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Maratha Navy
The Maratha Navy was the naval wing of the armed forces of the Maratha Empire, which existed from around mid-17th century to mid-18th century in India. Formative years Historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar noted: In medieval India, the Muslim rulers (such as the Deccan Sultanates and Mughal Sultanate) had mostly ignored the naval arm of their military forces. It may be because they came overland from the North and won decisively in land battles. This scenario changed, however, when the Portuguese arrived in India and started monopolizing and controlling trade on the western coast of the continent. Chhatrapati Shivaji realized the importance of a strong navy; the first keel of a Maratha naval vessel was laid down in a creek near Kalyan circa 1654. Shivaji took up the task of constructing multiple naval bases along the coast of present-day Maharashtra. He organized two fleets – one under the command of Admiral Mainak Bhandari and the other under dαutαt Khan. The Marath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grab (ship)
A grab was a type of ship common on the Malabar Coast in the 18th and 19th centuries. The name derives from ''"ghurāb"'' or ''"ghorāb"'', Arabic for raven, which in turn came into Marathi and Konkani as ''"gurab"''. The ''ghurāb'' was originally a galley, but the type evolved. The grab combined an indigenous hull form with a pointed prow, with or without a bowsprit, combined with European rigging on two to three masts. A description from 1750 states that the grabs of Angria's fleet narrowed from the middle forward and instead of a bow had the prow of a Mediterranean galley, covered with a strong deck level with the main deck but separated from it by a bulkhead. The grab pitched violently when sailing against a head sea so the prow sides were open to permit water easily to run off. On the main deck under the forecastle there were two 6 or 9-pounder guns pointing forward through port-holes cut in the bulkhead and firing over the prow. The grabs then had 6 or 9-pounder guns on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
