An introduction

The last large traditional boat to be constructed in Qatar – a boom – was built in Doha in the mid-seventies. In this photograph you can see how the majority of her ribs were left more or less as they came and only trimmed at their junctions with the planks of the boat. You can also get a feel for the size of the boat from this view of its construction. Incidentally, I don’t know if I am correct in referring to dhows as feminine in the characterisation of the West. I believe some dhows are male and some female, but I’m not sure which are which. Perhaps somebody would tell me.

These two photographs are of groups of boats sitting at dawn in the low water off al-Bida prior to the Corniche road being developed in Doha. The photographs were taken in 1972 when the traditional way of beaching craft was still practised. In the top photogra[h there are, from the left, two small abwam, one dismasted, a shuw’i in the background, another boom and a jaliboot on the right. In the foreground is, I think, a small kitr with a second further away behind it. The low water in Doha’s bay was both a benefit in that it enabled boats to be beached easily, but it was foul smelling as it didn’t wash out well at high tide. The lower photograph was taken later in the same year but also early in the morning, again showing the fishing craft waiting for high water be taken out to sea.

This photograph shows a fleet of traditional craft with their lateen sails raised on the occasion of National Day 2009 in Doha’s West Bay. They are a beautiful sight. The traditional boats of the Gulf are obviously neither Islamic in any way nor are they elements of Gulf architecture. However, they seem to me to have so much in common with traditional Gulf architecture and the way of life prior to development irrevocably changed the life of Qataris. In this sense I see boats being as important as the traditional architecture, and I feel that they should be looked at in parallel with land-based architecture.

For this reason I have made this page in order to add a short description of what I can recall of these beautiful craft. Unfortunately, I have to warn you that I can not guarantee the absolute accuracy of everything I write. Much of it comes from conversations I have had in the past with locals with an interest in boats as well as those engaged in the construction and maintenance of them, but I regret now not making notes. I can recommend at least this article to give a description of some of the craft and their history in and around the Gulf and, for more detail of the construction of boats, particularly referring to the Kuwait ship-building industry, this site which, though it seems to have gone down when I last checked, may return, in which case I will leave the link in. This photograph, incidentally, was taken at dawn under unusual dawn lighting conditions, looking across the bay at Doha from al Bida. This was the time, as is also shown in the photograph above, when fishermen could wade out to their craft or at least move back and forward on a small boat.

For those who have an interest in the boats of the Gulf and would like to read more about them, I’d like to recommend a far more authoritiative source which, despite its academic character, contains considerable information about the craft of the region in their context and does much to explain why the naming of craft around the Arabian peninsula is so difficult.

The increase in revenue from oil in the Arabian/Persian Gulf has seen a considerable increase in the use of modern shipping. This reflects the larger size and frequency of ships needed to bring goods into the different countries of the Gulf, in turn a response to increasing disposable income, the rapidly expanding population and concomitant development. Bear in mind that the national populations of the Gulf have been significantly increased by the service population brought in to carry out the considerable development politically considered necessary to bring those countries into line with the more developed countries of the West and, of course, the region.

This growth in Qatar has been dramatic. At the beginning of the boom in the seventies, for instance, ships would often have to stand out in the roads to wait their turn to unload while, on land, intense efforts were being made to upgrade the unloading capability of the ports, road and commercial and government infrastructures in order to feed the goods into the country. I should add that it was only the east side of the peninsula that was able to take deep draught vessels and even then the ports of Doha and Umm Said had to have channels dredged. Doha was the commercial port, Umm Said reserved for the export of oil.

Prior to this, goods were moved within and out of the Gulf by traditional wooden craft. These boats relied on their large lateen sails though, later, diesel engines were added to the dhows both in order to improve their manoeuvrability near land as well as to enable them to sail when the winds dropped. Even today these craft ply their trade between the Gulf and the Indian sub-continent and east Africa via the Arab states on the Arabian Sea. The dhows still use sail when it suits them, though this is obviously dependent upon the prevailing seasonal winds. I can recall often seeing them drop their sails out in the roads and use their diesel engines to manoeuvre into harbour. The diagram illustrates not only the changeability of the winds, but it also reflects the dominance of the north-north west shamal within the Gulf. It also illustrates the dominance of Oman between the two bodies of the Gulf and the Red Sea.

