INDIAN
AND ARAB DUNGIYA - INDIAN AND ARAB - XIII CENTURY
The dungiya is one of the most ancient, sailing ships in the
world. There are no remains or drawings of these boats, but
the more recent one either antique, medieval or modern do
still exist.
At first the hull was undecked and the planks were planked
and sewn together with coir made from coconut fibre and horizontal
section identical to the Chinese junks. The dimensions were
20 metres long, 6 metres wide with a tonnage carrying between
50 and 100 tons. During the XIIIth century, the size of the
dungiyas increased considerably and major alterations took
place like the creations of a deck and the hulls being fastened
with nails, sails, was most convenient for navigation on the
Indian Ocean as the dungiyas sailed to the China sea from
ports the Red sea and the Arabian coasts.
|
