Ships.
During this period the Thana coast was famous for its ship-building. Between 1550 and 1600 great ships built at Agashi and Bassein made many voyages to Europe, [Do Couto, IV. 99. Pyrard, French Edition. II. 114. No place had better timber than Bassein, Ditto, 115,] and, in 1634, the English had four pinnaces built for the coast trade, two at Daman and two at Bassein. [Bruee's Annals, I, 334.] The Portuguese historian Gaspar Correa gives a fuller description than any previous writer of the craft which were built at this time in the Konkan ports. The local boats in ordinary use were of two kinds, one which had the planking joined and sewn together with coir thread, the other whose planks were fastened with thin nails with broad heads which were rivetted inside with other broad heads fitted on. The ships sewn with coir had keels, those fastened with nails were fiat-bottomed; in other respects they were alike. The planks of the ship-sides went as high as the cargo, and above the planks were cloths thicker than bed-sacking and pitched with bitumen mixed with fish and-cocoanut oil. Above the cloths were cane mats of he length of the ship, woven and very strong, a defence against the sea which let no water pass through. Inside, instead of decks, were chambers for the cargo covered with dried and woven palm-leaves, forming a shelving roof off which the rain ran and left the goods dry and unhurt. Above the palm-leaves cane mats, were stretched, and on these the seamen walked without doing any harm. The crew were lodged above; no one had quarters below where the merchandise was stored. There was one large mast and two ropes on the sides, and one rope at the prow like a stay, and two halliards Which came down to the stern and helped to hold the mast. The yard had two-thirds of its length abaft and one-third before the mast, and the sail Avas longer abaft than forward by one-third. They had only a single sheet, and the tack of the sail at the bow was made fast to the end of a sprit, almost as large as the mast with which they brought the sail very forward, so that they steered very close to the wind and set the sails very flat. They had no top-masts and no more than one large sail. The rudder, which was very large and of thin planks, was moved by ropes which ran along the outside of the ship. The anchors were of hard wood, and they fastened stones to the shanks so that they went to the bottom. They carried their drinking water in square and high tanks. [Vasco da Gama's Three Voyages, 239-242. A full account of the Portuguese shipping about 1600 is given in Pyrard, II. 118.]
Of Gujarat boats the ordinary deep-sea traders were apparently from 100 to 150 tons burden. Besides these, there were in the sixteenth century some great vessels from 600 to 1000 tons burden, [In 1510 Albuquerque found a beautiful fleet at Ormuz rigged out with Hags, Standards, and coloured ensigns. One of them was 600 tons and another 1000 tons, with many guns and fire-arms, and with men in sword-proof dresses. She was so well fitted that she required nothing from the king's magazine. She had three great stone anchors. Corn. I. 105; II. 122.] and in the seventeenth century, in the pilgrim traffic between Surat and Mocha, still larger ships were used, from 1400 to 1600 tons and able to carry 1700 passengers. [1618, Terry in Kerr's Voyages, IX. 391, 392. One reason for building such large ships was that they might put to sea in the stormy months and avoid the Portuguese 'The Gujaratis load their great ships of 900, 1200, and 1,500 tons at. Gogha, and steal out unknown to the Portuguese.' These ships were called Monsoon Junks (Kerr's Voyages, IX. 230). They are described as ill-built like an overgrown lighter broad and short but exceeding big (Terry's Voyage, 130). The scantlings of the Rahimi of 1500 tons were length 153 feet, breadth 42 feet, depth 31 feet. Kerr's Voyages. VIII 487. Part of the crew in these big vessels were often Dutch. Baldaeus in Churchill, III. 513.]
Goa was also a great ship-building place. In 1508 the Portuguese found that the carpenters and calkers of the king of Bijapur had built ships and galleys after the model of the Portuguese, [Com. of Alb. II. 32.] and in 1510 twelve very large ships were built after the model of the Flor de la Mar. [Com, of Alb. II, 87.]