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But first a little history…

For thousands of years the sea has been one of the main systems over which trade has been carried and communications effected. There are, of course, land routes for the further distribution of goods and for communicating, but the sea was open and, in significant ways, free of many of the obstructions to movement, trade and commerce found on land. Initially, movement by sea would have been close to the shore. This enabled sailors to navigate easily on land bearings as well as to sail through relatively safe seas while obtaining rapid access to a safe haven in the event of a storm. Over time the improvements in maritime technologies together with better understanding and familiarisation with environmental conditions led to sea routes moving further away from land with, eventually, major sea and cross-ocean journeys being undertaken.

The people who made these journeys were brave, for the sea can be capricious and dangerous. But it has a beauty which sailors recognise and which draws them to it not just in the pursuit of trade but in a separation from their life on land. This draws them together as a group of like-minded individuals who have to work to a common purpose in order to be able to carry out their work in relative safety. The bonds formed between sailors were, and to some extent remain, regardless of nationality. For example, it is only a relatively short time ago that the people of England were concerned that their compatriots in Kent might side with the French due to their maritime links across the Channel. It’s possible, of course, that the French might have had similar fears about their Normandy and Picardy sailors siding with the English.

The history of sailing craft in the Gulf is not necessarily one that derives from the countries or people bounding it, for some of the influences come from farther afield. It appears that the chief influences are from Persia, the Indian sub-continent and the Portuguese, then from British naval craft. It is probable that there is much to learn from the influence of the Chinese who, for centuries, were the most advanced in their use of craft, navigational aids and marine technologies. Due to internal problems, the wide-ranging activites of the Chinese fleets stopped in the fifteenth century. Although there has been some investigation into this element of Chinese history, not much is yet known in the West of these craft, the science and technologies behind them, and their influence on craft, navigation and marine sciences in the Indian Ocean and Gulf.

It is from Persian, Sanskrit and Akkadian sources that much of the information learned today has been discovered, and this process is continiung. There are, however, difficulties in sourcing information due to a number of factors as

• some sources are difficult to read and understand,
• the extent to which writers understood their subjects is hard to determine, and
• graphic sources, while valuable, are difficult to assess in relation to their relevance and accuracy. They provide clues but not answers.

There would have been many influences from around the region, but the Portuguese caravel and the Ottoman oared fighting craft would have have had a consequence on local craft as might the British ships seen in the region in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The caravel was designed as a light, manoeuverable craft suited to long distance travel but needing supplying on long journeys. Characterised by two or three lateen sails it developed from the thirteenth century in and around the Mediterranean to become a larger and more effective ship used by both the Portuguese and Spanish navies, the lateen sail later developing into a square sail. Originally developed as fishing boats, when used as warships, caravels depended on the stern castles as fighting platforms.

The Ottoman oared galleys were a very different type of craft. Powered by oars they were fighting ships but obviously did not have the range of a caravel, though they were also fast and highly manoeuverable. Their main armament was their heavily reinforced prow which was designed for ramming.

British war ships moved into the Gulf and Indian Ocean in their work of protecting the trade routes to the Indian sub-continent. Brigantines and cutters would have been common in the region. The larger ships did not have the shallow draught needed to manoeuvre in-shore, a job left to smaller craft, particularly oared. Efforts by the British to contain or defeat piracy in the Gulf were particularly constrained by this factor. But at least it introduced these new craft into the Gulf where their effectiveness in different conditions would have been noted and learned from by local boat builders.

It is probable that all these types of craft influenced marine technologies in the region, one relating to commerce and travel, the other to war. Nevertheless, it appears that it was the Persian influence that predominated from India to the southern point of Africa. Clues to this lie in many areas of research and study such as:

• textual,
• historical
• maritime,
• navigational,
• lexicographic,
• archaeological, and
• iconographic,

much of this relating to nautical theory and practice, shipping and trade within and across the region. But it has to be borne in mind that primary sources provide us with little assessment of the importance of trade, nor can we be certain of the extent of knowledge of medieval writers in relation to technologies, material and the like.

