​db.​field_​name
ibm_​db.​field_​num
ibm_​db.​field_​precision
ibm_​db.​field_​scale
ibm_​db.​field_​type
ibm_​db.​field_​width
ibm_​db.​foreign_​keys
ibm_​db.​free_​result
ibm_​db.​free_​stmt
ibm_​db.​get_​option
ibm_​db.​next_​result
ibm_​db.​num_​fields
ibm_​db.​num_​rows
ibm_​db.​pconnect
ibm_​db.​prepare
ibm_​db.​primary_​keys
ibm_​db.​procedure_​columns
ibm_​db.​procedures
ibm_​db.​recreatedb
ibm_​db.​result
ibm_​db.​rollback
bm_​db.​server_​info
ibm_​db.​set_​option
ibm_​db.​special_​columns
ibm_​db.​statistics
ibm_​db.​stmt_​error
ibm_​db.​stmt_​errormsg
ibm_​db.​table_​privileges
ibm_​db.​tables
Summary
Index
About the Author
W. David Ashley
is a technical writer for Skillsoft where
he specializes in open source,
particularly Linux. As a member of the
Linux Fedora documentation team, he
recently led the Libvirt project
documentation and wrote the Python
programs included with it. He has
developed in 20 different programming
languages during his 30 years as a
software developer and IT consultant,
including more than 18 years at IBM and
12 years with American Airlines.
About the Technical Reviewer
Sourav Bhattacharjee
is a senior technical member for Oracle
Cloud Infrastructure. As part of IBM
Watson Health Lab, he has developed
many scalable systems, published a few
research papers, and applied some
patents to USPTO. He has an ample
amount of hands-on experience in
Python, Java, machine learning, and
many database systems. He earned his
master’s degree from the Indian Institute
of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to APress Media, LLC, part of Springer
Nature 2021
W. D. Ashley, Foundation Db2 and Python
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-6942-8_1

