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== History of the Bengal Pilot Service ==
Brice and Labey<ref name=Brice> Labey, Capt G.T. and Brice, Capt R.K.H. (1970), ''The Bengal Pilot Service''. National Maritime Museum, Ref. THS/12/1-9</ref> give a date of 1651 for the foundation of the service, but according to James Prinsep's Chronological Tables,<ref>Prinsep, James (1836). [http://books.google.com/books?id=BTYGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA160 ''Useful Tables, Forming an Appendix to The Journal Of The Asiatic Society. Part the Second. Chronological and Genealogical Tables''], page 160.Google Books</ref> the service dates back to 1669:
<blockquote>
[1669 ...] This year also were received orders from home, to institute a pilot establishment at Hoogly, to build a pinnace to be manned with intelligent seamen from the Indiamen, to take charge of the shipping up and down. Thus originated the Bengal Pilot Service.