What we can be certain of is that cultural and commercial exchanges developed along sea routes, and that boat building developed in response to the need for local and long distant travel to improve.

While reed craft were common in Egypt and Mesepotamia, there was little development of this type within the region. Although they were inexpensive to build and maintain, they had limited carrying power and would only have been safe on rivers or inshore waters. As you might expect, sailing craft which developed within the region were designed for the work they had to perform and, particularly, the waters in which they would sail. Reed craft are more suited to rivers and inshore sailing and so wooden craft developed relatively quickly in order to provide safer movement across greater distances.

Initially wooden craft were constructed from planks, butted and sewn together with ribs added after the planks had been joined. This photograph shows how important the junctions between planks must have been to the integrity of the craft. This type of construction will have relied upon good craftsmanship by the boat builders, requiring accuracy in the cutting of the planks and in the making of holes for sewing the planks together. I am not able to say what material might have been used for caulking between the planks and in the holes but I would guess that it would have been a fibrous material capable of holding a substance such as fish oil, as is used nowadays, to repel the ingress of sea water. As can be seen in the photograph, the planks are held with a cross stitch using a material such as leather or a suitable natural material, perhaps a root or a coir or coconut rope.

In an update to the previous paragraph I have just learned that the replica of a ninth century Arab ship, constructed in the Oman in 2008, had the holes in its planks made watertight by hammering in coconut fibre which was then made watertight with a putty made of powdered lime and goat fat. Also, that the sails were made in Zanzibar from woven palm.

In the early days of boat construction, there would have been neither the technology nor materials to use nails in their construction. Interestingly it is said that one of the reasons nails were disliked in the construction of boats was that it was considered they might be drawn out by magnetic forces below the waterline. It is far more likely that nails were initially avoided due to their tendency to be affected by the marine environment. Despite this, it was not uncommon for nails to be used to fix planks at the prow and stern where the two sides of the craft became extremely close together, and the ability to work the fixings inside the craft was too constrained.

One other point that I find interesting is that boats were considered to have similarities with camels. It is well enough known that camels were sometimes known as ships of the desert, but their long necks and the masts of ships were also compared both for their forward-leaning appearance as well as the sinuous movement while travelling. Here there is comparison with another part of the world. Researchers who have sailed replicas of Viking longships of northern Europe – craft whose planks are also lashed together – have commented on the twisting movement of the longship through heavy seas. This movement, they say, is very suggestive of a live animal and suggests this as being the reason that the prows of Viking longships was cusomarily carved in the form of a figurative, dragon’s head which also had a talismanic character to it. But I digress…

For millennia sailors have used the seaways for the movement of goods and the winning of resources. The Gulf appears to be a safe place for shipping, but this can be illusory; the Gulf is large enough for even the larger craft to be at risk from adverse weather conditions. But most of the time the weather is good, and those who put out to sea can relax in the knowledge that they have the skills to carry out their tasks in safety. This photograph, of a captain at the helm of his small shuw’i, represents this understanding and illustrates the innate ability sailors have to steer their craft in a natural and instinctive manner while carrying on the business of the trip and conversing with those around them.

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The dhow

The name commonly given to an Arabic boat is dhow, although Arabs more commonly refer to them collectively as khashab. Here, under unusual light conditions, one sits at anchor in Doha Bay off the old jetty in 1972. But, just as the names ‘ship’ and ‘boat’ in English are commonly used to encompass a wide range of different craft – yacht, punt, canoe, launch, ferry, freighter, liner and so on – there are a number of traditional Arabic craft found and still used in the Arabian/Persian Gulf and retaining their traditional names. These names do differ in different parts of the region, as do the shapes of the craft.

The origin of the name dhow is still argued over today. One story I was told is that its real origin was in one of the Arabic words for a lamp or light. Supposedly a British sailor asked a local for the name of ‘that over there’, pointing at a boat with a lit lantern, and was told dhow, the Arab thinking the sailor was asking about the most obvious thing to be seen in the dark, the lamp. Like most apocryphal stories it’s unlikely, but I still like the story.