1. Introduction to Db2
W. David Ashley1
(1) Austin, TX, USA

Welcome to this introduction to Db2. Since you are here, you are likely
looking for a place to get started with Db2. Our hope is that this book
will be that first step you are looking for. This book is meant to be an
introduction to the Db2 environment and to the Python interface. The
first half of the book will cover Db2 at a level that should be of interest
to both administrators and programmers. It will cover many aspects of
Db2 that you will make use of in either of the two roles. The last half of
the book will concentrate on using the Python programming language
to interface to Db2. While mainly oriented to programmers,
administrators will find it useful as well for some of their everyday
tasks.
Db2 has a long history and is the first relational database
implementation. It was first proposed by Edgar Frank “Ted” Codd in a
paper titled “A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks” in
1969 while working at the IBM’s San Jose Research Laboratory in
California. In the next four years, IBM researchers worked to create a
system based on the principles described in Codd’s paper (called
System R). During this time, it became obvious that a new language was
needed to interact with the new system. Codd wrote a new paper “A
Data Base Sublanguage Founded on Relational Calculus,” which became
the basis for the new language called DSL/Alpha. This quickly went
through some name changes but eventually ended up being called SQL,
short for Structured Query Language.
 Eventually there was an effort in the 1970s to port DSL/Alpha to the
370 mainframe environment. It was renamed to Database 2 in 1982.
The next year it was made available to the public with another name
change, DB2. This was a limited release but was highly regarded by the
customers that evaluated it. The customers actually pushed IBM to
deliver DB2 to a wider set of customers. IBM was somewhat reluctant
because they were trying to hold on to their IMS/DB market share. But
eventually the customers won out, and DB2 began to spread to other
platforms including OS/2, AIX/RS6000, and Windows.
Over the next two decades, the product went through a number of
name changes and several platform code bases. Recently with the
release of version 11.1, IBM rebranded the entire product line and
brought the code bases into a small number of code bases. The
following set of products are now the standard offerings:
Db2 (formerly DB2 LUW)
Db2 for z/OS (formerly DB2 for z/OS)
Db2 Hosted (formerly DB2 on Cloud)
Db2 on Cloud (formerly dashDB for Transactions)
Db2 Event Store (a new in-memory database for event-driven
transaction processing)
Db2 Warehouse on Cloud (formerly dashDB)
Db2 Warehouse (formerly dashDB Local)
IBM Integrated Analytics System (a new system platform that
combines analytic performance and functionality of the IBM
PureData System with IBM Netezza)
The code bases for today’s Db2 offerings share a common code base
that makes porting the code to another hardware/software platform a
relatively easy process. The SQL code base has been standardized so
that it is the same across all platforms, making moving to another
platform an easy task from a programming perspective.
There is also a current movement in programming applications with
embedded SQL. These types of applications are very hard to port from
one platform to another without major code modifications. Instead,
IBM is moving (where possible) to an API that can be called to process
SQL statements and make use of programming language variables for
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
sprang a serious leak, and the way in which this was stopped makes
most interesting reading to all lovers of ships. Her commander at
that time, Captain Martin Pring, wrote to the Company on the 12th
of November of the year mentioned that about a fortnight before the
Royal James had reached Swally—the port of Surat—“we had a great
leak broke upon us in the James, which in four hours increased six
foot water in hold, and after we had freed it and made the pumps
suck, it would rise thirteen inches in half-an-hour. It was a great
blessing of God that it fell out in such weather, by which means we
had the help of all the fleet, otherwise all our company had been
tired in a very short time. The 9th, we made many trials with a
bonnet stitched with oakum under the bulge of the ship, but it did
no good. The 11th, we basted our spritsail with oakum and let it
down before the stem of the ship and so brought it aft by degrees:
in which action it pleased God so to direct us that we brought the
sail right under the place where the oakum was presently sucked
into the leak: which stopped it in such sort that the ship made less
water the day following than she had done any day before from the
time of our departure out of England.”
The device here employed was well known to the old-fashioned
sailor, and designated “fothering.” Briefly the idea was as follows. In
order to stop the leak a sail was fastened at the four corners and
then let down under the ship’s bottom, a quantity of chopped rope-
yarns, oakum, cotton, wool—anything in the least serviceable for the
job—being also put in. If you were lucky you would find that after
the first few attempts the leak would have sucked up some of the
oakum or whatever was put into the sail, and so the water would
not pour in as badly. This device certainly saved Captain Cook during
one of his voyages after his ship had struck a rock and the sea
poured in so quickly that the pumps were unable to cope with it. In
the description given above by Captain Pring you will notice that he
used his spritsail for this purpose. This was a quadrilateral sail set at
the end of the bowsprit, but was abolished from East Indiamen and
other ships in the early part of the nineteenth century. At first, you
will observe, the bonnet—doubtless the bonnet of the mainsail—the
use of which we described on an earlier page, was tried and lowered
under the “bulge” (or, as we now say, the “bilge”) of the ship.
“Stitched with oakum” means that the little tufts of oakum were
lightly stitched to the canvas just to keep them in position until the
suction of the leak drew them up the hole away from the canvas.
When he says he “basted” the spritsail with oakum he means again
that the latter was sewn with light stitches. This spritsail was
lowered down at the bows till it got below the ship’s forefoot and
then brought gradually aft till the position of the leak was reached,
and then the oakum was sucked up with the happy result noted.
This all reads much simpler than it was in actuality: and you can
imagine that it was no easy matter getting this sail into its exact
position while the ship was plunging and rolling in a seaway.
Eventually the Royal James got over the bar at Swally, and a
consultation was then held aboard her by Captain Pring and a
number of other captains as to what had now best be done. One
opinion was to careen her so as to get at the leak and caulk it.
Another opinion was to “bring her aground for the speedy stopping
of her dangerous leak.” But these captains had before their minds
the recollection that the Trade’s Increase had been lost whilst being
careened, and another ship named the Hector likewise: so they
unanimously agreed that the best thing would be to put the Royal
James ashore, first taking out of her the merchandise. They were
more than a little nervous as to how this big ship would take the
ground, so “for a trial” they brought ashore the Francis, an
interloping vessel which they had captured. When it was seen that
the Francis seemed to take the ground all right and that she lay
there three tides without apparent injury “and never complained in
any part,” they put the Royal James ashore also. Unluckily this was
not with the same amount of success, “for she strained very much
about the midship and made her bends to droop: which caused us to
haul her off again so soon that we had not time to find the leak. Yet
(God be praised) since we came afloat her bends are much righted
and she hath remained very tight: God grant she may so long
continue.”
 When Sir Thomas Roe went out from England in the year 1615 to
Surat as English Ambassador to the Great Mogul, he was
accompanied by Edward Terry, his chaplain. The latter has left
behind an account of his voyage to India, and though we cannot do
much more than call attention thereto, we may in passing note that
this setting forth shows how much valuable time was wasted in
those days waiting for a fair wind. For these seventeenth-century
ships had neither the fine lines nor the superiority of rig which was
afterwards to make the East Indiamen famous throughout the world.
The Company’s seventeenth-century ships were clumsy as to their
proportions, they were built according to rule-of-thumb, the stern
was unnecessarily high, the bows unnecessarily low. Triangular
headsails had not yet been adopted, except by comparatively small
fore-and-aft-rigged craft, such as yachts and coasters. The mizen
was still of the lateen shape, but all the other sails were
quadrilateral, even to the spritsail, which was suspended at the
outer end of the bowsprit and below that spar. Above the latter on a
small mast was hoisted another small squaresail, and then at the
after end of the bowsprit (which was very long and practically a
mast) came the foremast, stepped as far forward as it could go.
With this unhandy rig, the bluff-bowed hulls with their clumsy
design and heavy tophamper could make little or no progress in a
head wind. They were all right for running before the wind, or with
the wind on the quarter: but not only could they not point close to
the wind, but even when they tried they made a terrible lot of
leeway. It was therefore hopeless to try and beat down the English
Channel. Most seamen are aware that the prevailing winds over the
British Isles are from the south-west, but that often between about
February and the end of June, more especially in the earlier part of
the year, one can expect north-east or easterly spells. The old East
Indiamen therefore availed themselves of this. For a fair wind down
Channel was a thing much to be desired, and a long time would be
spent in waiting for it. As these awkward ships had to work their
tides down the River Thames, then drop anchor for a tide, and take
the next ebb down, their progress till they got round the North
Foreland was anything but fast.
Of all this Edward Terry’s account gives ample illustration. He was
a cleric and no seaman, but he had the sense of observation and
recorded what he observed. It was on the 3rd of February 1615 that
the squadron, including the flagship Charles—a “New-built goodly
ship of a thousand Tuns (in which I sayled) ... fell down from
Graves-send into Tilbury Hope.” Here they remained until 8th
February, when they weighed anchor, and not till 12th February had
they weathered the North Foreland and brought up in the Downs,
where they remained for weeks waiting till a fair wind should oblige
them. On the 9th of March the longed-for north-easter came, when
they immediately got under way and two days later passed the
meridian of the Lizard during the night. With the wind in such a
quarter these Indiamen would bowl along just as fast as their ill-
designed hulls could be forced through the water, making a lot of
fuss and beating the waves instead of cutting through them as in the
case of the last of the East Indiamen which ever sailed.
By the 19th of May they had passed the Tropic of Capricorn and
Terry marvelled at the sight of whales, which were “of an exceeding
greatnesse” and “appear like unto great Rocks.” Sharks were seen,
and even in those days the inherent delight of the seaman for
capturing and killing his deadly enemy was very much in existence.
As these cruel fish swam about the Charles the sailors would cast
overboard “an iron hook ... fastened to a roap strong like it, bayted
with a piece of beefe of five pounds weight.”
 THE “SERINGAPATAM,” EAST INDIAMAN, 1,000 TONS.
Larger image

