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| MALABAR HILL 19TH CENTURY |
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| VIEW FROM MALABAR POINT OF THE HILL 1850'S |
MALABAR POINT:- Malabar Point, an astounding geographical location rises imperiously over land, the headland juts into the panoramic harbour like a cape in the cerulean sea.
In times past, the azure skies would forecast plunder as the sails of marauders appeared, the dreaded pirates of Malabar.
They would ascend the pinnacle to plan their pillage. This summit by the shores heralded a view of the emerging city. Prophesying their recurring piracy, the peak came to be known as Malabar Point.
PIRATES (REAL) AND INDIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS- NEAR BOMBAY:-
Kanhoji Angre :- AS HE RESISTED ENGLISH SOLDIERS AND RULERS ,HE WAS CALLED A PIRATE BY THE ENGLISH
v Battles
1702 - Seizes small vessel in Cochin with six Englishmen
1706 - Attacks and defeats the Siddhi of Janjira
1710 - Captures the Kennery (now Khanderi) islands near Bombay after fighting the English vessel, Godolphin for two days
1712 - Captured the yacht of the British President of Bombay, Mr. Aislabie, releasing it only after obtaining a hefty ransom of Rs. 30,000
1713 - Ten forts ceded to Angre by English
1717 - English ships bombard Kennery island and Angre signs treaty with Company paying Rs. 60,000
1718 - Blockaded Bombay port and extracted ransom
1720 - English attack Vijaydurg (Gheriah), unsuccessfully
1721 - English and Portuguese jointly attack Alibagh, but are defeated
1723 - Angre attacks two English vessels, Eagle and Hunter
The Western Naval command of the Indian Navy was named INS Angre on 15 September 1951 in honour of the valiant sea commander. A statue of him exists at the old Bombay Castle located within the enclave located at the Naval Dockyard, South Mumbai.
KUNJALI MARIKKAR - [WAS CALLED A PIRATE BY ENGLISH AND PORTUGUESE RULERS BECAUSE HE RESISTED THE FOREIGN RULERS ] The Kunhali Marakkar or Kunjali Marakkar was the title given to the (Muslim naval chief) of the Samoothiri Raja, a Hindu king of Kozhikode (anglicized Calicut), in present day state of Kerala, India during the 16th century. They offered their men, ships and wealth in the defence of their motherland to the Samoothiri of Kozhikode-The Raja took them into his service and eventually they became the Admirals of his fleet.
- 1586 - Marakkars defeat the Portuguese in a naval battle.
- 1588 - The Portuguese settle again in Kozhikode with the Samoothiri's permission.
- 1589 - Marakkars inflict a crushing defeat on the Portuguese.
The Indian Navy shore-based naval air training center at Colaba, Mumbai is named Naval Maritime Academy INS Kunjali II in honour of the second Marakkar
CAPT KIDD, THE REAL PIRATE NEAR BOMBAY 1N 1700'S:-
'Byron' wrote
." Kidd's destination was Madagascar and the mouth of the Red Sea. Being unsuccessful in accomplishing the end he had been sent on, i.e., the destruction of the pirates and their settle- ments, or from whatever other reason, he made for the coast of India, Cochin and Calicut, and throwing off" all trammels, he attacked the ships he had come out to protect, and gave up the role of privateer ! He spared no nationality. All was fish that came to his net, and his appetite grew on what it fed, until gorged with the plunder, as he admits himself, of £100,000 (£250,000 nowadays).
In 1697, when Kidd was at Jinjheera,
itwas the stronghold of Sidi Kassim, the same man who eight years before
(1689) had landed at Mazagon 20,000 men, and a ghastly freight of human heads, driving the English, nolens volens, to the shelter of their castle walls, and leaving the marks of their bullets on its gates, which remain visible to the present day.
Was Kidd ever in Bombay ? asks the reader, I have no doubt he was in some of his former voyages, as he was a veteran sea- dog when Bellamont got hold of him, and though his " logs " have been lost, we are safe in saying that in 1697 he could have made his way to a Punch-house in Dongri Killa, or Moodi Khana, without difficulty.
