Riding The Crest

The Group's first venture, over 250 years ago was in marine construction. It contributed significantly to India's distinguished history as a maritime power.

The Wadia were marine designers and master builders from 1736 to 1886. They built 355 vessels that ploughed international waters, including the first ships constructed for the British Navy outside England. It was on one such ship, the 'Minden' that the American National Anthem was composed, and on another Wadia-built deck, the 'HMS Cornwallis', that the Treaty of Nanking, ceding Honkong to England, was signed. The second oldest ship in the world, 'HMS Trincomalee" which even today is afloat and intact in Hartlepool, is yet another marvel of the Wadias' shipbuidling prowess.