The etymology of many of the terms has much to do with the wide area over which the boats roamed for centuries. Indo-Persian mixed with African and Arabic vocabularies and, as much of the traditions were not written down but verbal, attempting to discover roots and meanings can be difficult, and I am neither an etymologist nor linguist.

Dhows come in a variety of shapes and sizes developed, as in other areas of the world, in response to the boats’ purposes and the character of the seas in which they sailed. Dhows which sailed across the Gulf were often subject to violent seas, and this is particularly true for those moving out of the Gulf and across the larger Arabian and Indian seas. This view of a shuw’i is typical of the most common boat now used, leaving and returning every day from fishing with their traps on the stern.

At the same time it should be borne in mind that many of the waters of the Gulf are very shallow. This is something the British found to their cost when they attempted to settle what was known in the eighteenth century as the Trucial Coast, in which there was endemic piracy. The well-armed, but heavier British ships, were unable to follow pirate ships which, with their lateen sails and shallower draught were easily able to out-manoeuvre the British. Here, one of the local craft has been fitted with a lateen sail and moves across Doha Bay.

The lateen sail has a particular advantage. Its fore-and-aft rig can be used to sail closer to the wind than the square-rigs used by European craft. They were smaller sails than the equivalent European craft but, with their long keel, shallower draught and lighter weight these craft tended to be faster. This combined with easier manoeuverability and their sailors’ local marine knowledge, gave them significant advantages.

This photograph is of a single multiple pulley or sheave, part of the rigging of a dhow. The raising and lowering of sails is a heavy business and requires all the aid possible in order to accomplish these two acts quickly and efficiently. Setting the sail to the correct height and manoeuvering it around the mast are important functions that place or set the sail to the requirements of the master of the vessel. The sheave enables the effort being made in pulling the lines or ropes to be more efficiently managed, and were an important development in the rigging of sailing craft. Note that this sheave is made of a hard wood and appears to have metal pulley wheels within it. Externally it is bound with both hemp rope and metal in order to retain its strength against the strong loads that act upon it. Perhaps the metal band was added when it began to split.

Nowadays it is rare to see lateen sails in the Gulf other than associated with tourism. However I can remember that it was not uncommon to see the sails on the horizon where their captains would use wind power out at sea for the major part of the journey, but lower their sails and use their diesel engines to manoeuvre into harbour.

The notable characteristic of a lateen sail, as you can see from the above photograph, is that it is triangular, the leech or trailing edge being extended to optimise the amount of wind it can catch. You can also see how the sail is extended fore and aft to increase the amount of wind caught. Apparently it developed from a square sail as the need to head up closer to the wind was seen to be important. In fact a lateen sail can sail closer to the wind by at least a point – 1/32nd of the compass 360°, or 11¼° – allowing them to sail at least within four points of the wind compared with a square sail achieving only five points.

I’ve not been able to talk to any Arab sailors about the lateen sail but was interested to read that dhows were often sailed into the wind and would wear around rather than tack. Tacking brings the bow of the craft across the wind and requires both that the yard is brought round the mast and that the rudder is effective in the manoeuvre. Wearing also requires the yard to be brought round the mast, but turning downwind helps move the yard around. With the relatively small rudders of Arab craft, wearing would have been a more easy option in heavy winds.

‘Tacking’ a boat has the craft heading into the wind and zig-zagging across it as the craft beats its way forward. ‘Wearing’ has the boat making figures-of-eight. Heading into the wind the craft, instead of tacking across it, turns away from the wind and then rounds up to head up again into the wind. It is a lengthier procedure, but easier to accomplish in strong winds.

Interestingly, the experience of the Arab sailors on having to deal with the heavier-armed British warships resulted in a change in construction. Their boats were traditionally made with teak planks connected with coir rope bindings and heavily greased. This had given them literally flexible craft, better suited to dealing with the sandbanks and reefs of the Gulf. The nailed oak planks of the British navy were emulated and dhow boat construction developed using wrought iron nails driven through bow-drilled holes packed with hemp soaked in an oil and tar mix.

The types of boat were characterised by the functions for which they were developed. Unlike Western boats, they were not differentiated by the number of masts but by their shape and size.

