01The Tamil who sailed the ship
In 1906 the steamer trade between Tuticorin and Colombo belonged to the British India Steam Navigation Company. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, a lawyer of the town, raised money from Tamil merchants, registered the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in October 1906, and bought two ships, the Gallia and the Lawoe. The British line cut its fares to nothing and officials leaned on shippers, but the Swadeshi ships sailed full. In early 1908 he and Subramania Siva led a strike at the Coral Mills of the town. He was arrested on 12 March 1908 and given two life terms of transportation for sedition, later cut. The company did not survive his imprisonment. Tamils call him Kappalottiya Thamizhan.
02Pearls, churches and Kattabomman
Pearls from these waters went to the Pandya kings and, by sea, to Rome. The Paravar fishing families of the coast were drawn to the Portuguese in the 16th century, and the Church of Our Lady of Snows dates from that time. The Dutch took the port in 1658, and the British held it from the early 19th century. Inland, in the black-soil country of the district, stood Panchalankurichi, the fort of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, stormed by the Company in September 1799; he was hanged at Kayathar on 16 October 1799. The port is now named V. O. Chidambaranar Port.
The life of this place
- 1658 CEThe Dutch took Tuticorin from the Portuguese.
- 16 October 1799Kattabomman of Panchalankurichi was hanged at Kayathar in this district.
- October 1906V. O. Chidambaram Pillai registered the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company.
- 12 March 1908VOC was arrested after the Coral Mills strike.