The place where this exploit of He was born in Greenoc. Kidd's occurred is recorded " off Eajapore." Kajapore is on the mainland, and twenty-five miles south of Bombay, opposite "to whi(^, at about a mile distance, is the fortified Island of Jinjheera.
The East India Company wrote to Surat that they hoped he would be " hung, drawn and quartered."
Had he come into, and been caught in Bombay in 1697
he would have been hanged first and tried afterwards. I may add that he was not the pirate of whom 'Byron' wrote, " He was the mildest-mannered man that ever scuttled ship or cut a throat."
Kidd was executed on May 23rd at ; by Lord Bellamont; who was Governor of 'New York and Massachusetts, and we need not remind the reader that New York then belonged to England.
[Prior to Kidd returning to New York City, he learned that he was a wanted pirate,Bellomont;lured Kidd into Boston with false promises of clemency,
then ordered him arrested on July 6, 1699. Kidd was placed in Stone Prison, spending most of the time in
solitary confinement.He was eventually (after over a year) sent to England;Kidd had two lawyers to assist in his defence, Dr. Oldish and Mr. Lemon.
He was shocked to learn at his trial that he was charged with murder. He was found guilty on all charges (murder and five counts of piracy). He was hanged on May 23, 1701, at '
Execution Dock',
Wapping, in
London. During the execution, the hangman's rope broke and Kidd was hanged on the second attempt. His body was
gibbeted—left to hang in an iron cage over the
River Thames at Tilbury Point
—as a warning to future would-be pirates for twenty years.---wikipedia]
Condition at Malabar Hill also found favour with the English and their love of hunting. ‘Coursing matches
were held here and Dr. Drove had the satisfaction of starting a hare, as large as an European one’.
The feathers and lace on the hunter’s hats were no match for the starting heat of the tropical sun. Soon a hunting lodge came up at Malabar Point.’
Other visitors came drawn by the arresting sights. Eddying elements had twisted an avenue of trees into obeisance, creating a path leading to the waters. A swivel heralded a survey of the city. It was a site, that breathed destiny.Mountstuart Elphinstone (6 October 1779 – 20 November 1859) was a Scottish statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay Elphinstone assumed command of the military during an important crisis during the Battle of Khadki and managed to secure a victory despite his non-military background. As reparations, Peshwa territories were annexed by the British. Elphinstone became the Commissioner of the Deccan in 1818.He was appointed as the
Governor of Bombay the following year, 1819. His principal achievement was the compilation of the "Elphinstone Code." He virtually founded the system of state education in India, at a time when the opinion in Britain was against educating the "natives". Elphinstone held on to this post till 1827. His connection with the
Bombay Presidency was appropriately commemorated in the endowment of the
Elphinstone College  |
| Photograph of Elphinstone College in Bombay (Mumbai), Maharashtra, taken by Bourne and Shepherd in 1870, |
by local communities, and in the erection of a marble statue by the European inhabitants.
He built the first bungalow in
Malabar Hill, during his tenure as the
Governor of Bombay, 1819 to 1827, and following him, many prominent people took residence here, soon it became a posh locality, and remains so, to the present date.
Mountstuart Elphinstone---
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| A BUNGALOW ON MALABAR HILL -19 TH CENTURY |
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| PHOTO OF BYCULLA CLUB BOMBAY 1850 |
Malabar Hill was named so in the early days of British rule as it housed a military battery to foil a fleet of pirates operating from Malabar who would lie in wait to attack commercial vessels.
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BOMBAY-1850-MALABAR HILL -Photographer: Scott, Charles |
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| MALABAR HILL FORESTS |
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| A VIEW OF BOMBAY AND (CHOWPATY BEACH) from MALABAR HILLS 1850'S |
1830, January 13th. — A large hyena is prowling about Malabar Hill on the western side between Mr. Nicol's residence and Vaucluse, " as good sport as a Mazagon tiger." — Bombay Gazette.  |
| FORESTS OF ESPLANADE; JUST OUTSIDE FORT BOMBAY | |
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| TIGER HUNT |
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| TIGER HUNT (BY ENGLISH RULERS OF THAT TIME) |
