Although the Port of Mumbai, located almost along the West Coast of India, is comparatively a modern creation as we have it today, its magnificent harbour, which is the keystone of its prosperity, has held a pride of place for centuries. As early as the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, though the trade of Mumbai island was negligible, the natural advantages of the Harbour as a maritime base and a haven for shipping on the western sea-board of India, were realised and there was considerable maneuvering for its occupation. In 1652, the Surat Council of the East India Company, realising the geographical advantage of the Port, urged its purchase from the Portuguese. Their wish was gratified nine years later when, under the Marriage Treaty between Charles II of Great Britain and the Infant Catherine of Portugal, the ‘Port and Island of Mumbai’ were transferred to the king of Great Britain.