Shipwrecks: Their impact on the behavioural patterns of sailors and on littoral societies during the age of sail in the western Indian Ocean,circa 800–1600

Introduction

The ocean has played a formidable role in the life of human beings throughout history in terms of providing resources as well as acting as a significant means of transportation, especially in the age of sail. In the medieval period, the waterways formed the most efficient means of communication and trade among the three natural elements of transportation – land, water and air. Through its seas and rivers, water was the first to offer humans the opportunity to carve out trade and commerce routes. ¹ A ship could accommodate more cargo than a caravan of pack animals, and it was much faster as well. ² Thus, a ship provided a better medium of transport during the age of sail. However, at times, voyagers had to pay heavily for their journey, as many would lose their lives at times of peril on the ocean. The ocean was not always calm; during heavy storms and rainfall, the wooden vessels of the age could not always survive the forces of nature and were usually wrecked. Thus, during the medieval period, oceanic transportation profoundly impacted the socio-economic lives of coastal societies, particularly merchants and sailors.

Yet the history of oceanic affairs remains a marginalized aspect of medieval Indian historiography. However, narratives began to change by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the ocean was no longer seen as an isolated place, out of the reach of history. Meghan Vaughn has written that ‘oceans are no blank spaces on the map, nor are they gaps in the histories of the world consisting of continents’. ³ The use of oceans as highways of communication linking scattered communities, rather than being viewed as impossible barriers, was one of the significant shifts in this period. There was large-scale human migration too, which shaped the culture of many coastal regions.

With these wide-ranging movements of vessels on the oceans, many unwanted incidents began to occur. Shipwrecks were one such incident, which occurred every so often on the oceans, if not frequently. During the medieval period, ships wrecked on most occasions due to natural causes. However, pirates also played their part in destroying several ships. It is not an easy task to trace the number of shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean because of the lack of written evidence. Simon Digby has similarly remarked that it is not easy to trace the genesis of the activities of shipping in India because of the lack of written evidence. ⁴ However, scattered information available in alternate sources such as travellers’ accounts, as well as the verbal arts, enables us to bring certain aspects to light. As sources are limited, this article tries to shape its ideas mostly on the basis of secondary sources or translations of original works, such as the various travellers’ accounts of the period.

This article attempts to assess the impact of shipwrecks on sailors and coastal societies – particularly merchants in the port towns in the western Indian Ocean. The article primarily focuses on commentary on the rituals and superstitions of sailors that defined their behavioural patterns due to shipwrecks. Then, the article examines how the wreckages left an impact on the merchants and inhabitants of the coastal towns in general.

Techniques of shipbuilding in India

Prior to discussing the ramifications of shipwrecks on the lives of the sailors in particular and the littoral people in general, it is important to have an idea about the shipbuilding technologies in medieval India. The method of constructing ships was in many ways responsible for the large-scale shipwrecks during the age of sail in the Indian Ocean. Various categories of ships were constructed in India and it was the hull that was the basis for the classification of Indian Ocean ships during the medieval period. ⁵ Some of the common vessels that were largely present in the Indian Ocean were the zambuk (sambuk), ⁶ pattamar, ⁷ capel (kapal) and parao (prahu), ⁸ baghala ⁹ and dhow. ¹⁰ Along with these, traditional ships – small ocean-going vessels – had a strong presence, particularly in the coastal areas of India.

Among the above-mentioned ships, dhows were commonly used in the western Indian Ocean. Dhows were predominantly constructed on the Malabar Coast. However, it is not clear when this tradition of constructing ships started in India. ¹¹ The paucity of written sources and the absence of maritime archaeology in India compels researchers to depend explicitly on travel accounts and particularly on the East India Company’s factory records. The term ‘dhow’ is considered to be of non-Arabic origin and is of recent usage. ¹² The Russian traveller Nikitin, during his journey in the fifteenth century from Moshkat (Muscat) to Kuzrat (Gujarat), travelled in such a vessel and described it as a tava. ¹³ Dhows were sewn with rope and had a mainmast and a mizzenmast rigged fore and aft with lateen or, more precisely, settee sails. ¹⁴

Beside dhows, all along the shores of the western Indian Ocean and in the Persian Gulf, primitive craft like skin boats, reed boats and dugout canoes were constructed. ¹⁵ Canoes were first enlarged by the superimposition of planks stitched on the underbody. ¹⁶ In the Persian Gulf, the stitching was first done on palm wood and later on the superior teak imported from India . Gradually, this method of shipbuilding spread to the western Indian littorals from the Gulf. ¹⁷ Hourani has opined that sewn vessels were the only ships in the Indian subcontinent until the fifteenth century. A sewn ship was constructed as follows:

