Note 380 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
The Diana was sent out first in 1821 for Mr. Robarts, with the view to employment in the Canton river. She had a pair of 16 horse-power engines by Maudslay. At Calcutta she was nearly reconstructed by Messrs. Kyd and Co., and launched again on July 12, 1823.
The first actual steam-boat of which we have any record, in connection with India, was built at Batavia, shortly after the conclusion of the Java war in 1810-11. She was called the Van der Capellen, and was built at the expense of English merchants. She was engaged by Government for two years at the cost of 10,000 dollars a month, which well repaid the original outlay on her. She proved very effective for the transport of troops, &c. After some years she came into the hands of Major Schalch and was used by him, under the name of the Pluto, as a dredging-boat in 1822. Thence she went to Arrakan as a floating battery. She was afterwards lost in a gale in 1830.
In 1819, Mr. W. Trickett built a small steam-boat of 8 horse-power at the Butterley Works, for the Nawâb of Oude, to ply on the Jumna. “Early Steam Navigation to India,” by G. A. Prinsep, Calcutta, 4to, 1830.)