All dhows are traditionally powered by the wind driving a lateen sail, a triangular sail hanging from the mast at an angle, and permitting rapid deployment about the mast and enabling the dhow to sail closer to the wind than their contemporary British ships.

The three main uses for dhows in the Gulf were in the:

• pearling industry,
• the movement of goods around the Gulf and, in and out of the Gulf, linking with the Indian sub-continent, East Africa, the Red Sea and
• fishing,

the latter two being the only two uses left – though to which must now be added

• recreation.

Having said that you should be aware that, in contradistinction to the way in which boats tend to be classified in the West, boats in the Gulf were used for whatever function was required at the time. Essentially this was a commercial necessity, the owners finding work for their boats depending on opportunity. What I’ve not been able to work out is how the different boats came to be sized and constructed into the standard models described below. I assume that it is, as it would be elsewhere, a result of the characteristics of the seas they sailed, from the coasts of the Arabian Sea to the calmer inshore waters of the Gulf.

These two photographs were found in the suq and illustrate a little of the activity on pearling craft. It was a hard life, under harsh conditions but was one which appears to be regarded wistfully by those who were involved in it. While visitors to the Gulf are now able to see the fishing fleets in action and perhaps take advantage of the recreational craft operating as businesses, most will also be aware of something of the history of the pearling fleets on which the original wealth of Qatar was largely founded. Although the industry was crippled by the development of cultured pearls in the Far East, there are not only merchants and divers alive who participated in pearling in the Gulf, but even some who occasionally dive, recreationally, for pearls. To the merchants pearls are not only items of intrinsic value, but they each have memories associated with their finding. It is fascinating to see a merchant take out the rolls in which he keeps pearls and fondle them as he recalls and recounts their individual histories. From the point of view of this page of the notes, the most important point to bear in mind is that the boats were not only wind powered, but rowed by their crew as can be seen above.

As mentioned earlier, the other main use for traditional boats was fishing. Fishing fleets were established all the way around the coast with a small settlement supported by, and supporting, the boats and their crews. Most of the settlements were located immediately next to the sea, with only a small stretch of sand separating them from the water. The boats would be pulled up onto the sand, rather than being left in the water, and the nets were stored and mended along the beach and outside the houses of the fishermen. This photograph, although taken recently at Wakra, shows something of the character of these villages as they would have appeared in the past with their boats drawn up along the beach.

Here, at al-Shamal, is a familiar sight around the eastern and northern coasts of the peninsula, fishing nets carefully stacked with their polystyrene floats waiting to be loaded and taken to sea. Note the typical colours of the superstructure, mast and spar of the moored fishing craft, as well as the fact that many of the fishermen are now expatriates and not nationals. Fishing is still a sport or hobby carried out by Qataris, but the majority of those fishing as a business are not, most originating from the Indian sub-continent.

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Boat building

The construction of craft in the traditional manner ceased by the nineteen-seventies in Qatar. Many years before this, perhaps centuries before, these craft were no longer bound together but nailed for the reasons given above. But, by that time the method of sourcing timbers used in boat construction had also changed and I have never seen nor heard of un-planed timbers being used in their construction since then. These two details of boat construction were taken in the main hull and the prow respectively of the last boat I saw being constructed in Doha, in the mid-seventies. The wrought iron nails in the upper photograph were being used to make temporary fixings to elements of the construction. The lower photograph gives an indication of the tight space formed between the keel and the planking at the prow which is also a possible reason for a preference for nailing over stitching at these tight points.

The construction of these boats is still carried out without benefit of drawings and relies on the master builder and his experience for direction and supervision, a general brief for performance requirements having first been established with the owner. While boat builders all have to be extremely skilful in their work, the traditional craft of three-dimensional shaping of wood seemed to be more so in those days. Here a craftsman sits in the hull of the boat, using an adze to shape a rib to fit snugly against the planking of the boat.

While cutting tools are used to shape the planking and ribs of boats, bow drills are needed to produce the holes through which the nails are hammered to fix the planking to the ribs, and a cold chisel to hammer caulking between the planks to make them watertight. Here is a set of tools belonging to one of the craftsmen on an adjacent boat nearing completion. Each of the bow drills has a diamond shaped point of a different size to produce the range of holes needed for different fixing requirements.