The hulls were put together in the simplest manner possible. First, the keel was laid on the ground, and then horizontal planks on each side were fastened to it and each other by means of stitching of fiber. The stitches were passed through holes bored at intervals near the edges of adjacent planks. They were pulled tight on the inside over stringers, long narrow pieces of wood. There is no mention of the use of either tree nails or iron nails in the whole construction. ¹⁸

In describing the ships of fifteenth-century Calicut, Vasco da Gama narrated in his account:

The ships had not got more than one large mast and two ropes on the sides and one at the prow like a stay, and two halliards which come down to the stern and help to sustain the mast; and the rudder is very large and of their planks and on the outside of those ship they have ropes on either side, with which they haul on the rudder in order to steer the ship; and the ship is undecked, short and with a few ribs, the planking is joined and sewn together with coir thread and very strongly, for it endured all the strain of sailing and the planks are fastened in the same manner to the ribs, sewn with the same coir and they remain as secure as if they were nailed. ²³

Besides using the sewing method in their construction, the Indian ships lacked a deck. ²⁶ Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a fifteenth-century traveller, narrated an incident when he was on a journey from the Maldives: facing a heavy storm, the ship filled with water as it had no deck. The mariners could not get rid of the water and the ship sank; those who could swim survived by the grace of God and the rest drowned. ²⁷ Vasco da Gama also made a similar observation that, instead of decks, the Indian ships had chambers and compartments for their merchandise. The crew were lodged above and no one had quarters below where the merchandise was stowed. ²⁸ This suggests that the Indian ships of this period were mainly constructed without a deck, which was a precarious situation at times of heavy rain and storms, as water would enter directly into the hold of the ship. The method of bailing water out of a ship was also manual, where a few gumtee (belonging to the khalasis class of sailors) were hired, whose duty it was to bail out water that entered the ship. ²⁹

However, the thirteenth-century Venetian traveller Marco Polo mentioned a ship that had one flat deck under which separate compartments (as many as 60) had been constructed. ³⁰ Nicolo Conti also noted something similar:

they build some ships much larger than ours, capable of containing two thousand butts, and with five sails and as many masts. The lower part is constructed with triple planks in order to withstand the force of the tempests to which they are much exposed. But some ships are such built-in compartments that should one part be shattered, the other portion remaining entire may accomplish the voyage. ³¹

Thus, the above details present a clear picture of the methods used in Indian shipbuilding from circa 600 to 1600. The information from the travellers’ accounts indicates that Indian ships did not use iron nails in their construction; rather, they mostly used the sewn method, had no decks and had at most two sails, which were manly lateen sails, although cotton was sometimes also used. However, it is difficult to say why Indian shipbuilders refrained from using iron nails altogether to join planks. According to Habib, ships with planks bound together by ropes of coconut fibre withstood the shock of collision with rocks much better than ships that used iron nails. ³³ Hence, Indian boat builders preferred the sewn method of planking over using nails to join planks. Iron had been abundantly available in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity, and there were barely any regions – from Kashmir to Mysore, Sind to Assam – where iron was not to be found. ³⁴ Indian sailors were notoriously superstitious and believed that there were magnets in the ocean that could attract the iron nails of a ship and cause damage to the vessel, which could be wrecked. ³⁵ This belief was widespread in the region and played an important role in the popular imagination, restraining shipbuilders from using any iron in the construction of ships until the fifteenth century.

In addition, in medieval India, the processes of procuring iron from mining, smelting and manufacturing iron nails were very time-consuming and expensive compared to using traditional stitching materials, which were ready to hand and required no elaborate manufacturing processes. ³⁶ The ready availability of coir made it a more convenient material to use for shipbuilders than iron, so the sewn method was preferred over nailing. Al-Masudi has commented that, in the Indian Ocean, iron nails do not last long because seawater corrodes iron and the nails grow soft and weak; hence, the Indians preferred threading with cords made of fibre instead of using iron nails. ³⁷ However, Al-Masudi’s argument seems weak as we have evidence that, until the middle of the fourteenth century, Chinese junks were operating in the Indian Ocean as far as the Persian Gulf until the Ming Dynasty came into power in 1368 ad. The Chinese junks’ planks were fastened together with iron nails. ³⁸ Indian seamen were notoriously superstitious, and the slight advantages of iron nails might not have impressed them or led them to change their traditional methods of ship construction.

