Calcutta
Books
- Fast Ships, Bad Trade Opium Clippers and the Making of the China War · Liszt Think
In 1829, the East India Company’s monopoly birthed a vessel designed to outrun monsoons and defy imperial law.
- The Empire’s Last Monopoly…the Pearl River estuary. It was late October 1828, and the monsoon had already begun its fitful turn. He had calculated his departure from Calcutta with the care that thirty years at sea had taught him, weighing the known currents of the Bay of Bengal against the accumulated wisdom of t…
- The Red Rover’s Revolution…ency houses that had grown rich under the old system were the ones with the most to lose, and the most to gain, from whatever came next. In Calcutta, in the autumn of 1829, the next thing was taking shape on the stocks at Captain William Clifton’s yard. Clifton had built ships before. He…
- A Fleet Takes Shape…Water Witch, refined the design rather than merely copying it. Each launch triggered a new round of speculation in the Canton clubs and the Calcutta shipyards. The agency houses that had once competed for access to opium now competed for something more immediate: the fastest hull. The mo…