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BENGAL (1853)
Service dates: 1853-1870
Official number: 30709
Shipping lines: P&O STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY
Ship type:
Passenger Liner.
Career
- 30.10.1852
- Launched.
- 16.01.1853
- Arrived at Southampton from her builders.
- 05.02.1853
- Registered as Bengal for The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company at a cost of £68,300. She was briefly the largest P&O ship. Bengal was one of the three Presidencies of British India, on the northern shores of the bay of the same name, containing not only Calcutta but the lower reaches of the two giant rivers Ganges (Ganga) and Brahmaputra. An innovation was the fitting of a speaking-tube between the bridge and the engine room.
- 16.02.1853
- The Admiralty informed P&O that Bengal had failed to reach the speed required for the mail contract, which was presumably rectified.
- 20.02.1853
- Maiden voyage Southampton/Alexandria, the first of four Mediterranean voyages. Set a new record of 4 days 5 hours for the run to Gibraltar.
- 09.1853
- Sent out round the Cape to Calcutta. Two lifeboats were washed overboard and later found at Weymouth, causing consternation until she reported safe.
- 26.06.1854
- Captured the Russian barque Idealet in Madras Roads, sent her crew ashore and towed her into port. Despite the Crimean War, the incident was of questionable legality, and the Authorities in Madras released the captured vessel.
- 08.02.1855
- Towed a steamer into Suez.
- 1857
- Gross tonnage re-stated as 2,185 grt.
- 29.05.1859
- Stopped engines 3 days out of Aden for Galle when nearly all the teeth were stripped from a large driving wheel. Presumably continued under sail while repairs were made.
- 06.06.1859
- Machinery restarted.
- 07.06.1859
- Driven ashore at Galle when the pilot elected to shift anchorage. She continued under steam to minimise leaks while the passengers, mails and specie were landed (they were picked up by Ganges), and then made her way via Trincomalee and Madras to Calcutta (arrived 15th June) for repairs.
- 04.07.1859
- Re-entered service.
- 12.12.1863
- Broke shaft between Suez and Aden. Set sail for Aden.
- 17.12.1863
- Arrived in Aden under tow by Sultan. Remained at Aden until 13 February 1864.
- 10.10.1864
- Driven ashore into the garden of Bishop’s College, Calcutta, during a cyclone.
- 30.12.1864
- Refloated after a channel had been cut between the garden and the river.
- 1868
- Served as a troopship during the Abyssinian War.
- 19.07.1870
- Sold to Edward Bates, Liverpool.
- 1872
- Sold to C W Kellock, Liverpool, and fitted with compound engines by Laird Brothers, Birkenhead.
- 1874
- Sold to E M de Bussche, Ryde, Isle of Wight, as trustee for a new company.
- 04.1876
- Registered under that company, The New York, London and China Steam Ship Co Ltd, London.
- 1876
- Trooped India/Mediterranean during the Near East crisis.
- 1881/1882
- Three voyages UK/Australia for the Colonial Line.
- 1884
- Sold to Gellatly, Hankey, Sewell and Co, London.
- 02.03.1885
- Wrecked off Milton Reef, Bawcan Island, Java, when on passage from Saigon to Sourabaya with a cargo of rice.