Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa is getting ready to play an important role in reviving India’s pursuit to rediscover its ancient maritime trade route and heritage, that will be undertaken by the Navy in December next year.
The Indian Navy, Ministry of Culture, and Hodi Innovations, Goa, last year collaborated to reconstruct the ‘ancient stitched ship’ as a reminiscent of the ships that once sailed the oceans on India’s ancient maritime trade routes.
The ship is now getting ready at the Hodi Innovations shipyard in Divar Island and subsequently, the Indian Navy’s crew stitched ship will embark on its maiden ocean voyage from Mandvi in Gujarat to Muscat in Oman in December 2025.
This was disclosed by Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council at an event held at the International Centre Goa (ICG) on Tuesday.
The ship which has been modelled after a 5th century, stitched sailing ship painting found in the Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra.
Sanyal, whose brainchild this stitched ship project is, said that the ship should be ready by March 2025. The ship building which had commenced in September 2023 is being supervised by master shipwright, Babu Sankaran and his team from Kerala who are using the ancient method of stitching the ship together using choir ropes, fish oil, coconut fibres and red pigments.
Sanyal who made a detailed presentation on India’s 5000 year-old maritime history, even cited a reference to Marco Polo, where the Italian seafarer mentioned seeing Indian ships carrying a crew of 130 people in the 14th century. According to Sanyal, in modern times, stitching of ships was restricted to small fishing canoes used in Karnataka and racing boats in Kerala.
“The Indian Navy project is aimed at keeping alive this ancient tradition and reviving the glory days of India’s maritime history,” Sanyal said.
The second speaker of the evening was Captain Saleh, retired officer of the Royal Navy of Oman, who has the distinction of commanding the “Jewel of Muscat” a stitched ship modelled after an ancient Omani trading ship, whose wreckage was discovered off the coast of Indonesia in 1998.
Captain Saleh with a multinational crew of 15 sailed from Muscat to Singapore on board the “Jewel of Muscat” for five months in the year 2010. The Omani naval officer recounted the many storms and cyclones that his crew had to brave, which resulted in a broken mast and excess water on board during their voyage.
Captain Saleh said, “I am happy that India is embarking on this project. It is bound to inspire future generation of Indian sailors.”