HMS CALCUTTA – PASSAGES BETWEEN PLYMOUTH AND HONG KONG – 1856 and 1859

PLYMOUTH TO HONG KONG

HMS Calcutta was one of the last major war vessels to make the passage between England and the Far East without the assistance of steam propulsion. Readers who have made this journey more recently may be interested to see the route that she followed, what speeds she made good and how long it took her to reach her destination.

To make this voyage Calcutta had to pass through three major ocean wind systems, those of the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the China Sea.

Having sailed from Plymouth in the late spring of 1856 she picked up the NE Trades in the vicinity of Madeira and made good speed until she had passed Cape Verde Islands at a Latitude of about 15ºN. Progress was then slow through the Doldrums. She continued on a SW course to keep the SE Trades on her beam and to make use of a favourable current, until reaching the latitude of Cape Town.

When she finally turned East at 36ºS she was only 900 miles from the entrance to the River Plate. At this latitude the wind was relatively light but she might just be beginning to benefit from the northern edge of the Westerlies which circle the globe at about 40º S.

Her passage to Capetown had taken 70 days and covered nearly 8000 miles. The direct route is just under 6000 miles.

On sailing from Capetown Calcutta headed S to pick up the Westerlies. She must have had a strong following wind because her Log shows that she reached speeds of over 11 knts on this leg. For the next 16 days she was carried E at an average speed of over 7 knts until nearly due S of the Bay of Bengal. Then with the SE Trades on her beam she headed NE to the Sunda Straits which separate the islands of Sumatra and Java.

After passing through the Straits she picked up the SW monsoon which carried her to Singapore and thence to Hong Kong.

As the Table below shows the passage had taken 121 days, covered over 15 500 miles at an average speed of 5.36 knts (6 mph).

HONG KONG TO PLYMOUTH

The return journey made nearly three years later had three significant differences from the outward journey. Calcutta left Hong Kong in March at the end of the NE monsoon and she was carried swiftly down to the Sunda Straits, with a short stop at Singapore. On entering the Indian Ocean she sailed direct for Capetown with the SE Trades on her beam. Although this more direct route was about 1000 miles shorter than her outbound route, it took two days longer than the outward journey.

On leaving Capetown, using the SE Trades, Calcutta at first took the direct route to Europe, stopping briefly at St Helena and passing Ascension Island. However after crossing the Equator, instead of turning N towards Cape Verde Islands and Madeira she continued NW, no doubt with the intention of keeping the NE Trades on her beam until she reached the Westerlies. Unfortunately instead of finding the Westerlies she became becalmed in what we would now call the Azores High. No doubt ideal conditions for a modern cruise liner, but most unsatisfactory for the crew of a sailing ship which had been away from home for over three years. This frustration is mentioned in William’s diaries.

Sixty five days after leaving Capetown Calcutta finally arrived in Plymouth on 30th July. Her passage from Hong Kong had taken 120 days, one less than the outward journey, but the route she had taken was nearly 2000 miles shorter. Her average speed made good had been 4¾ knts (5 mph).

COMPARISON WITH OTHER PASSAGES MADE BY MEMBERS OF THE KING-HALL FAMILY BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FAR EAST

1834 – HMS ANDROMACHE

In February 1834 William’s father, James Hall, sailed from Plymouth to Macao, in the 36-gun frigate Andromache. After stops in Rio de Janeiro and Simonstown the ship arrived at Macao (Hong Kong was still an uninhabited island) on the 15th July after 140 days under sail.

1851 – HMS STYX

On 7th August 1851 William sailed from Plymouth to Capetown in command of the 6-gun paddle sloop Styx. If a two day stop at Madeira to coal ship is excluded, the passage took 51 days. The first leg to Madeira was made under steam, but over half of the second leg was made under sail. It had taken the Andromache 90 days to reach Capetown 17 years earlier. Thirty years later his son George, on his way to join his ship at Mauritius, did the journey on board the Norham Castle in 20 days. In January 1853 Styx sailed from Simons Town to Rangoon, a similar distance as Singapore. This passage took about 50 days at sea. About 11 days were made under sail, it having been possible to coal ship in Mauritius and Trincomalee (Sri Lanka).

On 23rd August 1853 William handed over command of Styx in Hong Kong and set off for home in the P&O Liner Ganges. He changed liner at Port de Galle in Sri Lanka for passage to Suez, where, after travelling by train and in a river boat down the Nile to Alexandria, he joined his third liner and arrived at Southampton on 20th October. He had made the journey from Hong Kong to England in about 58 days.

1899 - HMS NARCISSUS

In 1899 George King-Hall, son of William, was in command of the armoured cruiser Narcissus on the China Station. This was the first ship that he had served in that had no sailing capability. At the end of his commission he brought the ship back to England through the Suez Canal, which had been opened in 1869. He left Hong Kong on 7th April and arrived at Spithead on the 28th May, 44 days later. Allowing for stops in Singapore, Aden, Suez and Malta this passage was made at an average speed of about 10 knts.