The Indian ships were usually constructed using teak. In the Bay of Bengal, sundari teak from the Sundarban Forest was generally used for the construction of ships, ³⁹ whereas on the west coast teak from Malabar was the most durable wood for vessels. ⁴⁰ Rafts, dugouts and small boats were often constructed using a single type of wood that was locally available and readily accessible. However, larger seagoing vessels were constructed from a variety of types of timber according to the different parts of the vessel. ⁴¹ More care was taken in the choice of suitable timber for components like the keel, keelson, stem, lower ribs, side planks, crossbeams, masts and spars, while the upper-level side planks above water level, the inner decks, cabins and platforms required a much greater level of flexibility in the use of timber. ⁴² The finishing and appearance of the upper part of the ship also influenced what type of timber was used. Teak, however, remained the most suitable timber for its durability. In seawater, teak serves as a better decay-proof agent; it lasts for more than 200 years if kept under water, while out of water it decays sooner, though not for some time. ⁴³

Masts and sails were the apparatus of sailing ships in the Middle Ages. Lateen sails were generally used for Indian Ocean ships. ⁴⁴ However, the material used for the sails varied from cotton to palm leaves, according to the size of the vessel. While he was travelling in the western Indian Ocean, Santo Stefano mentioned two instances where he witnessed two different kinds of material used for sails: one ship had a rush (a plant of the genus juncus) mat sail and the other sails made of cotton. ⁴⁵ A mast was called a diql or daqal, which literally means ‘palm trunk’. ⁴⁶ It appears that palm remained the preferred choice for masts, but sometimes canes were also used as masts for small seagoing vessels. ⁴⁷ However, a mast was generally selected for its durability, and needed to be long and straight. In large ships, even teak was used for masts in the Indian Ocean.

However, sewn ships were gradually driven out of the Indian Ocean and nailed ships became more visible. Habib mentions that, in 1594, when the Mughal Emperor constructed a ship in Bandar-e-Lahore, he used around 11.5 tons of iron nails to join together 2,936 planks. ⁴⁸ As early as 1526, Khwaja Shihab-ud-din, a Persian merchant based in Chittagong, had a galliot constructed using Portuguese methods, which obviously utilized iron. ⁴⁹ In 1638, a large ship was built at Narsapur Peta for Mir Muhammad Sayyid, of around 800 tons burthen and using iron nails; coincidently, Tavernier voyaged from Bandar Abbas to Musalipattanam in the same ship. ⁵⁰ This shows that, by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the prejudices among Indian sailors around the use of iron in the construction of ships had begun to diminish. Two lexicons – Farhang-i-Jahangiri (seventeenth century) and Bahar-i-Ajam (eighteenth century) – mention iron langar (anchor) in the ground in order to stop vessels from becoming unmoored. ⁵¹

Nevertheless, sewn ships remained the dominant vessels in the western Indian Ocean during the age of sail, and were prone to being wrecked. These ships were made of wood and stitched with coir, and their masts were made from various trees like palm (and, at times, even cane). Hence, this technique of constructing ships acted as a catalyst for the frequent wrecking of ships. In the western Indian Ocean, one in every ten dhows failed to reach its destination. ⁵² Unlike European ships or the Chinese junks, dhows were not nailed but stitched with coir. Therefore, if these ships collided with a solid object (such as a rock) or were attacked by something like a whale, there was always the danger of leaks and water entering the ships. ⁵³ Moreover, overloading was a common feature of Indian ships. In Anis-ul-Hujjas, it is stated that passengers had to be on their guard against an unscrupulous nakhuda (‘captain’), who would take on extra cargo and passengers to make additional profit. ⁵⁴ Nobody would protest against this and, if anyone did, they risked being asked to disembark. In one instance, when some observant passengers protested against overloading and threatened to disembark the ship, the owner agreed with their demands but increased their fare to compensate for his loss. ⁵⁵ Whatever the reason, shipwrecks not only resulted in misfortune for the merchants in terms of economic loss, but at times also resulted in the loss of life. A large number of mariners lost their lives in shipwrecks every year. This, in turn, left a mark on the psyche of the sailors.

