# Help finding Pintagall, India **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753 "2023-09-07T23:18:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753/1 "2023-09-07T23:18:28Z")
A colleague is going through the diary of a 19th century British seaman who makes a reference to “Pintagall, India.” He can’t find a reference to such a place anywhere. Of course the seaman may be spelling phonetically, and accents and dialects may have distorted the name. Anyone here know anything that can help? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753/2 "2023-09-08T00:00:08Z")
Point de Galle (now known as just Galle) in the country of Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) may be a possibility. It’s long been a major port: > **[Galle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galle)** > > Galle (Sinhala: ගාල්ල, romanized: Gālla; Tamil: காலி, romanized: Kāli) (formerly French: Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, 119 km (74 mi) from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. > Galle was known as Gimhathiththa before the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century, when it was the main port on the island. Ibn Batuta, a Moroccan Berber Muslim traveller in t... Sailors may have referred to it as being part of India, even though it actually wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753/3 "2023-09-08T00:11:32Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Sailors may have referred to it as being part of India, even though it actually wasn’t. “India”, to the British mind in the nineteenth century, encompassed not only what we now think of as India and Pakistan, but also what we now think of as Sri Lanka and Myanmar. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753/4 "2023-09-08T00:12:30Z")
I was looking at: > **[List of ports of call of the British East India Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ports_of_call_of_the_British_East_India_Company)** > > The East Indiamen of the British East India Company (EIC) passed many places and stopped at many ports on their voyages from Britain to India and China in the 17th to 19th centuries, both on the way and as destinations. Some of these places were simply landmarks, but a number of the places were the locations of EIC factories, i.e., trading posts. > In many cases the spelling of the names of these locations has changed between then and now. One purpose of this list is to link, where possible, th... and Point de Galle jumped out as the most likely possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753/5 "2023-09-08T00:28:02Z")
This is brilliant. I’ll pass it on. Many thanks, ---
**Author:** ![Oooklout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ba8739/32.png) [@Oooklout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oooklout)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753/6 "2023-09-10T18:06:50Z")
Pondicherry? Old French colony on E coast of mainland? Still has a remnant Christian community of locals, plus French cuisine and architecture. Might jog a memory. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753/7 "2023-09-10T18:56:47Z")
I enjoyed reading the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-pintagall-india/989753/8 "2023-09-10T19:49:57Z")
Pondicherry is a good guess, but the diary mentions it by name, so that can’t be it. I’m thinking Point de Galle is the best bet.