During the late 1770s to the early 1780s, several East India Company officers based in Madras travelled across the Middle East, including the Scottish hydrographer Alexander Dalrymple FRS (1737–1808) appointed in 1759; Colonel James...
moreDuring the late 1770s to the early 1780s, several East India Company officers based in Madras travelled across the Middle East, including the Scottish hydrographer Alexander Dalrymple FRS (1737–1808) appointed in 1759; Colonel James Capper (1743–1825), from Londonderry, appointed in 1773 (Fig.8.2); and Eyles Irwin (?1751–1817), an Irish
poet born in Calcutta, and appointed in 1767 (Fig.8.3 and Fig 8.5).
Traditionally, there were two major routes for travel between England and
India: one via the Cape of Good Hope, a journey that took at least six months; and another overland via Antioch to Aleppo and across the Great Syrian Desert to Basra, then by ship to Bombay.
A further option between India and England was explored in the mid-18th
century: up the Red Sea to Suez, across the Eastern Desert to Cairo, along the Nile to Rosetta and then Alexandria to catch a boat heading for Europe.