Sailors, superstition, ritual and risk: tracking shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean

The frequent wreckage of ships had profound consequences for the behavioural patterns of the sailors. The hazardous journeys alongside the uncertain atmosphere on ships made sailors notoriously superstitious. Hence, this section tracks shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean along with how they changed the lives of mariners. The paucity of sources again creates difficulties in bringing shipwrecks to light, yet travel accounts provide considerable information, which is valuable in assessing the nature of shipwrecks and their implications for the mariners. Santo Stefano, a Genovese traveller, mentioned a shipwreck during the fourteenth century in the Indian Ocean, of which he was a survivor. He wrote that after six months of delay due to unfavourable weather conditions, when the vessel sailed from the Maldives, it was faced with disaster:

A heavy storm with rain hit their vessel, which lasted continuously for five days. As the ship lacked a deck, it filled with water to such a degree, and there was no means of bailing it out and the ship finally sunk into the sea. Those who could swim saved their live and the rest drowned into water. It was a disastrous incident, where our voyager also survived by holding a large plank of wood till another vessel came into their rescue after a long time as he mentioned from morning till the evening. ⁵⁶

Santo Stefano’s experience shows that, at that time, the lives of sailors were at the mercy of the weather, which decided the course of their journey and at times made their situation vulnerable. One Bhabendra Kalita (born circa 1495), who was described as a bar-sadagar (‘big merchant’), owned a large boat and, during the course of a journey, the vessel was wrecked; he lost everything (all moveable goods), including his family. ⁵⁷

After serving the Sultanate of Delhi for years, Ibn Battuta made a journey to China. At the beginning of this journey, Battuta ordered all his servants and companions to embark the ship while he stayed onshore to perform his Friday namaz (prayer). ⁵⁸ The ship sailed early to avoid an afternoon storm, which was a common phenomenon in the Indian Ocean during the monsoon season. Those who were onshore could not embark; Battuta, too, was left behind. Unfortunately, the ship was driven away from the shore and wrecked; many died in the incident and only a few survived. ⁵⁹ On another occasion, while Battuta was sailing along the Coromandel Coast, his ship was struck by a gale and wrecked. Battuta described the incident as follows:

When the ship was sinking we were face to face with death, and people jettisoned all that they had, and bade farewell to each other. We cut down the mast and threw it overboard, and the sailors made a wooden raft. I put my companions on the raft and I myself stayed on the ship. The sailors set to work to make four other rafts, but night fell before they were completed, and the ship took in water. I climbed on the poop and stayed there until morning, when a party of locals came out to us in a boat and we went ashore with them to the coast of Ma’bar (southern India). ⁶⁰

This situation of uncertainty on-board ships had an impact on the behaviour of both sailors and passengers. The constant fear of unfavourable weather and shipwreck caused them to resort to irrational activities. Sailors, passengers and clients performed many superstitious maritime rituals both on the ships and onshore for a safe journey. Various contemporary travellers who sailed through the Indian Ocean told of the superstitious nature of the sailors in this region. On the ocean, storms, reefs and shallows were ever-present perils. Added to this, the danger of pirates made the lives of sailors more precarious. Marco Polo noted that the pirates of Gujarat formed cordons of 20 to 30 ships at intervals of five to six miles, signalling to each other by fire or smoke. ⁶⁴ Therefore, given these hurdles, the safe return of a ship was considered to be the ‘will of the God’. ⁶⁵ All these circumstances together created a situation of uncertainty among sailors and resulted in high levels of anxiety. In the midst of all these troubles, merchants and mariners turned to God for assistance. ⁶⁶ To please God, sailors and passengers performed various rituals, which were sometimes very superstitious in nature.

However, in spite of their irrational nature, these rituals were important because they would reduce anxiety levels among the mariners. The performance of various rituals acted as a catalyst, providing them with strength at sea. Rituals instilled confidence among them and created the belief that they would reach their destination safely. Poggie and Pollnac have argued that superstition or religion is a type of activity that can fulfil the function of reducing anxiety. ⁶⁷ People working in risky occupations tend to be superstitious. Rituals give a subjective feeling of predictability and control, which reduces fear among people working in dangerous situations. ⁶⁸ Consequently, the frequent shipwrecks, storms, maritime sickness, and naval and piratical engagements with competing powers together put the lives of sailors at risk. Hence, during the medieval period, marine populations were much more at risk of death than people based on land. ⁶⁹

Thus, various natural occurrences – such as storms, heavy rain, reefs and shallows – and dreaded attacks by pirates made conditions very precarious for sailors. Uncertainty, fear and long journeys resulted in Indian sailors performing notoriously superstitious rituals. Nicolo Conti, an Italian voyager who travelled to the Indian subcontinent during the early decades of the fifteenth century, wrote about his experience on an Indian ship, explaining the various rites and rituals that the Indian sailors performed during times of distress. The following passage from the account of Nicolo Conti's voyage demonstrates how infamously superstitious the Indian mariners were:

