Four Hundred Years Afloat, Still Knocking on Wood
Ritayan Mukherjee
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Images from Mandvi in Kutch, Gujarat, where workers with skills inherited over generations make wooden dhows using sal and babul timber. Ships made in Mandvi still carry cargo to West Asian countries 400 years after the port was established.
Mandvi shipbuilding yard is located at Bandar Road by the 16th century Mandvi port in Kutch, Gujarat.
Wooden ships here are traditionally called dhows. These handmade vessels are still used to transport cargo to ports in West Asia.
Balancing act: a worker crosses a high beam in a dhow that will be three storeys high when finished.
The builders shape the logs by hand to match the curves of the boat. Their skills make an extremely demanding task look effortless.
The outer surface or 'skin' of a ship, which when completed gives the vessel a finished look. Workers call these patias.
This piece originally appeared on People’s Archive of Rural India.
Read the original article here.
This article went live on May seventeenth, two thousand seventeen, at thirty minutes past eight in the morning.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.