The squadron duly arrived in Swally Roads on the 18th of

September. Sir Thomas Roe performed his mission to the Great
Mogul, and eventually reached England again. So also Edward Terry,
after having been for some time in the East India Company’s service,
was made rector of Great Greenford, Middlesex, and in the year
1649 we find him one day in September preaching a “sermon of
thanksgiving” in the Church of St Andrew’s, Undershaft, before the
Committee of these East India Company merchants. The occasion
was the return of seven of the Company’s ships which had arrived
from the Orient together—“a great and an unexpected mercy” after
a “long, and tedious, and hazardous voyage.” Terry’s discourse is
typical of the pompous, obsequious period. We can almost see these
worthy East India merchants strolling into the church and taking
their places by no means unconscious of their self-importance, yet
not ashamed to do their duty and give thanks for the safe arrival of
ships and their rich cargoes. Many of them, if not all, had never
been out of England. Terry had been to India and back: he was
therefore no ordinary rector, and he rose to the occasion. He hurls
tags of Latin quotations at his hearers and then, after referring to
the great riches which they were obtaining from the East, reminds
these merchants that there are richer places to be found than both
the East Indies and the West, better ports than Surat or even
Bantam, and so went on to speak of the land where “nor rust, nor
moth, nor fire, nor time can consume,” where the pavement is gold
and the walls are of precious stones. And then, after this simple,
direct homily, the Committee came out from their pews and went
back to their daily pursuits.
If these seventeenth-century men were crude and had lost some
of the religious zeal of the pre-Reformation sailors, they still retained
as a relic of the Puritan influence a narrow but sincere personal
piety. And this comes out in the following prayer which was wont to
be used aboard the East Indiaman ships of the late seventeenth
century. It is called “A prayer for the Honourable English Company
trading to the East Indies, to be used on board their ships,” and
bears the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Bishop of London, who append their signatures to the statement
that “we do conceive that this prayer may be very proper to be used,
for the purpose express’d in the tittle of it.” It has none of the
beautiful English of the Middle Ages, for liturgical ability, like stained-
glass window painting, was at this time a lost art. But for its simple
sincerity, its suggestive deep realisation of the terrors of the sea, its
true pathos and its plain religious confidence, it is characteristic of
the period and the minds of the men who joined in this prayer:—
“O Almighty and most Merciful Lord God, Thou art the Soveraign
Protector of all that Trust in Thee, and the Author of all Spiritual and
Temporal Blessings. Let Thy Grace, we most humbly beseech thee,
be always Present with thy Servants the English Company Trading to
the East Indies. Compass them with thy Favour as with a shield.
Prosper them in all their Publick Undertakings, and make them
Successful in all their Affairs both by Sea and Land. Grant that they
may prove a common Blessing, by the Increase of Honour, Wealth
and Power ... by promoting the Holy Religion of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Be more especially at this time favourable to us, who are
separated from all the world, and have our sole dependance upon
thee here in the great waters. Thou shewest they wonders in the
Deep, by commanding the Winds and the Seas as thou pleasest, and
thou alone canst bring us into the Haven where we would be. To
they Power and Mercy therefore we humbly fly for Refuge and
Protection from all Dangers of this long and Perilous voyage. Guard
us continually with thy good Providence in every place. Preserve our
Relations and Friends whom we have left, and at length bring us
home to them again in safety and with the desired Success. Grant
that every one of us, being always mindful of thy Fatherly Goodness,
and Tender Compassion towards us, may glorifie thy Name by a
constant Profession of the Christian Faith, and by a Sober, Just and
Pious Conversation through the remaining part of our Lives. All this
we beg for the sake of our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom with thee
and the Blessed Spirit be ascrib’d all Honour, Praise and Dominion
both now and for evermore. Amen.”
 CHAPTER X