The sailors fearing that the calm of the sea might continue assembled together at a table placed by the mast, and having performed various secret rites over it, danced round it, calling frequently on their God, Muthia, by name. In the meantime one of the Arabs, being possessed by the demon, began to sing in a marvelous manner, and to run all around the ship like an insane person. He then approached to the table, and eating some coal placed there, demanded the blood of a cock as a drink. Then someone cut the throat of a fowl and placed on his mouth, after sucking the blood the insane person asked the sailor what they wanted, and they replied a wind. He promised them a prosperous wind within three days, which should carry them into ports and showing, by casting his hand behind his back, what wind he would give, and having more over cautioned them that they should be prepared to face the force of the wind, he shortly afterwards thrown to the ground as one half dead, having utterly forgotten everything what he did and said little while ago. ⁷⁰

On another occasion, Abdu’r Razzak, an Arab voyager of the thirteenth century, shared his experiences by recalling that before his return journey from Bidjanagar (Bijanagar), he went to a 120-year-old oracle, Sheriff Emir Seid-Ala-eddin-Meskhedi, at the port town of Maganor (Mangalore) to learn the fate of his journey. ⁷¹ This oracle was so famous that people of all faiths consulted him before taking a journey at sea. ⁷² Qaisar has drawn attention to an eleventh-century Sanskrit work which suggests that, during sea journeys, holy water was sipped; curd, milk, rice and garlands were also offered to the sea. The printing of auspicious palm impressions over the vessel, especially upon the seams, was also practised. ⁷³ Among the Malabar sailors, it was the custom that no one who was in the habit of drinking wine would sail at sea because they believed that a man who went to sea must be a man in despair. ⁷⁴

Another maritime superstition among the Indian sailors was that the carrying of a dead body or the bones of a dead person on a ship was never allowed. It was believed that carrying a dead body on a ship would impact the journey of the ship, as it bound to be overtaken by a tempest or calm on her voyage. Therefore, anyone wishing to carry such a cargo did so secretly, without the nakhuda noticing. ⁷⁵ According to the Dutch merchant Jan Huygen van Linschoten, when Indian sailors were making a voyage, they went onto the ship at least 14 days before their departure, made a great noise by sounding trumpets and lit a fire; the noise could be heard both day and night for around 14 days. ⁷⁶ They performed this ritual by offering various foods as part of a feast to their pagoda for a safe voyage. They did the same on their return, giving thanks to the pagoda for their safe return. Another traveller, John Ovington, recalled that, in Bombay, the sailors performed a ritual called Narali Purnima or ‘Coconut Day’ to stop the monsoon, so that they could venture forth safely on the sea. The Brahmins, in their endeavours to appease the ocean, would offer great numbers of coconuts to the sea to calm its waves and pacify its storms and fury. Once this ceremony had been performed, they declared the ships to be safe, whereupon they sailed one by one. No ship would dare to weigh anchor before this ceremony had been performed. ⁷⁷ Mariners still follow these traditions and never fail to perform the puja (Hindu ritual or worship) before a voyage.

On the western coast of India's Kutch region, sailors worshipped a saint known as Darya Lal or Darya Pir, who was the epitome of the Hindu–Muslim culture. Sailors from both communities visited his shrine to receive a blessing before setting sail. ⁷⁸ He is sometimes represented in the form of Varuna resting on a fish, but more often there is no image of him. In Muslim shrines, there are no representations as he is taken to be omnipresent. ⁷⁹ Among both Hindu and Muslim devotees, light and water are associated with his worship and veneration. ⁸⁰ In Saurashtra and Kutch, a fair is held in his name on the seashore. After sweet rice is offered to the sea, it is distributed among the gathering. His protection is invoked at times of crisis at sea, but the formal thanksgiving rites are undertaken on return to land. ⁸¹

Although the Indian mariners were extremely superstitious, these rituals helped them to stay strong during tough times at sea. These superstitious rituals helped them combat the fears they had about the weather and the atmosphere on-board ship. At times, the rituals acted as a catalyst, boosting the mariners’ morale to help them cope with the difficult circumstances at sea. The sailors also kept themselves busy with various activities on-board to combat their fear. Therefore, it is important to discuss life in the ships to have a better understanding of the behaviour of the sailors and passengers. The ways in which they socialized, their food and their accommodation facilities need to be assessed to explore their behavioural patterns.

