Narrative of the shipwreck of the Juno, on the coast of Aracan, and of the singular preservation of fourteen of her company on the wreck ... / In a letter to his father, the Rev. Thomas Mackay ... By William Mackay.

  • Mackay, William
Date:
1798
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Narrative of the shipwreck of the Juno, on the coast of Aracan, and of the singular preservation of fourteen of her company on the wreck ... / In a letter to his father, the Rev. Thomas Mackay ... By William Mackay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/74 (page 4)
    for Madras. The Juno was a fhip of 450 tons burthen, very much out of repair, and in all refpedls introduce it into Bengal, where it thrives well. On the Coro¬ mandel Coaft it dowers in the hot feafon ; feed ripe in Auguft and September. The wood of this tree, the only ufeful part of it, from long experience has been found to be by far the moft ufeful timber in Alia ; it is light, eafily worked, and at the fame time both ftrong and durable : that which grows near the banks of the Godavery is beautifully veined, confulerablv clofer in the grain and heavier than any other I have feen ; itris therefore particularly fit for furniture, gim carriages, &c. when final! timber is wanted. For fhip building the teak is reckoned fuperror to any other fort of wood, being light, ftrong and very durable, either in or out of the water.—Plants of the Coafl of Coromandel; publijhed by Order f the Eajl India Company. 1795. Page 14. The principal objedl of Europeans who frequent this port, (Rangoon) is the trade of Teak wood, which is produced in greater plenty in Pegu, than in any other part of India. This is a tree which grows to a very confiderable fize; and in its texture, except that it is more flexible and not quite fo hard, refembles the Oak. It is of the moft univerfal ufe all over India, not only in makincr of furniture, but more efpecially, in the conftrudlion of fhips; and it has this advantage over every kind of wood employed in -Europe for that purpofe, that it is much lets corruptible in wa¬ ter. Accordingly we find that vefiels built of this wood laft much longer than any others. But although this timber abounds more, and is cheaper here than in other places, yet it is not of the beft quality ; for from the moifture and richnefs of the foil, it grows up fafter, and confequently acquires Iefs folidity than in parts which are dry, bleak, and expofed to the force of the winds. And this is the reafon why {hips built at Bombay, when they are fupplied with wood from the Balaghat mountains, are leis fubjefl to decay.—-See Hunter's Account of Pegu, quotedp. 3.