Captain Johnston having completed the object for which he had been despatched to India, returned to England in the _Eliza_ by way of the Cape, and, on his arrival in London, the _Enterprize_,[295] which had been laid down in the yard of Gordon and Co., Deptford, was two-thirds finished. On her completion she was placed under his command, and sailed for Calcutta on the 16th of August, 1825, where she arrived on the 7th December following. Although 113 days on the passage, she was only 103 days under way, as ten were spent in stoppages to replenish her stock of coal; but her greatest average speed, during any twenty-four hours, not exceeding 9·36 miles per hour, accounted for by the large quantity of coals she was obliged to carry,[296] disappointed the expectations of the seventeen passengers who had embarked in her. (An illustration of this vessel is furnished on p. 340.) [Sidenote: Sold in Calcutta to East India Company.] The voyage of the _Enterprize_, ought to have convinced the advocates of the ocean route that it was not advisable, commercially, to persevere in such an undertaking, moreover, though this steamer was admittedly unsuited for so distant a voyage, other considerations, especially at that early period of steam navigation, made it doubtful whether vessels thus propelled, and by a route so long as that round the Cape, could yield remunerative returns. However, the _Enterprize_, though she did not receive the 20,000 rupees premium, was sold when she arrived at Calcutta, to the Indian Government for 40,000_l._, who then required every ship they could get for the first Burmese war. She was at once appropriated by the East India Company, who employed her in carrying despatches from Calcutta to Rangoon, a service in which she proved of great value in aiding the operations of that campaign. [Sidenote: Other steamers follow.] The success thus far of the _Enterprize_ encouraged the introduction of steam-vessels into the local trade of India; the comparatively narrow seas, excellent harbours, and safe inlets, as well as the many large and important navigable rivers of that part of Asia affording almost as large and remunerative fields for the employment of such vessels as the coasts, rivers, and lakes of North America. To this branch of commerce I shall hereafter refer. In the meantime I must ask my readers to accompany me in an attempt to trace the means of more rapid communication between Great Britain and her vast dominions in the East, with some notice of the persons to whom we are indebted for the advantages we have thus derived. [Sidenote: Pioneers of overland route, viâ Egypt.]