To illustrate the socialization on an Indian ship, Sheriff quotes Carr Laughton, who said: ‘Of all things the ship is the most cosmopolitan’ – not only in itself, but also in the role it has played in history. ⁸² People of different religions, castes, groups, ethnicities, colour and creed sailed together and lived for months collectively, which made ships the most cosmopolitan spaces of that particular age. However, Carr Laughton’s observation is not supported by Abdu’r Razzak, who suggested that there were different grades of passengers in the Indian Ocean ships. This claim has also been reinforced by Qaisar. ⁸³ The Indian ships had the provision of separate cabins for wealthy passengers, which were not permanent structures but constructed on a makeshift basis. ⁸⁴ Abbe Carre pointed out that wealthy passengers travelling with their family, who wished to keep their wives away from the gaze of other passengers, could book separate cabins, which would generally cost 225 to 300 ecus or 600 to 700 livres. ⁸⁵ In these cabins, there were provisions for cooking, and the fuel would be provided by the ship's authority.

Congregational prayers were also offered to the Lord to avoid unwanted circumstances like storms and rain, which might cause a ship to be wrecked. Alan Villiers, the Australian mariner, talking about an Arab dhow, states that the passengers, especially the Muslims, performed namaz regularly five times a day. Villiers describes how ‘the old man led the prayers, standing in front of the long line of the strange congregation with his drawn tragic face sightless yet facing towards Mecca’. ⁸⁶ These congregational prayers provided the passengers with a platform to unite, leaving aside their personal status.

The women were kept in seclusion in the Indian Ocean ships, particularly those from wealthy families. Abbe Carre noted that these women could not talk loudly amongst themselves and that their life was reduced to such misery and slavery that they could see only one man, their master, from whom they got their necessities, along with food and water. ⁸⁷ Separate cabins called dabosa were reserved for women on Indian ships. ⁸⁸ Poor women, who could not afford to hire a dabosa, had to travel in public with other fellow passengers, which gave them more unrestricted space than the elite women. Abbe Carre mentioned a Persian merchant who paid a handsome sum to book two cabins to keep his half dozen wives in seclusion, so that they could be kept away from the eyes of the other male passengers.

On-board ship, the seamen were always busy in a variety of tasks, such as hauling, pulling, furling and setting; these were part of the daily routine of ship life. Bad weather and rough seas made the life of the sailors harder as they had to frequently adjust the sail, putting the rigging up and down according to requirements. Dennen Volo has commented that:

the life of much of the sailors remain boring as day after day the view continues the same; the ocean, the clouds, the breeze, the very fish, even that gambol about the bows, seem to be the same, and one could easily fancy the vessel to be set here in mid-ocean, like one of those little miniature ships which we see on old-fashioned clocks, rolling and pitching all day but making no headway. ⁸⁹

The sailors therefore needed some diversion from their routine work to eliminate the ultimate boredom they faced at sea. Homesickness was obvious among sailors, as they sailed for months at sea. Above all, the probability of high risks at sea created a situation of anxiety among the mariners. So, diversions from their regular work provided them with some moments of happiness and respite. Gambling was a common pastime for the men, while the women often took to gossiping among themselves to pass the time. ⁹¹ Abbe Carre observed that the English ships in the Indian Ocean had entertainment facilities, but only for the officers of the ship. They were careful not to let the crew hear or see what went on at these parties. They hung hatch covers, carpets and sails across the part of the ship where they held their gatherings to shield it from the rest of the vessel. ⁹² Singing was also an activity for killing time. Villiers mentions that when he was travelling in an Arab dhow, he observed 47 Beduin sitting round the ship's mainmast, singing songs for their own amusement to pass the time. ⁹³ Thus, passengers and sailors behaved very differently on ships than in their everyday life on land. They had lots of time to pass without anything constructive to do. Moreover, sea voyages in those days were full of hardship.

