CALCUTTA: PAST AND PRESENT
and Circular Basin, but Major Tolly, in his operations for rendering the Creek navigable, turned it further north, so that it passed round, instead of through, Colonel Watson's wet dock. Whether owing to this change, or from some other cause, Colonel Watson was unable to continue the work for more than a few years. He spent ten lakhs of rupees in the undertaking, and built, among other vessels, the Nonsuch frigate of thirty-six guns, launched in 1781, and the Surprise of thirty-two guns in 1788, soon after which date he withdrew from the enterprise. The Dock was then acquired by Mr. A. Waddell, the Company's master builder, who, on his retirement in 1807, was succeeded at the Docks, and in his post of master builder, by Mr. James Kyd, who had been his assistant for some years.
James Kyd, and his brother Robert, who became his partner, were sons of General Alexander Kyd; they were men of high character, and were widely respected, and greatly beloved for their generous charity. James survived his brother ten years, and on his death, in 1836, the Dock, in which many fine ships had been built, was acquired by the Government, and became the Government Dockyard, the sole survivor of the large number of dockyards which had once raised expectations
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