ABSTRACT
Free trade was a revolutionary concept for the Bombay Country ship owners. The renewal of the East India Company's Charter in 1813, opening the India trade to all comers, meant that the Country ships were now no longer the only private merchant vessels operating in Eastern waters although Company would still retain the monopoly of the China trade until 1833. Reluctant to lose control over the ships a license was required to trade from England and this applied to Country ships as well as the so called Free Traders. (The two categories were merged in trading with England. The description 'Country ship', although used throughout the Company's records, was never an official designation.)
A changing world
The imports on which broadly speaking Bombay depended on in 1816 were listed as:
Grain and food Things for use of natives Sundries for Europeans Sundries for manufacturies ditto for re-exportation Piece goods Sundries.