FREIGHTING THE EAST INDIAMEN

The joint stock arrangement, as distinct from the separate voyages,

which had been instituted in 1613 worked very well: and after the
Restoration the practice of buying and selling shares became
common, the system approximating to that of modern times. The
Company’s ships were continuing to bring back much wealth to the
shareholders, but again covetous desires had to be appeased. In the
year 1649 the Commissioners of the Navy constrained the East India
Company to lend them £4000. It was in the year 1654 that
Cromwell, by means of his treaty with the Portuguese, obtained the
right of English ships to trade with any Portuguese possessions in
the East Indies. Now this meant a very handsome additional benefit
to the East India Company’s ships. Cromwell was shrewd enough to
know what he was about, and accordingly in the following year got
his quid pro quo when he succeeded in borrowing £50,000 from the
Company, seeing that the latter had gained so much from national
successes; and a little later on in the same year obtained from the
same source another £10,000 to pay Blake’s seamen, whose wages
were in arrears. And this was not the last instance of the Company
being fleeced by the State.
In the year 1640 permission had been obtained from the native
authorities to build the first of the Company’s forts in India. This
became known as Fort St George (Madras), and in the year 1658 the
Madras settlement was raised to a presidency. In 1645 the Company
had begun to establish factories in Bengal, so the ports for the East
Indiamen were now becoming more numerous, and the area from
which the cargoes could be obtained was being widely extended.
The Portuguese, as we have seen, were now out of the running as
regards the East. And as for the repeated collisions which the
English had with the Dutch, the three Anglo-Dutch wars which had
been long foreseen, as they were destined long to last, had given
quite a new complexion to affairs in India, leaving the English East
India Company in a position stronger than ever. One of the
stipulations had been that the Dutch should indemnify the English
merchants and factors in India with regard to the massacre at
Amboyna, and the guilty parties therein concerned were to be
punished. In 1664 the French East India Company had been formed,
and ten years later the foundation of their settlement at Pondicherry
was laid.
In the year 1681 the Company had developed their fleet to such
an extent that they now owned about thirty-five ships, ranging in
size from 775 to 100 tons. In customs alone the Company were
paying £60,000 a year, and they were carrying out to India £60,000
or £70,000 worth of lead, tin, cloth and stuffs every year, bringing
back raw silk, pepper and other goods of the East. By the year 1683
so profitable were the annual results of the Company’s trading that a
£100 share would sell for £500. Before long the size of the ships just
mentioned was to increase to 900 and even to 1300 tons, such was
the demand for Indian products; and between the years 1682 and
1689 no fewer than sixteen East Indiamen varying in size from 900
to 1300 tons were constructed. All the East Indiamen were well
armed, for even in the year 1677, when the Company owned from
thirty to thirty-five ships of from 300 to 600 tons apiece, these
vessels each mounted from forty to seventy guns.
It will be recollected that Bantam had been the first headquarters
or chief factory whither the Company’s ships went for their trade.
This continued until 1638, when Surat had developed so much,
thanks to the concessions by the Great Mogul, that it replaced
Bantam in pre-eminence. The last-mentioned factory, together with
Fort St George in Madras, Hooghly in Bengal, and those
establishments in Persia were all made subservient to Surat. A far-
sighted person could have foreseen that all these scattered
strongholds of trade might not improbably develop eventually into
something very much more important politically. But it was Sir Josiah
Child, the principal manager of the Company’s affairs at home, who
was one of the first to project the forming of a territorial Empire in
India.
We had reason to mention just now a ship which we described as
being an interloper. The reader is well aware that in the first instance
the charter granted to the English East India Company by Queen
Elizabeth conveyed to them the exclusive privilege of trading to the
East. This charter was renewed in the years 1609, 1657, 1661 and
subsequently in other years. But such was the jealousy, such the
covetousness which were aroused by the Company’s successful
voyages that a number of interlopers, quite contrary to the terms of
the charter, fitted out expeditions of their own. These were evidently
successful, too, especially during the latter part of the reign of
Charles II., for the number of these private adventurers increased
considerably. The result, of course, was that the Company became
exceedingly indignant and had to exert themselves to put an end to
the trouble. But this, again, opened up the whole of the question as
to whether the Company should continue to enjoy such a fine
monopoly. There was a good deal of resentment against India being
restricted to a favoured few. However the Government favoured the
Company, for it had been found more than useful to the country in
times of crisis, so again in the year 1693 it received its fresh charter.
But between the years 1694 and 1698 this Eastern trade
practically was thrown open. And then the State happened to require
a loan of £2,000,000. This was found by a newly formed company of
associated merchants who had been very vigorous in opposing the
East India Company’s privilege. And since this new company wanted
only eight per cent. (not a high rate for those days) for their loan,
they also received a charter. The result was that there were two
companies trading to India and each with its own charter. The title
of this fresh association was the New East India Company, and
presently a kind of third company arose as an offshoot from this
second one. All this competition had a most disastrous effect and
brought both the old and new companies almost to ruin. Each
company hated the other, while the public detested both most
heartily. There were only two possibilities open. Either both
companies must be wrecked or they must amalgamate. It was wisely
decided to choose the latter. They therefore adjusted their
differences, and in the year 1708 were amalgamated into one
corporation, calling themselves “The United Company of Merchants
of England Trading to the East Indies.” The capital was increased to
£3,200,000. They were the means of aiding the Government by
advancing to the latter £1,200,000 without interest, and the
Government in turn agreed to extend the Company’s charter till the
year 1726, with three years’ notice of termination. And it was
subsequently extended till 1766.
During the last decade of the seventeenth century when hostilities
existed between England and France the East India Company laid
before the House of Lords an account of the great losses which the
former had incurred at sea, owing to the lack of English cruisers.
Those were no easy times for the ships bound either to or from the
Orient, for, besides possible attacks from French men-of-war, the
English Channel and approaches thereto were alive with privateers,
to the great detriment of the Anglo-Indian trade. Some idea of the
size and strength of the East India Company’s ships about this time
may be gathered from the following list of craft which the French
captured from them during the year 1694 alone:—
Name of Ship Tonnage Men Guns
Princess of Denmark 670 133 40
Seymour 500 — —
Success 400 80 32
Defence 750 150 50
Resolution 650 130 40

In later years one of the most valuable commodities which India

was to produce and send to England in these ships was tea. The first
importation by us was in the year 1667. Only a small amount,
consisting of 100 lb., was sent, but it was not long before this was
greatly exceeded. However, the early years of the eighteenth century
were marked by a disappointment in the trade which the Company
was doing. Although the latter’s ships were now trading also with
China, yet the value of our exports to the East were less than
£160,000 a year: and this, let it be remembered, included also
military stores for the Company’s settlements in the East and at St
Helena. The reason for this slump is easily explained. Every authority
will admit that the finest tonic for trade is competition. Monopoly is
death to enterprise, while a spirit of rivalry encourages progress. The
East India Company was suffering from the decaying, deadening
influence of its exclusive privilege and this went on till about the
middle of the eighteenth century. The first half of that century is
decadent, not merely with regard to India, but most things English.
Art was at its lowest, manners were never less sincere, morals were
corrupt, politics were little better. It almost seems as if England had
lost the fair wind which had carried her through the Tudor times and
then become gradually becalmed in the Stuart era till she rolled
about with no progress, making only stern-way. And then, after a
period of profitless existence, she seems to have picked up another
breeze which has sent her along through the successful industrial
age, the great wars, the Victorian and Edwardian years of prosperity
up till to-day. The end of the eighteenth century is a period quite
different from its first portion. And if it was so generally it could
scarcely be different in regard to a corporation directed and
managed by men of this period.
Just for a moment let us go back to that time when the East India
Company decided it were best to close the Deptford yard and obtain
their ships ready built. Now as time went on the hiring of ships to
the Company for this Eastern trade led to great abuses. Officially the
Company did no longer build their ships. But the Company’s
directors used to build them privately and then hire them out to the
Company, to the great personal gain of the directors. There were
few other ships big enough or strong enough. The directors would
know how many to build and to what extent prices could be
demanded from the Company: and altogether they feathered their
nests very nicely. This went on till the year 1708, when the old and
new East India companies had become amalgamated. After this year
the directors were prohibited by Act of Parliament from supplying
ships to the Company.
Instead of the former corrupt arrangement, ships for the East
India Company were to be hired in the future by open tender from
the commander and two owners. But here again was a difficulty.
Inasmuch as a special type of stalwart ship was required for this
trade, the supply was small and in the hands of a ring called the
Marine Interest. Therefore the Company was just about as badly off
as before. And throughout the eighteenth century there was one
continued contest between the East India Company and the
shipbuilders, who did their level best to fleece the former as it had
been fleeced by the State at different dates.

A BARQUE FREE-TRADER IN THE LONDON DOCKS.

