History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

60 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. II,

number of respectable citizens among the descendants of this family, notices of some of whom will be found elsewhere.

We now come to the founder of the Wadia family, which is widely known and has produced many members whose names have been deservedly popular and respected in the Parsi and other communities. Lavji Nasarvanji was born at Surat in the year 1710. He was educated as a shipwright, and took employment in the Hast India Company’s dockyard there. The trading operations of the Honourable Company had necessitated the building of ships, and a dockyard seems to have been built at Surat during the early years of the establishment of the Company’s factory there. As in Bombay the master-builders of Her Majesty's dockyard have up to this day been Parsis, so were those at Surat. In 1735 one Dhanjibhai was master-builder at Surat, and, it having been found necessary in that year to build a ship for the East India Company, Mr. Dudley, then master-attendant at Bombay, was sent there for the purpose. Layji Nasarvanji was employed there as a foreman shipwright, and his ability, skill, and intelligence in the art of shipbuilding attracted the attention of Mr. Dudley. How Lavji Nasarvanji came to Bombay, and the circumstances which led to the establishment of the dockyard in that city, and its subsequent extension, are well described in a report, dated 28th Sep-