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There is a very good blend of beauty and utility in Indian ships and they are examples of Indian handicrafts and their patience.īetween 17, 300 ships were built at factories in Mumbai. The British, who were very apt at learning the arts, learnt a lot of things about ship building from the Hindus. Durable woods, like rosewood, sal and teak were used for this purpose.įrench traveller Waltzer Salvins writes, in his book Le Hindu in 1811 AD, Hindus were in the forefront in the art of ship-building and even today, they can teach a lesson or two to the Europeans. The East India Company had a ship called Dariya Daulat which worked for 87 years without any repairs. But the Indian ships made of teak would function for more than 50 years, without any repair. Walker writes, The ships in the British fleet had to be repaired every 12th year. The European companies started using these ships and opened many new factories to make Indian artisans manufacture ships. But in India, they saw such big ships as the Gogha which were more than 1500 tonnes. Until the 17th century, European ships were a maximum of 600 tonnes. When the westerners made contact with India, they were amazed to see the ships here. Kings of coastal regions had huge fleets of ships.Įven during Islamic invasion on India in 7th century AD, Indians built huge ships to trade between Egypt, Africa, China and Pacific Islands dating back to 350 BCE
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It would take a ship eight days to come from Iran to Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari). The anchors were sometimes made of heavy stones. Sometimes, the masts of cotton are placed in such a way that a lot of air can be filled in. Some ships are made in such a way that if one part becomes useless, the rest of the parts can do the work.Īnother traveller named Berthma writes, The wooden boards are joined in such a way that not even a drop of water can go through it. Their bases are made of three boards in such a way that they can face formidable storms. He wrote, The Indian ships are much bigger than our ships. Excerpts from Vasco Da Gama’s diary were published in Orgaiser, a newspaper run by RSS, long back.Ī traveller named Nicolo Conti came to India in the 15th century.