Larger image
 For the East India Company did not literally own their ships, even
though they were called East Indiamen, flew the Company’s flag and
made their regular voyages. A shipping company to-day buys and
owns its own ships, but the East India Company had quite a
different method. Up to the time when the old and new companies
were amalgamated, in the year 1708, the owners and the Company
were unfettered by any legislative provision. They could settle and
adjust the points between themselves, and since the directors were
part owners you may be sure there was little cause for dispute! But
the by-law which came into force after the union of the two
companies, prohibiting directors from being concerned in hiring ships
to the Company, brought about a rather curious order of things.
They were hired for so many voyages at so much a ton, the
Company binding itself to freight a stipulated number of tons. These,
by the way, were generally less than the official measurement. About
the year 1700 the largest East Indiamen were under 500 tons,
though their burthen was one-third greater.
Under the new arrangement the ships were to be taken up by the
Company and their respective voyages agreed to in a Court of
Directors by ballot. No tenders were to be accepted except such as
had been made by the commander and two owners of each ship.
Furthermore, the sale of the post as captain or any other office was
forbidden in the Company’s ships. This latter was an important
modification. The actual owner of the ship from whom the vessel
was hired was termed the ship’s husband, and the practice had been
for him to sell the command of the ship to a captain whom he would
select. The expression in this case was to “sell the ship,” and a
captain would sometimes pay as much as £8000 or £10,000 for the
privilege of the appointment, because this position afforded him
unique opportunities of making some handsome profits by the goods
he brought home from the East in his ship as his own perquisites. To
such an extent did this practice become established that the sale of
a command became transferable property of the captain who had
bought it. Whenever he died or resigned his heirs or he himself had
the undoubted right to dispose of the billet to the highest bidder.
 The reason for the abolition of this custom was that it was largely
responsible for the high rates of freight which the Company was
forced to pay. A compensation was paid to the captains in the
service at the time of the abolition, but henceforth money could not
buy the command of a ship for a man that was not adequately
qualified for the post. Previously commands of ships had been held
in some cases by men who possessed no right to such responsible
tasks. Captain Eastwick, a master mariner of the eighteenth century,
who has happily left behind his autobiography, relates among a
number of interesting personal reminiscences that he married the
niece of a man who was sole owner of one East Indiaman and part
owner of two more of these ships. It was therefore suggested that
Eastwick should enter the Honourable Company’s service, and a
command was promised as soon as he was qualified. “This was a
very tempting offer,” writes the old sailor, “as there was no service
equal to it, or more difficult to get into, requiring great interest.”
“It was the practice of the Company in those days to charter ships
from their owners; these vessels were especially built for the service,
and were generally run for about four voyages, when they were held
to be worn out, and their places taken by others built for the
purpose. About thirty ships were required for the Company every
year,” he states, and then goes on to say that “there was never any
written engagement on the part of either the owners or the
Company as to the continuance of these charters, but the custom of
contract was so well established that both parties mutually relied
upon it, and considered themselves bound by ties of honour to
observe their implied customary engagements. When, therefore, a
ship’s turn arrived to be employed, the owner, as a matter of form,
submitted a tender in writing to be engaged, and proposed a
particular person as captain, and this tender and proposal were
always accepted. Thus the owners of these East Indiamen had
everything in their own hands, and the favour of one of them was a
fine thing to obtain, leading to appointments of great emolument.”
Some idea of the value of the East Indiaman captain’s
appointment may be gathered from what Eastwick remarks under
this head. “The captain of an East Indiaman, in addition to his pay
and allowances, had the right of free outward freight to the extent
of fifty tons, being only debarred from exporting certain articles,
such as woollens, metals, and warlike stores. On the homeward
voyage he was allotted twenty tons of free freight, each of thirty-two
feet; but this tonnage was bound to consist of certain scheduled
goods, and duties were payable thereon to the Company. As the rate
of freight in those days was about £25 a ton, this privilege was a
very valuable one. Of course much depended upon the skill and
good management of the individual commander, the risk of the
market, his knowledge of its requirements, and his own connections
and interest to procure him a good profit. In addition to the free
tonnage, he further enjoyed certain advantages in the carrying of
passengers, for although the allowance of passage money outward
and homeward was arbitrarily fixed by the Company, there being a
certain number of passengers assigned to each vessel, and their
fares duly determined, ranging from £95 for a subaltern and
assistant-surgeon to £235 for a general officer, with from one and a
half to three and a half tons of free baggage, exclusive of bedding
and furniture for their cabins, yet it was possible for captains, by
giving up their own apartments and accommodation, to make very
considerable sums for themselves. In short, the gains to a prudent
commander averaged from £4000 to £5000 a voyage, sometimes
perhaps falling as low as £2000, but at others rising to £10,000 and
£12,000. The time occupied from the period of a ship commencing
receipt of her outward cargo to her being finally cleared of her
homeward one was generally from fourteen to eighteen months, and
three or four voyages assured any man a very handsome fortune.”
But though these commands were very expensive to purchase and
highly remunerative when obtained, yet like the professional man to-
day this high remuneration was preceded by years of bad pay.
Before a man could obtain the command of an East Indiaman he
must necessarily have made a voyage as fifth or sixth mate, then
another voyage as third or fourth mate, and finally a third voyage as
first or second mate. Now these junior officers in the Company’s
service were quite unable to live on their pay “and it required a
private capital of at least five hundred pounds to enable a man to
arrive at the position of second mate, which was the lowest station
wherein the pay and allowances afforded a maintenance.”
Whenever an Indiaman became worn out, or condemned, another
ship was hired to replace her, and was said to be “built upon the
bottom” of the first. The member or members of the Marine Interest
who had built the first ship claimed the right of building the second,
and so it went on. The result was that there arose what were known
as “hereditary bottoms.” This went on till the year 1796, when some
of the more public-spirited of the directors and shareholders of the
East India Company put their heads together and determined to
have this system entirely altered. It is indeed most extraordinary
that the principle of monopoly seemed to pervade every feature of
the Company’s transactions, from the broad, important principle of
exclusive trade with the East down to the building of ships and the
exclusive privileges of their commanders. In any other line of
commerce the rate of freight found its own level, but in the East
India Company there was but one bidder, and that also a monopoly.
As the voyage was long and difficult and full of dangers, it was
natural enough that good commanders should be desired. If an
owner had a good captain, the Company were only too pleased to
have him.
The passing of a by-law in the year 1773 prevented a ship from
being engaged for the Company’s service for more than four
voyages at a certain freight, this being calculated on an estimate of
the building and the cost of fitting out a vessel with provisions and
stores for a certain number of months. In the years 1780 and 1781
differences of opinion arose between the owners of the ships and
the Court of Directors of the East India Company as to the rate of
freight demanded. Owing to the hostilities with the Dutch, the rates
of insurance and fitting out were stated to have caused an additional
charge of £10, 14s. a ton. The contest between these two opposing
sets of monopolists was always amusing to an outsider. The
Company wanted the ships badly, for their very existence depended
on their ability to carry cargoes between England and India. On the
other hand the owners had built these ships especially for the
Company’s service. They represented a great outlay of capital, and
they were so big and efficient that there was practically no other
trade in which they could be profitably employed. So, after a certain
amount of mutual indignation had cooled off, and the usual haggling
had proceeded, both parties were wont to come to a compromise
and matters went on as before till the next dispute occurred.
Thus, for instance, in the year 1783 the Court of the East India
Company’s directors fixed the rate of freight at £32 per ton for a ship
of 750 tons. To this the owners replied that it was quite impossible
to provide the ships under £35 a ton. The Court then showed their
independence. They were resolved not to suffer the intolerable
humiliation of being dictated to by these owners, so the Company
advertised for tenders. Eventually twenty-eight ships were offered
the Company by various private owners in respect of this
advertisement. But after the Company’s inspecting officer had
carefully examined these vessels he had to report that they were
either foreign-built, or weak of structure, or else almost worn out: in
any case quite unfitted for the long voyage to India and back. This
placed the Company in rather a dilemma, and gave something of a
shock to their independent spirit. Meanwhile the owners who had
hitherto provided the Company with ships had taken alarm at thus
throwing open the tender for competition. They were in serious
danger of losing their own monopoly: so they began to climb down
and offered the Company the rate of £33 a ton. And inasmuch as the
latter required as much as 10,000 tons the two parties agreed on
this last-mentioned price, more especially as the ships were known
to be sound in every respect, having actually been built under the
direction of the Company’s officials.
 CHAPTER XI

