TERRACOTTA SHIP MODEL and GHURAB

The full index of our ship stamp archive
Post Reply
aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

TERRACOTTA SHIP MODEL and GHURAB

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu May 30, 2019 8:34 pm

In 1999 India issued two stamps of 3.00R to commemorate the National Maritime Day.

The stamp with the terracotta model of a sailboat was excavated from Lothal. The stamp gives the year 2200 BC and shows us two ships, one an inland vessel superimposed on an Indus seal. The vessel under sail is a seagoing vessel.
The terracotta models of a boat from Lothal and engravings on Indus seals give some idea of ships going to the sea. For inland waterways, flat-bottom boats of the type suggested by the terracotta models were used. Trade on the high seas and along the coast was possible because the ships were fitted with sails
https://busy.org/@royalmacro/evolution- ... episode-04

The other stamp shows us a “ghurab” a frigate in service by the Indian Maratha Navy. The stamp is designed after a painting from ca 1700.
The biggest naval ships were the ghurabs, usually with two and occasionally three masts. They ranged from 150 to 300 tons and there were always one or two ghurabs of about 40 tons. The ghurab can be compared to the British and Portuguese frigates of those days, bearing in mind that neither the ghurab nor any of the other Maratha naval ships were anywhere near as seaworthy as their European counterparts. As their main armaments, the ghurabs carried two big guns firing forward through their portholes cut in the bulkhead. These were from the nine to twelve-pounder guns. There were also twelve to sixteen other guns, from six to eight on each side, which fired shots of from six to nine pounds. Each ghurab carried 100-150 fighting men in addition to the crew.

Extended low bow with a straight stem, high poop ended in a square counter. Flush decked; foredeck not fixed to the sides to permit drainage in head seas. Inboard rudder. The three-masted vessels as seen on the stamp were rigged in the European manner with square sails on the forward 2 masts and a gaff mizzen.
Sweeps used in calms, employing as many as 50, with one man per sweep.
The vessel did have a light draught.

https://cogitoerigosum.wordpress.com/20 ... e-a-study/ Aak to Zumbra a Dictionary of the Worlds’s Watercraft.
India 1999 300R sg?, scott
Attachments
1999 terracotta model.jpg
1999 ghurab model .jpg

Post Reply