The Atlantic was not the only scene of steam-ship enterprise in the early part of the nineteenth century, for merchants and shipowners recognised the importance of a faster and more regular communication between England and the Far East, and began to consider the desirability of employing steam-ships as soon as these vessels had shown that they could be used for sea voyages. At a meeting held in London in 1822 and attended by a number of merchants engaged in the Eastern trade, it was decided to form a steam-ship company to establish regular communication with India via the Cape of Good Hope, and to send Lieutenant Johnston to India to endeavour to interest merchants there in the scheme. The meeting naturally was in favour of the all-sea route by the Cape, but Johnston went to India via Suez, and became so convinced of the superiority of the latter route for mails and passengers and light merchandise that he became an enthusiastic advocate for its adoption. His mission to Calcutta was so successful that, in December 1823, Lord Amherst, the Governor, officially signified approval of steam-ship communication between the two countries, and recommended the Council to make a grant of 20,000 rupees to any British person or company who should, before the end of 1826, “permanently establish steam communication between England and India, either by the Cape of Good Hope or the Red Sea, and make two voyages out and two voyages home, occupying not more than seventy days on each passage.”[67] [67] Lindsay’s “History of Shipping.” Thanks to the generosity of the Rajah of Oude a sum of 80,000 rupees was subscribed in India. The enthusiasm shown in the East for the project induced the promoters in London to charter the _Enterprise_, which was then being built by Messrs. Gordon and Co. at Deptford. Johnston returned to England, and when the _Enterprise_ was completed he was appointed her captain. She was a wooden paddle-steamer, 122 feet on the keel, and 27 feet beam, and of 479 tons register. Her engines of 120 horse-power were estimated to give her a speed of eight knots per hour in good weather. Her boiler, which was of copper in one piece, cost £7000 and weighed about 32 tons. She sailed from London on August 16, 1825, and arrived at Calcutta on December 7. Her stoppages to replenish her bunkers occupied ten days, so that her actual travelling time was ninety-three days. She depended largely on sail. This voyage is of importance as it was the first made to India by a vessel built for ocean navigation and fitted with an auxiliary engine. The _Enterprise_ cost £43,000, and soon after her arrival, as the first Burmese war was then in progress, the Indian Government gave £40,000 for her.