EAST INDIAMEN AND THE ROYAL NAVY

The East India Company’s progress was anything but a straight, easy
path. We must never forget that if it made big profits—and when
examined these figures, taken on an average, are not so colossal as
they seem at first sight—the risks and responsibilities were very far
from insignificant. Quite apart from the difficulties out in India, and
the absence of the invention of telegraphy thus making it difficult to
keep a complete control over the factors and trade; quite apart, too,
from the pressure which was harassing the Company from all sides—
public opinion which grudged this monopoly: shipowners who
wanted to raise the cost of hire: and Parliament which kept
controlling the Company by legislation—there were two other
sources of worry which existed.
The first of these was the continued insults by the press-gangs,
and the consequent inconvenience to the East India Company and
the great danger to their ships and cargoes. The second worry was
the ever-present possibility during the long-drawn-out wars of losing
also ships and goods by attack from the enemy’s men-of-war. In
both respects the position was not easy of solution. On the one
hand, it was obvious that the Company’s trade was likely to be
crippled; but, on the other, the Government must come first in both
matters. The navy was in dire need of men. All that it had were not
enough. Men who had been convicted and sentenced for smuggling
—some of the finest sailors in the country—were shipped on board
to fight for the land that gave them birth. All sorts of rough
characters were rounded up ashore and sent afloat by the press-
gangs, but even then the warships needed more.
Now the crews of these eighteenth-century East Indiamen were
such skilled seamen, so hardened to the work of a full-rigged ship,
so accustomed to fighting pirates, privateers and even the enemy’s
men-of-war, that it was no wonder the Admiralty in their dilemma
overstepped the bounds and shipped them whenever they could be
got. A favourite custom was to lie in wait for the homeward-bound
East Indiamen, and when these fine ships had dropped anchor off
Portsmouth, in the Downs, or even on their way up the Thames,
they would be boarded and relieved of some of their crew: to such
an extent, sometimes, that the ship could not be properly worked. I
have carefully examined a large number of original manuscripts
which passed between the Admiralty and the East India Company of
the eighteenth century, and there runs through the period a
continuous vein of complaint from the latter to the former, but there
was very little remedy and the Company had to put up with the
nuisance.
On the 21st of December 1710, for instance, the Company’s
secretary, Thomas Woolley, sends a letter from the directors
complaining to the Admiralty of the press-gang actually invading
East India House, Leadenhall Street, one day during the same
month, “on a pretence of searching for seamen.” As a matter of fact
the press-gang had come to carry off the most capable of the
Company’s crews, who happened to be present at that time. Very
strongly the Company wrote complaints to the Admiralty that the
press-gangs would board the East Indiamen lying off Spithead
(bound for London) and take out all the able-bodied seamen they
could lay their hands on. These men had to go whether they liked it
or not, and the Company’s officers were indignant but powerless.
But it added injury to insult that the press-gangs replaced the picked
men taken out by “such as have been either unskilful in their duty or
careless and refractory in the performance of it,” as one of the
letters remarks. The Company therefore begged that no man might
be taken out until the East Indiamen should arrive at their moorings,
or at least till they came into the London river: for, they pointed out,
the ships had very valuable cargoes on board, and this seizing of
men exposed them to very great danger, it being often impossible to
replace the men taken out.
 THE PRESS GANG AT WORK.

