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From:
Subject: HEIC Steamship Diana
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 06:08:49 EST



The HEIC steamship Diana was built in India by James Kyd of Kidderpore in
1822 to the order of a group of Calcutta merchants who subscribed to sixty five
shares of Rs 1000. Built of teak wood with steam machinery sent out from
England by Henry Maudslay of Lambeth the construction was superintended by John
Anderson a Scottish engineer. On completion she plied for hire on the Hooghly
and was occasionally used as a tug, in which she did not prove successful.
With the outbreak of the Burmese war Capt. Maryatt RN (HMS Larne) urged the
Bengal Govt. to purchase the steamer, the shareholders 'sold with alacrity'
and she passed into the hands of the HEIC for Rs 80,000. The following month
she took part in the advance up the Irrawaddy armed with a battery of Congreve
rockets. She proved so successful that she was retained on the Irrawaddy for
the duration of the war. On one occasion in September 1824 she was used to
tow HMS Larne from Rangoon to sea.
At the close of the war she took the Company's envoy John Crawford 500 miles
upstream to Amrapura. Subsequently sent to Moulmein for repairs she remained
on the Tenasserim coast until 1831 when she was sent to Calcutta for a major
refit. She returned to the Tenasserim coast despite a plea that she be
stationed at Singapore. In 1835 she returned to Calcutta to be broken up her
engines being removed and placed in a new vessel of the same name.
Dimensions: L 100' extreme breadth 16' 08," draft 6' 00." Tonnage: 132 tons
burthen, 89 tons register
Machinery : 2 x 16hp side lever, copper boiler. Dia of wheels 12'. Six
boards per wheel, each board 5' x 1' 04".
An illustration by Capt. Maryatt executed in 1824 shows her firing her
Congreve rockets below Rangoon and flying the White Ensign.
The above from notes collected from various sources but principally from the
Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Hope that this is some interest.
Rgds
Andy Adams


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