Calcutta
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Current revision as of 09:28, 24 November 2010
Calcutta is a large city in north east India. It was founded in 1690 by Job Charnock as a trading factory for the East India Company in Bengal. The city is located on the bank of the Hooghly river which is part of the extensive Ganges delta. Navigation of the 60 miles up the Hooghly from the Bay of Bengal is complex as the river's numerous sandbars change with every flood. The British set up Fort William in 1702 and Calcutta became the headquarters of the Bengal Presidency, one of the administrative divisions of the regions of India ruled by the East India Company. In 1772 Calcutta became the capital of all British India under the Governor General Warren Hastings. The Governor General, from 1795-1805 (ending just before HMS Surprise would have arrived) was Richard Wellesley, brother of Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, who at the time was serving in the Company Army.
At the time of the Canon there was a sizeable and wealthy British population many living in large mansions along the banks of the river and often inter-marrying with the Indians.
| SPOILER WARNING: Plot or ending details for "HMS Surprise" follow. |
In the Canon
Jack Aubrey refits HMS Surprise in Calcutta following her battle with Linois in company with the China Fleet. He and his crew are feted by the British population for saving the fleet. Stephen Maturin hopes to marry Diana Villiers and visits her in Richard Canning's mansion. When he is found there, he has to fight a duel with Canning and is wounded.
