The first steamship designed specifically for the Indian service, from Calcutta to Suez, is depicted on the lower half of the 10d. stamp of the Qatar U.P.U. issue. She is the wooden paddle steamship Hindostan. Built by Wilson, at Liverpool, she had Fawcett side-lever engines which gave her a speed of 11 knots at best. She spent five years on the Indian station and returned in 1847 for reconditioning, after which she carried Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort for a cruise round the Isle of Wight. She was then put on the Southampton-Alexandria service, but was soon taken off to be re-boilered, achieving a speed of 12.4 knots on trials. In 1849 she returned to India, relieving the Bentinck, carrying neither mails nor passengers, but 800 tons of cargo. After a few years she was converted to sail and was employed for a long time carrying coal and stores to P.& 0. ships in the Indian Ocean. Later she was hulked as a store-ship, ending her days in that capacity. She had originally carried mails as well as passengers, of which she could take 151 at a time, the fare being £40 Calcutta-Suez. Few ships have had the send-off on their maiden voyage as that given the Hindostan on September 24, 1848. The event became a national affair. Every ship in Southampton was dressed gaily, with flags, while the warships manned their yards and this is the scene depicted on the stamp. The Hindostan was 240 ft. in length, her tonnage being 2,017.Quatar SG503. Bhutan SG285. Mauritius SG503. Guyana SG2697
I imagine that the spelling Hindoostan will rather astonish readers looking at these stamps. The reason given for this misnomer is also astounding. It is recorded that this spelling of the name is based on a letter sent from the ship on December 13, 1842, by a young married passenger to her mother in England. That takes the biscuit, (a dog biscuit, it is harder to swallow). To change a ship's name because a passenger did not know how to spell it on a letter home takes the booby prize.