Ice shipped to CalcuttaIn 1833, a the first imported shipment of ice arrived in Calcutta, India, from Boston, Mass., U.S. in the specially insulated hold of the Clipper Tuscany, which had loaded and sailed on 6 - 7 May 1833 with 180 tons of ice. The ice, in 2 - 3 cu.ft. blocks, had been cut from local lakes in winter, and stored since then. The entrepeneur was Fredric Tudor, an ice merchant of Boston. During the over four month voyage, about 80 tons was lost, but in the Indian unit of weight, the amount that arrived was about 3,000 maund (1 maund = 82.6 pounds). It was priced at four annas per seer (about 2-lbs). At first sales were disappointing, until the local residents became accustomed to this novelty for cooling drinks. India became a profitable export market for Tudor for over two decades.« |