Often, animals like horses and cows were transported in Indian ships, and normally no provision was made for keeping animals on-board, so they were held on the open deck; chickens, for example, were kept along the sides of usually half-flooded decks. ⁹⁴ These kinds of arrangements created an unhygienic environment, which resulted in disease. Frank E. Hugget has termed seventeenth- and eighteenth-century naval ships ‘floating slums’, where different kinds of diseases spread rapidly. ⁹⁵ The overcrowding of ships, unhygienic and unsanitary environment, and frequent climatic changes in the specific routes through which the ship has passed various regions during the long journey created many health-related issues on-board. ⁹⁶ The lack of fresh fruit, vegetables and milk meant that the mariners were dependent on the food supply from the ports on their journey. John Freyer mentioned that the Parsees at Surat were engaged in supplying the ‘Marine with carts drawn by oxen, the ships with wood and water’. ⁹⁷ These foods would sometimes be infectious, not being fresh, which resulted in illness among the mariners.

Thus, the hazardous conditions involved on these journeys, with a lack of sufficient food and fresh water, at times long stops at ports, and the risk of disease and inclement weather, as well as the high number of shipwrecks, combined to make a journey in an Indian ship daring, which in turn made the sailors and passengers superstitious. They performed various rituals at sea and in the ports to seek God’s blessing for a safe journey. However, even in this atmosphere of fear, they had to spend a considerable amount time on the ships. Hence, they took up various amusements, such as gambling by the men, gossiping mostly by the females, and singing and congregational prayer to pass their time. However difficult life was on a ship, it did not deter voyagers and sailors from taking long journeys across the sea. Probably the profit from these voyages was such that they willingly undertook them. Although life meant more than profit, they took long voyages. The human mind is inquisitive and curious, and indeed these sailors had a risk-taking streak, even if it could mean losing their life.

Impact of shipwrecks on littoral societies

Shipwrecks did not only have an impact on the social life of the sailors, but also left their mark on the economic life of the coastal people in general and sailors in particular. Ovington mentioned that when he was on the island of Muscat, he witnessed a shipwreck; the captain – namely, Say – made it to the island along with his sailors. Luckily, there was no loss of men as the accident happened near the shore, but there was a loss of money as the captain could only recover 12,000 to 14,000 pounds worth of goods from the ship. ⁹⁸

Shipwrecks were disastrous for both merchants and shipowners. In the Indian Ocean region, a shipowner invested almost all his earnings in shipbuilding, unlike in Europe where shipbuilding was a joint venture. The merchants also invested a lot of their savings to buy cargo for trade and commerce. Hence, when a ship was wrecked, all of the capital of the shipowners and merchants went down with it. At times, some of them lost their will to live and start again from scratch. They preferred to disappear into the sea along with their goods and ship rather than struggle onto land and restart their business. Hourani describes a shipwreck in 919 ad, when a ship was sailing from Siraf (Arabia) to India with a huge quantity of merchandise of incalculable value. It met with a typhoon as soon as it entered the Indian sea. The ship's officers proposed to jettison the cargo in the sea to lighten the ship. But the captain refused to do so as he did not want to face the loss of money. After six days of continuous rain, thunder and lightning, when the ship was almost full of water, the captain agreed to throw the cargo into the sea. However, it was too late and, finally, he ordered the passengers and merchants to leave in lifeboats. When the other sailors on the ship pressed him to come with them, he refused, saying that after losing all his life savings to the sea, he had no reason to live and would prefer to sink into the sea along with his ship and precious cargo. ⁹⁹

Therefore, in Europe, shipowners preferred to construct their ships as joint-stock ventures because this practice spread the risks of shipowning. ¹⁰⁰ Even if their ship was wrecked, one person would not have to bear the entire loss. In Europe, around four to five per cent of ships per annum were lost at sea until the middle of the nineteenth century. ¹⁰¹ Despite these prospective losses, the investment in shipping continued because it was one of the best places for investment due to the huge profits that ships could make. Moreover, if a ship's captain had confidence in his abilities, the ship offered a golden opportunity to make money. ¹⁰² In India, the owner of a ship was also the nakhuda of the ship. ¹⁰³ Hence, a successful shipping project would enable the nakhuda to make huge profits. On the other hand, an unsuccessful venture would bankrupt the nakhuda. Unlike the European tradition, Indian shipowners invested alone and with a shipwreck would lose all their capital. There was no insurance system for ships and navigation in India. However, in northern European countries, the insurance of ships was a common practice.

