Description
The principal European landing place in Bengal, and therefore the first hundred square yards of India that almost every Briton in Calcutta ever stood on. It is not a dock and it is not a quay. It is a broad flight of worn stone steps running down into the Hooghly below the Esplanade, a few hundred yards north of Fort William.
Ships anchor out in the stream and passengers come ashore in hired boats, which means the steps are a permanent scrimmage of budgerow crews shouting for fares, palanquin bearers converging on anyone in European dress, and coolies taking hold of luggage without waiting to be engaged.
Notable Features
- The register. A customs chowkidar wants papers and a clerk under an umbrella writes down names. Arrivals enter the Company’s record within minutes of landing, which is the mechanism by which Calcutta knows everything about a newcomer inside forty-eight hours.
- No privacy of arrival. There is no way into this city by water that avoids being seen, counted and written down.
- The stone. Green with algae below the waterline, slick above it, worn into hollows by a century and a quarter of feet.
The Senses
- Smell. Wet jute, river mud, cooking oil, and the sharp animal smell of a great many people working in the wet.
- Sound. Forty men shouting over each other in three languages, and under all of it the flat continuous hiss of rain on the river.
- Colour. Grey water, grey sky, wet black stone, and against it palanquin cloth and turbans in reds and yellows that look hallucinatory after five weeks at sea.
Connections
- The Strand runs along the top of the bank above the steps
- Fort William a few hundred yards south
- The Hooghly River
- Scene: Landfall at Chandpal Ghat
In Play
Chapter 4, Session 11 (11 October 1814) — a lead, mentioned in passing. Harriet Courtney suggested checking the registers here for records of missing European families, including Harry Ord’s. See By Command of His Excellency.
Appearances
Connections
People
Location of
- Havildar Pratap Singh Player character neutralWhere the escort presents himself2 sessions, Landfall to By Command of His Excellency
Visited by
- Adrien de Montferrand Player character neutralCame ashore here at the landfall in Calcutta2 sessions, Landfall to By Command of His Excellency
- Emma Wentworth Player character neutralCame ashore here at the landfall in Calcutta2 sessions, Landfall to By Command of His Excellency
- Freddy Cavendish Player character neutralCame ashore here at the landfall in Calcutta2 sessions, Landfall to By Command of His Excellency
- Georgiana Wentworth Player character neutralCame ashore here at the landfall in Calcutta2 sessions, Landfall to By Command of His Excellency
- Katherine Ward Player character neutralCame ashore here at the landfall in Calcutta2 sessions, Landfall to By Command of His Excellency
- Nathaniel Holt Player character neutralCame ashore here at the landfall in Calcutta1 session: Landfall
Places
Part of
- The Hooghly River Location neutralSteps running down into the river2 sessions, Landfall to By Command of His Excellency
- Calcutta 1814 Location neutralThe European landing place of the city
Events
Location of
- Landfall at Chandpal Ghat Event neutralThe principal European landing place in Bengal