Wellington Pier (Marathi: अपोलो बंदर)(formerly known as Apollo Bunder) was the an important pier for embarkation and disembarkation of passengers and goods in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai), India in the late 19th century. Currently it is the location of the famed Gateway of India and the only passengers using it currently are those that take the ferry to Elephanta Island.
The original name for the pier (Bunder means port or more correctly, haven) was derived from the Palla fish that was sold at this spot in old times. This was corrupted to the Portuguese Pollem and finally to the English Apollo. This old name was still popular among the Indians and is continued to be used today instead of Wellington Pier.
The pier was once a maze of wharves and docks where brisk trading took place. During the months of April and May the pier was particularly busy, with thousands of baskets of cotton (pressed bales were a thing of the future) were stacked to be loaded onto ships. There was frantic activity to be seen on the Cotton Green, at the Custom's House, and at the hydraulic presses where the raw staple was being baled for export. Since passengers had to disembark with their baggage at the Custom's House, further north near the Mazgaon dock, passenger ships would make only a short stop at these piers to land the mail.
Beginning in 1900, the British administration started reclaiming the area in order build the Gateway of India to welcome King George V. The current area now serves as a magnet for tourist - those visiting the gateway and nearby Taj building, those journeying onto the Elephanta Caves and those who come in remembrance of the 26/11 attacks.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||