CALCUTTA: PAST AND PRESENT
Captain Barker's report continued—
"A canal may be brought from the river close to the Fort, and have wharfs and quays, with cranes for the embarking and disembarking of goods in boats, and at the same time furnish the town with water by having pipes of communication underground to large cisterns for that purpose in the Fort; may also supply the ditches with water with proper sluices to retain or let it out at low tides. The large tank will contribute greatly to accomplishing this canal, since the length is near one-third finished to our hands."
Not the wildest dreams of the gallant captain could have imagined the busy wharves and jetties of Modern Calcutta, the mighty cranes that embark and disembark goods from monster steamers, the miles upon miles of "pipes underground" that, fed by huge cisterns, supply the requirements of the metropolis of India.
In the end this ambitious plan was put aside in favour of the simpler one of removing the village of Govindpore and building the Fort on the river bank, where the marshy plain on the land side formed a natural esplanade, and New Fort William was accordingly begun at the end of 1757. The original plans included all the public buildings within the fortifications, the
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