When the British invaded India in the 18th century, they were struck by the scorching sun of the country they were colonizing. Some went to the mountains for the summer. Others, who settled in boiling large cities, were drowned in bitter tears and whining. In the book Simple Tales of British India, for example, it is said that the warlord Reginald Savory complained: "The wind dies down, the sun is burning, the shadows turn black, and after that you will have five months of complete physical discomfort."
The British have found various ways to cope with the heat of the season. They slept wrapped in wet sheets. They took ice from the northern rivers of India and delivered it to the plains at great cost. They chilled water, wine, and ale with saltpeter. They hung wet rugs made of cooling vetiver on windows and doors. They dug holes in ice and placed small pots of water outside on winter nights. In the morning, they removed the crust of ice that had formed on the surface, cut it into pieces and stored it in pits, but this ice was usually impure to be consumed.
Frederick Tudor was a Boston entrepreneur, shrewd and tireless. Tudor decided to trade in ice, which was mined from the ponds of New England and sent by ship to countries with hotter climates. Over the years, he tried to get out of bankruptcy, struggling with the capricious weather and the ridicule of skeptical peers who were sure that the ice could not withstand such a long sea voyage. "No kidding," the Boston Gazette reported of Tudor's maiden voyage. - A vessel with a cargo of 80 tons of ice left the port and is heading for Martinique. We hope this does not turn out to be slippery speculation."
View of Mumbai, early 1900s.
It turned out not. Tudor solved the puzzle of collecting, storing, and transporting ice over long distances. By the time he turned his gaze to India, he had already conquered New Orleans and the Caribbean.
In 1833 he sent his first ship to Calcutta. He transported 180 tons of clear ice taken from Massachusetts lakes, covered with sawdust and placed in containers. Together with the ice, the ship carried barrels of Baldwin apples, a more reliable export commodity.
Four months later, when the Tuscany sailed majestically to Calcutta on September 6, 1833, she was greeted by a crowd of residents who wanted to admire this strange overseas wonder. It is said that a Calcutta resident asked if ice grows on trees in America. Another put ice on his palm for a few seconds, then, when the inevitable blisters appeared on it, he yelled that he had been burned like fire. Another citizen, J. H. Stokeler, editor of The Englishman, was resting when he was suddenly awakened by the screams of an agitated assistant. Stunned by the sight of this precious cargo, he, alas, forgot to wrap "ice with a cloth and cover the basket so that its contents do not melt." As a result, he came running with a piece of ice thin as a nail. Some Indians, alarmed by the rapid disappearance of the ice, demanded their money back.
Cutting ice from Rockland Lake (NY).
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However, the ice trade was a startling triumph that extended to Madras and Bombay. Along with ice, Tudor imported apples and butter from New England. His business has grown stronger thanks to a government-backed monopoly and exemptions on duty-free ice imports. Huge ice reservoirs began to appear on the streets of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
Tudor became a millionaire. He was nicknamed the Ice King. At fifty, he married a 19-year-old girl and later became the father of six children.
At the peak of trade in India, private clubs appeared, founded by the colonialists and offering the administrative elite to receive a truly heavenly delight by tasting roast beef and boiled lamb. The clubs invested large sums of money in building ice storage facilities, so their tables were teeming with cold drinks and well-preserved meat. In Bombay, for example, the Byculla Club ordered 40 tons of ice to be delivered by May 1840.
Dining room inside the Byculla Club.
Ice also acted as a palliative for fever, indigestion, kidney disease, and more. During the "ice famine" (when supplies were delayed), ice could only be purchased in limited quantities. Those who wanted to buy more had to show a note from the doctor. The easy availability of ice was so ingrained that one "famine" in 1850 sparked an outcry in Bombay.
But while the ice from New England was a boon to the British colonialists, it proved to be another burden for the people of India.
Most of the people of India were too poor to spend money on such frivolity as American frozen water. In addition to the fact that they were already burdened with high taxes, taxation related to the construction (and later expansion) of ice storage facilities also fell on their shoulders.
Vivekananda's house built to store ice in Chennai, India.
By 1860, ice was no longer considered a delicacy. “Like most conveniences that you quickly get used to, ice has practically ceased to be a luxury,” wrote the Calcutta-based British artist Coulsforty Grant in a letter to his mother, “and although young children still continue to seek and suckle it like candy, for them it is more is not a novelty that once caused numbness in the fingers and made them scream in surprise that they were burned!"
Tudor continued his activities until the 1860s, when he was weak with old age. Lakes in Massachusetts, affected by pollution from new steam railways, have lost their former appeal. At the same time, enterprises appeared that began to produce artificial ice (the first of which was the Bengal Ice Company), and the laying of new railways made it easier to transport goods across India.
Today the idea of selling ice is considered ludicrous. Today, Indian homes have freezers that store kulfi, while refrigerator shelves are crammed with Thums Up cola, Sosyo drinks and other goodies. However, a lone ice storage facility still stands near the Presidential College in Chennai. Once there were blocks of ice, and later it was presided over by a Supreme Court judge, a group of poor students huddled and the Indian sage Swami Vivekananda lived. As for Tudor, not a trace remained of his case.