(By courtesy of Messrs. T. H. Parker Brothers)

When the Company’s ships at length reached the Thames, the
directors would often send down hoys to meet them and to bring the
goods up to London, where they could be placed on view in the
warehouses to show the buyers before the sale opened. But the
naval authorities had given the crews of these hoys such a fright
that they refused to go even down towards the mouth of the river,
fearing that the press-warrants, which were out, would be put into
execution and they themselves would be sent to serve in the
warships. These hoys were fore-and-aft-rigged vessels of about 40
or 50 tons, the crew consisting of a skipper and two men. Such craft
were sloops—that is to say, practically cutters, the only difference
being purely technical and legal—and were built for the purpose of
carrying passengers and goods from one place to another along the
coast or up estuaries, where ordinary lighters were not able to be
taken with convenience or safety. The Margate hoy, for instance, was
very well known to Londoners at this time.
But the need for naval seamen was so urgent, consequent on the
wars, that the Admiralty had to go to even further extremities. They
actually sent to sea a press smack with a naval officer on board, and
this craft would cruise up and down the English Channel. On one
occasion Captain Mawson of the Company’s ship Cardonell,
homeward bound, was followed all the way from Portsmouth to the
Downs by such a smack. And when the bigger ship brought up off
Deal, Lieutenant Hutchinson, R.N., came aboard and used his best
endeavours to take away every one of the Cardonell’s crew, with the
exception only of the ship’s officers. The skipper of the
merchantman naturally resented this very strongly, but offered to let
Mr Hutchinson have most of his men provided the naval officer
would supply him with others to take their place so that the ship
might be safely brought to her moorings in the Thames. But it was
no good. Hutchinson absolutely declined to make a compromise, and
according to Mawson’s account behaved very rudely and, not
content with the able seamen, carried off also the Cardonell’s second
mate.
The only way in which this annoyance and danger could be
overcome was for the Admiralty to issue what were known as
“protections.” The holder of a protection was thus made immune
from arrest by a press-gang. It was a document which gave the
name of the man, his age, stature, stated whether he wore a wig or
his own hair, and other particulars of identification. No man with this
authorisation could be forced into his Majesty’s service, but it was
valid only for three months or the period written thereon. There is
preserved an original protection certificate in the archives of the
Public Record Office, and it is a quaint document which must have
been very keenly appreciated by its eighteenth-century owner. On
the other hand, when the East India Company had lost some of their
seamen by desertion, they would petition the Admiralty to allow
naval men to be lent.
 Every student of history is aware of the unfortunate friction which
existed at this time between the officers of the Royal Navy and the
officers of the Mercantile Marine. Happily in the present century this
slow-dying spirit is almost extinct. In my volume, “King’s Cutters and
Smugglers,” I showed what altercations used to arise, what petty
jealousies existed between the officers of the Revenue cutters and
those of his Majesty’s navy. The captains and officers of the East
India Company were often indebted to the protection and assistance
of naval officers, but the latter were often overbearing in the
exercise of their duties, and despised any seaman who was not in
the King’s navy. On the other hand, the East Indiamen’s officers
most heartily disliked these gentlemen, and the insults from the
press-gangs were too poignant to be forgotten easily.
As an instance, let us refer to the 14th of August 1734, when the
East India Company complained to the Admiralty of what seems
certainly a very high-handed action. It appears that the Company’s
ship, the Duke of Lorrain, had arrived in the Downs on the previous
Sunday, and her master, Captain Christopher Wilson, sent in a very
indignant report to the Court of Directors to the effect that “the men
of war at the Nore treated him more like an enemy than a Merchant
Ship coming into Port in such weather as he had, it being very bad,
they firing near Twenty Shott at his Ship, some of which came
among the Rigging, might have been of dangerous consequence to
the Ship, and to the Company who had a Cargo on board to the
Value of Two hundred thousand Pounds. This action being what the
Company did not expect from any of the Men of War, as the Captain
of the Duke of Lorrain has assured the Court that he lowered his
sails, and did what was safe to be done, they have commanded me
to signify the same to you,” continued the Company’s letter to the
Admiralty, “that so the Right Honourable the Lords of the Admiralty
may be inform’d thereof.”
But if the East India Company thought it necessary sometimes to
complain of the treatment at the hands of the Admiralty the former
were none the less glad to have the assistance and protection of the
navy in the time of war. There is a voluminous correspondence still
preserved in which the Company write to the Admiralty asking for
convoys of the East Indiamen both outward and inward bound. The
French were very much on the qui vive, but unless the regular
income of the East India Company were for the present to be
stopped, and the entire Anglo-Indian trade suspended, the
Company’s ships must go on their way. This could be done only with
the assistance of his Majesty’s ships. In order to deal with this
matter there was a special department of the Company designated
the Secret Committee, which communicated with the Admiralty as to
where the East Indian merchant fleet were to rendezvous and the
convoy join them, the confidential signals to be employed, and so
on. The following letter sent by the Company to the Admiralty on
12th December 1740 is typical:—

“Secrett Committee of the United East India Company do

humbly represent to your Lordships That they do expect a
considerable fleet of ships richly laden will return from the East
Indies the next summer and do therefore earnestly beseech
your Lordships That three or four of His Majesty’s ships of good
force may be appointed to look out for and convoy them safe to
England.”