According to Varthema (1500) the Kalikat boats were open and of three or four hundred butts in size. They were built without oakum, as the planks were joined with very great skill. They laid on pitch outside and used an immense quantity of iron nails. The sails were of cotton, and at the foot of each sail was a second sail which they spread to catch the wind. Their anchors were of stone fastened by two large ropes. [Badger's Varthema, 152-154. Of these larger ships the flat-bottomed were called Sambuchis and those with keels Capels. Sambuchis seem to be Sambuks and Capels the same as Caravels, round lateen-rigged boats of 200 tons. (Com. of Alb. I. 4). Of smaller boats there were praus of ten paces, all of one piece with oars and a cane mast; almadias also all of one piece with a mast and oars; and katurs two-prowed, thirteen paces long, and very narrow and swift. These katurs were used by piratea (Ditto). A few years later Barbosa (p. 147) describes the ships of the Moors of Kalikat, as of about 200 tons, with keels but without nails, the planks sewn with mat cords, well pitched, the timber very good. They were without decks, but had divisions for stowing the merchandise separately.] One of these Kalikat vessels is mentioned of 140 tons, with fifty-two of a crew, twenty to bail out water and for other purposes below, eight for the helm, four for the top and yard business, and twenty boys to dress provisions. [1612, Dounton in Kerr's Voyages, VIII. 425.] Very large boats are mentioned as trading to the Coromandel coast. [1500, Vasco da Gama's Three Voyages, 339. They carried more than 1000 measures of Pice of 105 pecks each.]
Many foreign ships visited the Thana ports. In the beginning of the sixteenth century, Maskat was a great ship-building place. In 1510 Albuquerque found two very large ships ready to launch and a fleet of thirty-four ships great and small. [Commentaries, I. 71, 81, 82.] The establishment of Portuguese power in the Persian Gulf seems to have depressed the local seamen, as in the beginning of the seventeenth century the Persian Gulf boats are described as from forty to sixty tons, the planks sewn with date fibre and the tackle of date fibre. The anchor was the only bit of iron. [John Bldredin Kerr's Voyages, VIII. 6.] The Red Sea ships were larger and better built and were managed with great skill. [One is mentioned in 1500 of 600 tons and 300 fighting men and bands of music with seven elephants (Kerr's Voyages, II. 412); another in 1502 had 700 men (Vasco da Gama's Three Voyages, 315); another in the same year had 300 passengers (Kerr's Voyages, II. 435-436).] In the beginning of the sixteenth century large junks from Java and Malacca came to the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, and may occasionally have visited Chaul. [Stanley's Barbosa, 193; Albuquerque's Commentaries, III. 63. So skilful were the Java boat-builders that Albuquerque (1511) brought sixty of them to Goa, Ditto, III. 168.]
The greatest change in the shipping of this period was the introduction of the square-rigged Portuguese vessels. They caused much astonishment at Anjidiv; the people had never seen any ships like them. [1498, Kerr's Voyages, II. 388.
What astonished the people was the number of ropes and the number of sails; it was not the size of the ships. Vasco da Gama's Three Voyages, 145, 149.] The vessels in Vasco da Gama's first fleet (1497-1500) varied from two hundred to fifty tons. [The details were, the San Gabriel, the San Raphael, the Birrio, and a transport for provisions called a naveta (Lindsay's Merchant Shipping, II. 4). The size of these boats is generally given at from 100 to 209 tons (Kerr's Voyages, II, 521). But Mr. Lindsay thinks they were larger between 250 and 300 tons register. The picture he gives shows the San Gabriel to have been a three-masted vessel with a high narrow poop and a high forecastle. The Gujarat batela and the Arab botel seem from their name (Port, batel a boat) and from the shape of their sterns to have been copied from Portuguese models. See Appendix A.] The size was soon increased to 600 and 700 tons [The 1502 fleet was one 700, one 500, one 450, one 350, one 230, and one 160-ton ships, Kerr's Voyages, II. 521; in the 1503 fleet was one 600-ton ship. Ditto, V. 510.] a change which had the important effect of forcing foreign trade to centre at one or two great ports. Of smaller vessels the Portuguese had caravels and galleys. [In 1524 Vasco da Gama brought out some caravels which were fitted with lateen rigging in Dabhol. Three Voyages, 308. Of galleys Dom Joao de Castro (1540) notices three kinds: bastardos from 20 to 300 tons, 130 soldiers and 140 men decked, with sails and 27 benches of three oars; subtis, 25 benches of three oars, the crew and size the same as bastardos; and fustas, smaller with 17 benches of two oars. Primeiro Roteiro, 275.] Before the close of the sixteenth century the size of the European East Indiamen had greatly increased. As early as 1590, the Portuguese had ships of 1600 tons; in 1609 the Dutch had ships of 1000 tons; and in 1615 there was an English ship of 1293 tons.
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