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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAXT. 521
the snbscriiotion raised to further Lieutenant Johnston's views.
She was a ship of 500 tons, and having two sixty-horse power
engines, with copper boilers extending across the ship, and
seven furnaces, each seven feet in length. The 'Enterprise,'
under command of Lieutenant Johnston, carrying only pas-
sengers, and having 300 tons of coals on board, sailed from
Fahnouth cm the 16th of August, and arrived at Calcutta on
the Uth of December, having performed the voyage under sail
and steam conjbined, in one hundred and fifteen days : a per-
formance that was considered by no means satisfactory by the
mercantile community, at a time when the splendid ships of the
Company frequently covered the same distance in ninety days.
On her arrival, Government purchased the ' Enterprise' for
.£40,000, and she was sent to Rangoon. She was of consider-
able use in towing ships between Calcutta and the nt-wl}'-
acquired provinces, and, on one occasion, carried the Governor-
General ; ultimately she "was brought round to Bombay by
Lieutenant Denton, of the Service, and was to have made the
experimental voyage to Suez, but circumstances prevented it.
The origination of the overland route between India and
England, though generally credited to the late Lieutenant
Thomas Waghorn, is claimed with equal justice by others.
Mr. R. W, Crawford has stated, that it was due "to the com-
munity of Bombay, as represented by the Bombay Steam
Committee," though, whoever first suggested the scheme, it
is a matter of fact that the honour of being the first to
demonstrate the possibility of communication by steam
between Suez and India, is justly due to an officer of the
Service.
Mr. Waghorn, to whose energy and perseverance the esta-
blishment of the overland route tlirough Europe and Egypt, is
chiefly due, was born at Chatham in the year 1800. At^ the
age of twelve he entered the Navy, and, before he was seven-
teen, had passed liis examination in navigation for a lieutenancy,
being the youngest midshipman wlio had (;ver done so. He did
not receive a connnission, however, and. on being paid off in
1817, sailed as third mate of a mercliant shi]) bound for Cal-
cutta. He returned to England, but, in 18 li), was appointed to
the Bengal pilot service. In 1824 he volunteered for service in
Burmah, and for two and a-half years commanded the lion.
Coujpany's cutter ']\Iatchless,' wliich formed a part of the
squadron under the orders of (Jonnnodore Hayes. Mr. Wag-
horn's name first appears in connection with steam navigation
between England and India, at Calcutta, in 1828, when he
advocated a renewed attempt by the Cape route, that made by
Lieutenant Johnston, in the * Enterprise,' not being regarded as
very favourable. A public meeting was held at Calcutta on the
30th of July, 1828, at which Sir John Hayes gave his warm sup-