These convoys took the East Indiamen sometimes even from the
Thames down Channel as far as Spithead. Sometimes they picked
the latter up only at the Downs, escorting them for several hundred
miles away from the English coast out into the Atlantic. These
merchantmen were similarly met at St Helena and escorted home,
the men-of-war being victualled for a period of two months. Even if
an East Indiaman were able to arrive singly and run into the
Hamoaze (Plymouth Sound) on her way home, having successfully
eluded hostile ships roving off the mouth of the English Channel, it
was deemed advisable for her to wait at Plymouth until she could be
escorted by the next man-of-war bound eastward to the Thames.
There were plenty of French privateersmen lurking about the
Channel, and, at any rate about the year 1716, there were also
Swedish privateers on the prowl in the same sea ready to fall upon
any East Indiaman going in or out of the Downs.
One notorious Swede of this occupation was La Providence, of 26
guns. She was commanded by Captain North Cross. The latter was
an Englishman who had been tried and sentenced to death for some
crime, but he had succeeded in making his escape from Newgate,
and had fled the country. He had crossed the North Sea and had
obtained from Sweden letters of marque to rove about as a
privateer. His crew were a rough crowd of desperate fellows of many
nations, and this ship was very fond of lying in Calais roads ready to
get under way and slip across the English Channel so soon as an
outward-bound East Indiaman was known to be in the Downs. Now,
in the month of November 1717, the skipper of La Providence was
lying in his usual roadstead, and tidings came to him concerning one
of the Company’s ships then in the Downs.
The privateer was kept fully informed by means of those fine
seamen, but doubtful characters, who lived at Deal. They were some
of the toughest and most determined men, who stopped at nothing.
For generations the men of Deal had been the most notorious
smugglers of the south-east corner of England: and that was saying
a great deal. They were a brave, fearless class of men, but brutal of
nature and always ready to get to windward of the law, if ever a
chance presented itself. They handled their open luggers with a
wonderful dexterity, for which their successors are even yet famous.
But they were lawless to their finger-tips. So on the present occasion
when the East Indiaman was in the Downs, one of these Deal men
sailed his little craft across the strong tides of Dover Straits and
brought the information to the privateer. The messenger asserted
that the East Indiaman had nearly £60,000 on board in cash, so
Cross got under way, averring that he would get this amount or
“Loose his Life in the Attempt.” Whether he succeeded in his attempt
I regret I am unable to say. As far as was practicable these East
Indiamen were wont, in those strenuous times, to wait for a convoy,
but there were times when they could not afford to wait till one of
his Majesty’s ships was at liberty. On those occasions the ships
would wait till they numbered a small squadron, and then voyaging
together would resolve to run all risks. There is on record the case of
a French squadron consisting of a “64” and two frigates arriving off
the island of St Helena, where the East Indiamen were wont to call.
The Frenchmen had come here in order to fall upon the homeward-
bound fleet who would soon be seen. But the longboatB of one of
these merchantmen was fitted out, and under the command of a
midshipman succeeded in getting to windward of the Frenchmen
unperceived and was able to give the approaching English ships
warning of the danger that awaited them. Six of the Company’s fleet
fell in with the enemy and kept up a running fight for several days,
until they anchored in All Saints’ Bay. Here the French blockaded
them, but it was to no purpose, for these merchantmen succeeded
in escaping and reaching England in safety.
The Royal Navy assisted the Company’s ships in quite another
manner as well. Often enough after enduring heavy weather in the
Bay of Biscay or English Channel these East Indiamen would put into
Plymouth and obtain permission from the Admiralty to obtain from
the latter’s stores a new bowsprit, a new mast, or other spar, the
Company of course paying for the expense. The royal dockyard also
on the Medway was similarly found of great service, as, for instance,
early in the eighteenth century, when the Company’s ship Hannover
had the misfortune to run on to a sandbank whilst going down the
Thames to the Downs. The ship thus suffered damage and was not
in a fit condition to proceed to the East. Permission was asked and
obtained for her to be taken into Sheerness, where the naval
authorities could admit her into dry dock, warehouse her cargo,
supply materials and repair the injuries that had been made.
So also on another occasion, in September 1720, the East
Indiaman Goodfellow was lying at Gravesend outward bound. It was
discovered at the last moment that unfortunately all the beer on
board was spoilt, and since there was no time “to detain her till
more can be brew’d,” the Company’s directors had to request the
Admiralty victualling office to furnish the ship with 12 tons of beer at
the Company’s expense. But the naval officials were not always so
obliging as this. Towards the end of the year 1721 the East Indiaman
Cæsar, outward bound for Mocha, had the misfortune to damage by
friction one of her cablesC owing to the latter getting foul of the
wreck of the Carlisle. Those were the days when cables were still
made of hemp, and were always liable, except when special steps
were taken, to injury when rubbing along foul ground. As she lay in
the Downs, the Cæsar’s master, Captain Mabbott, asked the naval
storekeeper at Deal if he would spare him a new cable in case
another storm should spring up. Mabbott was by no means pleased
when the storekeeper replied very properly that inasmuch as he had
received no orders to oblige merchant ships in that manner, he was
not able to comply with the request. However matters were
eventually set right by the Company obtaining the Admiralty’s
permission.
A voyage in an East Indiaman of those days was often full of
adventure. After proceeding from the Downs the ship cleared the
western mouth of the English Channel and then steered “W and to
WSW.” It took three months to reach the Cape of Good Hope, and
even then it was not too far south to fall in with French men-of-war.
After calling at Spithead outward bound they were wont to sail
through the Needles passage. The seamen were probably better
situated in these East Indiamen than in any other merchant ship, but
they were not allowed a soft time. They were kept at it with setting
and stowing of canvas, spreading stuns’ls in fair weather or taking in
upper canvas in heavy gales. There were plenty of guns on board to
be served, so drill formed no small part of their duties. A seaman
went on board with his sea-chest and his bedding, and in those
rough, hard-swearing days, long before ever the sailor had his trade
union, he was treated with no light hand. There is an instance of the
way slackness was wont to be punished on board the East Indiaman
Greenwich. This particular occurrence belongs to the year 1719 and
happened when the watch had been called. As some of the men did
not turn out as smartly as they ought, the boatswain took out his
knife and cut down their hammocks, to their great discomfort and
indignation. So infuriated in fact were the crew that they declined to
go on the next voyage until the boatswain had been discharged.
Some idea of the kind of vessels which the Company were hiring
for their service about the year 1730 may be gathered from the
following list, which has been taken direct from the original official
documents:—
Name of Ship Commander Tons Men Guns
Devonshire Lawrence Prince 470 94 30
Prince Augustus Francis Gostlin 495 99 36
Lyell Charles Small 470 94 30
Princess of Wales Thomas Gilbert 460 92 30
Middlesex John Pelly 430 86 30
Mary Thomas Holden 490 98 34
Derby William Fitzhugh 480 96 32
London Robert Bootle 490 98 34
Dawsonne Francis Steward 480 96 32
Craggs Caleb Grantham 380 76 26
Bridgwater Edward Williamson 400 80 28
Prince William William Beresford 480 96 30
Lethieullier John Shepheard 470 94 30
Hartford Francis Nelly 460 92 30
Macclesfield Robert Hudson 450 90 30
Cæsar William Mabbott 440 88 30
Harrison Samuel Martin 460 92 30
Walpole Charles Boddam 495 99 32
Frances John Lawson 420 84 30
Duke of Cumberland Benjamin Braund 480 96 30
George George Pitt 480 96 30
Aislabie William Birch 400 80 26
Stretham George Westcott 470 94 30
Ockham William Jobson 480 96 30

It will be noticed that not one of these is really a big ship and that
while the average is somewhere between 400 and 500 tons, yet not
one exceeds 495 tons. The directors settled the size of ship required
and the owners saw that it was supplied. The size of the crews will
be seen to be very large, but this is explained not only because