Shipwrecks also had an impact on trade and commerce in port towns. When the expected arrival of a ship with cargo did not happen due to a shipwreck, it created the strong possibility of inflation in the prices of certain goods. The western Indian and Coromandel coasts were known for exporting textile products across the Arabian Sea. Battuta noted that Gujarat, Coromandel and Bengal supplied cotton clothes to South Arabia and Oman, which depended entirely on this trade for clothing and stable food. ¹⁰⁴ Drugs, spices, teak from Malabar and precious stones were some of the other products that were regularly exported from India to countries across the western Indian Ocean. ¹⁰⁵ Hence, an unexpected shipwreck was bound to impact the people of these coastal regions. Moreover, the sultans of Delhi imported large quantities of luxury textiles from the Islamic Near East. ¹⁰⁶ On the eastern front, valuable merchandise was also sent to Zaitun (China) from India. ¹⁰⁷ Therefore, with the loss of a ship, it is obvious that traders engaged in the trading of luxury items were bound to be affected.

During the medieval period, it was common practice for merchants and traders to settle in port towns to make their living, which entirely depended on maritime trade. In describing the port town of Calicut, the early sixteenth-century traveller Varthema stated that a large number of merchants had settled in the town who came from different places and countries, such as Ormuz (Hormuz), Persia and Arabia. ¹⁰⁸ He further observed that India's pagans (Hindus) were not involved much in the maritime trade as they were unwilling to navigate. It was the Moors (Muslims), almost 10,000 in number, at Calicut who were largely involved in trading activities across the ocean. ¹⁰⁹ The head of the merchants of Calicut was one Ibrahim, who was known as the Shabundar (Shah Bandar) and hailed from Bahrain. All of the merchants used to meet and dine at his residence to discuss their trading activities. ¹¹⁰ There was one shipmaster, known as Misqal, in Calicut, who was widely known among the merchants for possessing great riches and many ships for the purpose of trade in India. ¹¹¹ In addition, Arab merchants (Moors), Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians settled in large numbers on the western and southern coasts of India in the medieval period. ¹¹²

Battuta, the fourteenth-century traveller, mentioned that residents from India could also be found in the port towns of Africa, such as Mogadishu and Aden:

Adan [Aden] is an exceedingly hot place, and is the port of the merchants of India, to which come great vessels from Kinbayat [Cambay], Tanah, Kawlam [Quilon], Qaliqut, Fandaraina, al-Shaliyat, Manjarur [Mangalore], Fakanur, Hinawr [Honavar], Sindabur [Goa], and other places. The merchants of India live there. The inhabitants of Adan are either merchants or porters or fishermen. The merchants among them have enormous wealth; sometimes a single man may possess a great ship with all it contains, no one sharing in it with him, because of the vast capital at his disposal, and there is ostentation and rivalry between them in this respect. ¹¹³

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be argued that during the age of sail in the Indian Ocean the monsoon winds facilitated voyages. However, they were not always exploited correctly and sailing directions deviated, creating trouble for sailors. Moreover, lengthy waits at ports, the unhygienic environment on the ships, calm seas and attacks from pirates made life on-board ships perilous. In addition, frequent shipwrecks, due to the ships’ construction techniques, increased fear among sailors. Hence, sailors resorted to many irrational rituals both onshore and on-board to ensure a safe journey, which defined their behavioural patterns.

A shipwreck not only impacted the life of the sailors but also caused suffering for their families. It also had an impact on the economies of the littoral societies. During the medieval period, merchants from various places settled in port towns, and their earnings depended solely on maritime trade and shipping. The coastal people also relied on trade from across the sea for necessary items. Hence, a shipwreck would significantly impact their life. In short, it can be said that despite the grim realities of life on the ships, the sailors and mariners took these adventurous journeys across the ocean and established networks between ports, which became the meeting points of different cultural groups and led to the exchange of different ideas and knowledge. India was a meeting place for different merchant groups, who brought new ideas with them.

The oceanic routes remained the most popular means of transportation during the medieval period. Apart from being the cheapest and easiest mode of transport, the shipping industry also awarded its many employees and employers recognition and respect, as well as profits. Life on the ships was often perilous, as travellers had to deal with the vagaries of nature. Moreover, the unhygienic environment, with a shortage of food supplies and fresh water, added to the misery of voyagers. Often, the various ordeals that travellers had to face on-board prompted them to resort to superstitious beliefs, rituals and practices, which played an important role in reducing their anxiety, especially during tough times. In terms of behavioural patterns, it can be seen that, on the Indian ships, a class hierarchy was maintained by the wealthy merchants through different means, including hiring separate cabins for themselves with the provision of cooking facilities. Further, women were kept in seclusion. However, such seclusion was limited to elite women and affluent passengers. The rest, who could not afford this luxury, had to share the deck. Thus, voyagers could not set aside gender or class discrimination in the ships. However, it seems that these were the norms of the age in Indian society.