Untamed Life: The First Indigenous Indian Shipping Service

Kappallotiya Tamizhan (

)

Not many people know this. But during the British occupation of India, the shipping industry was a virtual monopoly of British India Steam Navigation Company (BISN).

This was the time of the Swadeshi movement in India (1905-08 which emanated from partition of Bengal), where Indians stopped using imported clothing and switched to homemade/Made-in-India brand. It is to be noted that at that time the Made-in-India stamp meant bad quality and very high cost. This was because the British never allowed competition to develop nor were the Indian companies allowed to acquire latest technology or tried to undermine them by a huge cost difference.

The simple strategy of the British to profit was, export raw materials at subsidized prices to England and import the finished product to India at premium rates. For this purpose it was paramount for the British to control the Shipping industry in India to provide for Assured service to the English. This control of the Shipping industry also ensured that no Indian company would be work with out complete British support (which means premium transportation rates).

It was a shame that one of the first people to set Sail and conquer the seas, were not allowed to have their shipping company. Till very recently (not more that 100 years) there was no Air Force. Navy and army formed the backbone of a country. The biggest nations had great Navies. The Cholas of Tamil Nadu were known for their maritime adventures. They had a kingdom stretching from Malacca to present-day Vietnam. This great Maritime heritage was predated by The Pallavas of Tamil Nadu.

The Swadeshi Movement was the time when M K Gandhi (Gandhiji) had not entered the Indian politics and freedom movement. At that time the freedom movement was headed Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh and Lala Lajpat Rai. This was the time of the great tamil poet Subramania Bharathi and V O Chidambaram Pillai (VOC aka VaaVuuChee).

Inspired by the Swadeshi movement, on the request of local traders our VOC wanted to start an Indian Shipping company. Funds for this company were not a big issue as there were enough traders to back VOC. VOC in tamil was called as VaaVuuChee. But the most important things for the company to run were … any guess….. were ships. At that time Indians were not into Ship Building either; and neither were the Britishers forth coming with offer of ships (why would they?). To sum it up, VaaVuuChee had money but no ships to start the company.

But with great difficulty and after a lot of effort, thanks to the help of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh, VaaVuuChee was able to procure two ships ‘S S Gaelia’ and ‘S S Lawoe’ from a Bombay (Presently Mumbai) Company (would welcome insights into the company).

So at last, the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (SSNC) came to life against all the British opposition: The FIRST INDIGENOUS SHIPPING SERVICE. These ships started regular service between Tuticorin (Thuthukodi) and Colombo (in Sri Lanka).

The British had assumed that the Indian company would collapse; but thanks to the Swadeshi movement and the calculating mind of VaaVuuChee SSNC proved to be a tough challenge. To undermine SSNC the BISN reduced the rates to Rs 1 (8 Annas) per head. The SSNC responded by making a fare of 4 Annas. The British company went further by offering free trips and umbrellas. This had SSNC running nearly empty.

In my point of view the VaaVuuChee should have responded by equaling the British rates of 8 Annas instead of lowering to 4 Annas. Reducing the rates to such low level only played into the British hands. But having said that, by doing so VaaVuuChee showed Indians were up for the challenge J. Damn it, there were no anti-trust laws (Government of US vs Microsoft) at that time.

VaaVuuChee was arrested on charges of Sedition on 12^th March 1908. (will need citation here. Why was he arrested?). VaaVuuChee was later handed two sentences of life imprisonment (40 years). But the press has taken note of VaaVuuChee and his prosecution was widely publicized. Subhramania Bharathi (Great Tamil Poet) and Subhramania Sivan (Famous Revolutionary of this time) also appeared in the case.

Two years later SSNC was merged with BISN. In the short life SSNC, VaaVuuChee gave us Indians faith and self-confidence. I salute him. For this act he was given the title of Kappallotiya Tamizhan (The Tamizhan who sailed a ship)

I wanted this story to have a happy ending, but doing so will be ignoring VaaVuuChee’s sacrifice. VaaVuuChee was offered bail during his prosecution, but he rejected as a sign of protest. The British wanted to make an example of him to ensure no one follows his footsteps. He could have escaped the verdict if he had shown submission to British, but he did not surrender. He stood by his beliefs; he stood to gives us the self-confidence; he stood to show us that we are no less.

VaaVuuChee was imprisoned from 9 July 1908 to 12 December 1912. During his jail term VaaVuuChee was not treated as a political prisoner but rather as a criminal and was subjected to hard labor. He was used as an animal in an oil grinding machine. He was wiped repeatedly and was subjected to inhuman torture; all this for showing his ability and self confidence. When he was arrested there was huge crowd; but when he was released there was not a single person to see him except his good friend Subhramania Sivan (who by then was a leaper. At that time leprosy was incurable and was considered as a punishment by gods for all the wrongs done in the past life). Upon release, to his dismay, he discovered that SNCC has been liquidated and its ships sold to the British.