The British established the site in 1759 as a shipbuilding and ship repair facility. The British knew the area as the Coromandel coast, and Coringa Town (now called Kakinada) on the Coringa River, a branch of the Godavari river. As the principal seaport on this coast, it soon became a large shipbuilding yard of some importance. In 1802 a dock was built for repair of Royal Navy and other vessels, it boasted the only wet dock between Bombay and Calcutta. ‘'Cape Cori, or Hope Island" as it was called was known internationally for shipbuilding and repairs. The facilities were destroyed by massive cyclonic storms and tidal waves in 1787 (causing 20,000 fatalities) and again on 9 and 10 May 1832. On 25 November 1839 yet another even greater cyclone finished off the port and it was not to recover. It has been estimated that the storm surge was as much as 40 feet. The harbour city was destroyed as were some 20,000 vessels of various sizes. This was one of the storms cited by Henry Piddington in a speech to the ‘'Asiatic Society of Bengal'’ where he first used the term ‘'cyclone'’ to describe the phenomena. After the 1839 cyclone, homes were relocated further inland.