Thoni

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Thoni

Post by Anatol » Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:46 pm

On the area of the small sheet(MS) of the Afghan depicted the dhow of Indian Ocean-tony №43- «Maria Antoraj». The thoni is a comparatively new arrival in the dhow world. It consequently lacks the aristocratic lineage of other dhows and it is questionable whether the vessel can legitimately be classed as a dhow. The hull possesses none of the usual dhow characteristics and has evolved from the common sailing lighters that were built at Tuticorin about the time of the First World War expressly for ship to shore lighterage work. A number of the older vessels still perform this task entirely under sail. As a trading vessel the thoni gradually grew in stature and when its voyaging became more extended hulls became larger and more sail was added. Today the Tuticorin thoni is undoubtedly the most impressive of all the dhows carrying the most fantastic array of sails. It is easily identified, even when hull down in the moist Malabar atmosphere.
The hull of a thoni is not an outstandingly beautiful one. It was designed for capacity and to this end there is very little deadrise and the hold is deep. Riding light the vessel is little more than a great slab-sided double-ended barge, painted black except for a white band immediately below the gunwale. Large white registration numbers do little to enhance its appearance either. Despite all this the thoni is a unique vessel and there can be no doubt that, as a type, it has been most successful, otherwise such vessels would not still be built as they are at Tuticorin.
Prior to the actual construction of a thoni a prospective owner must calculate the size of his proposed vessel accordinging the tonnage it will be required to carry. Some consideration might also be given to speed but generally this is not so important as cargo capacity.
It is the custom to place in a cavity cut into the keel where the stem is to be fitted, some small but valuable trinket, perhaps gold, a pearl or a piece of coral symbolic of luck and wealth. At this time a ceremony is held, for ceremonies are an important part of life in India. Both stem and sternpost are massive baulks of karumarudu and to raise them into position sheerlegs are erected. When in place the vital end timbers are shored up.
The under-water part of the hull is tarred, felted and sheathed. A coarse cloth used to be placed over the planking before applying the felt but this is now eliminated because of the cost. For the same reason copper sheathing is no longer used, it being replaced with aluminium alloy with a 3.5 per magnesium content.
After launching either one or two great punnai (Indian spruce masts for the settee sails and a smaller one for the small gaff sail are stepped. A yard is built up from four spars, sometimes five, scarphed and bound together with coir. The whole spar is known as a paruman. The paruman is a well balanced spar that gently tapers in each direction from the point of suspension.
The Tamil sail is a pat and the large settee sail is called a big sail. In a three-masted thoni the fore mast is the largest and so carries the big sail. The second mast is the central mast and it carries the central mast sail . The small mizzen mast is set a European style gaff sail , with a topsail above it. Below the boom a pai is set. The topsail above the big sail . There is a kind of raffee set above the lower half of the fore yard and this is known as a komutti. Coming to the foremost sails we have either a jib two jibs, or a much larger dastoor which is a quadrilateral sail set in a most extraordinary fashion. The short luff is supported by a spar run out at an angle from the bows. One or two triangular spritsails are also set from light bamboo spars lashed to the bowsprit. The outer spritsail, or water sail, is the first water sail and the other the second water sail. A dastoor-shaped sail is sometimes set from the mizzen mast and a sprits'l in the waist to windward. A central topsail is not unknown. So efficient are the thoni crews that many of the tils are taken in and reset each time the vessel goes about. The wind is usually constant and sailing conditions ideal tor a steady five knots.
The rigging in a thoni is entirely different from that of other dhows. It has permanently set up shrouds and the vards are not dipped when changing from one tack to the other. They are slung from the after side of the mast and, in the case of a single settee, the yard crosses on the port side and when there are two settees the yard second mast is on the starboard side. So it can be seen that in the three-master there is always one settee pulling clear of the mast.
Steering with a seventeen-foot long tiller can be an arduous task for the helmsman of a thoni and it is not unusual for two men at the helm. The tiller need not be held in the hand. Sometimes the bight of a coir rope is passed round a groove in the end of the tiller so that the helmsman, by holding on to the rope ends, can steer from a position some distance from the tiller in order that he might obtain a more clear view forward or of any particular movement on board.
Crews are generally of the Roman Catholic faith and wher this is so an altar will be found right in the bows adjacent to the sleeping quarters and upon it a Madonna continuously illuminated by an oil lamp of the kind known in ancient times, a wick in a small earthenware vessel. The sleeping quarters consist merely of a 'thwartship deck, some fifteen feet broad, built in the forward end of the hold. Ship’s gear and dried fish hanging from a beam share this space with the crew, including the master(tindal). No partition or bulkhead separates this space from the hold and should the cargo be fish meal the odour must be overpowering.
India's industrial development provides considerable gular employment for the thoni.

Afghan 150000 AFS 1999 SG?
Source :Clifford W.Hawkins: DHOW
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Afghan.jpg

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