Here you see a bow drill being used by a boat builder in preparation for fixing the wrought iron nails through the planks of the newly constructed boom seen in the photograph at the top of this page, and into its ribs. This operation is extremely skilled even though it might be thought old-fashioned. The drill consists of a handle in which the end of the steel drill bit is allowed to turn, and a secondary wooden bobbin attached to the drill bit which is turned backwards and forwards with the aid of a wooden bow supporting a thick cord wrapped round the bobbin. Tension on the bow drill is maintained by the fingers of the hand holding the bow. The sharpened, diamond-shaped bit on the drill is remarkably effective in the right hands, the bow drill giving substantial control to the operator and allowing slow or relatively fast speeds to be used when drilling. High speeds have to be avoided as they tend to burn the wood.

But times have changed. While some traditional tools are still used in carpentry in general and boat building in particular, many new tools have been brought in to help speed the process of building. Here you see two electric drills being used for a similar task as that being carried out in the photo above it where a bow drill is being used – the provision of holes into which nails are being driven to hold the planking to the timber frame.

Dhows were constructed originally with the planks fixed together side by side working up from the keel, itself preferably a single piece of timber. Ribs were then inserted to strengthen the planking. Nowadays construction has the ribs constructed first and the planking added.

This photograph is of the finished construction on the interior of a small craft and illustrates a number of points. If you compare it with the photograph at the head of the page you will see the difference between old and new constructions in the irregularity and regularity of the two constructions respectively. This photograph reflects the use of standardised material in terms of timber dimensions, and is considered to improve the speed of construction as well as produce a better balanced craft. The other thing to notice is that each horizontal timber has the ends of the nails connecting the planking to the ribs turned over to prevent their working out. With traditional nails, which were made from wrought iron, this produced an extremely strong fixing, one which was very difficult to work loose.

As I mentioned previously, small craft originally were constructed of teak planks held in place by greased coir rope bindings, creating a flexible construction. One of the difficulties of this form of construction is in making the fixings within the increasingly narrow space at the prow and stern of these craft. This space can be imagined from the above photograph. Using nails driven in from the outside of the craft significantly simplified this problem.

Compare this photograph with the first photo at the head of the page. This is also a boom under construction and, although the photograph was taken in the late nineteen-seventies, it illustrates the manner in which these craft are now set up and built. They are still constructed under the supervision of the master boatwright using the same craftsmen, and generally without drawings, but the tools, equipment and materials used have changed significantly enabling, perhaps, more precision but, particularly, enabling the construction to be effected within a shorter period of time. Where the craft are being built for recreation, more time is needed to provide the higher standards of finish and equipment that recreational staff require.

The construction of boats nowadays continues with the advantages that modern technologies can bring. The planks that form the sides of the craft are usually cut by band saw and will bear the typical marks that are displayed as parallel bands running at right angles to the length of the plank, typically at about 50-60mm centres. The ribs of the boat are cut and temporarily fixed as is illustrated in the photograph above, and then the planks or strakes are attached as is illustrated in this photograph, the planks being shaped and fitted by eye. Here you see the stern of the shuw’i with the strakes projecting, as yet untrimmed. The projecting strakes that are characteristic of the stern of the shuw’i have yet to be fitted. The stem post on which the rudder will be attached is in place, and provision has been made to take the propellor, forward of the post below the waterline.

Here, at the prow, most of the strakes have been added and the ends of the ribs are still projecting, as yet untrimmed. The top strake, the sheer strake, has been fitted. On the left of the photograph it is clear that strakes have not been fixed more or less parallel to each other, but have been trimmed to fit. This is a key part of the craft of the boat builder. A pair of anchor bitts can be seen standing each side of the prow to which mooring ropes or anchors can be attached for mooring or anchorage.

In the water this shuw’i is riding relatively high as can be seen from the caulking at the waterline. The pattern of fixing nails is clearly seen, an important aesthetic consideration in the new craft, but one that diminishes as the visual appearance of the nails age with time and exposure. One particular effect to note here is the added protection that has been given both to the front of the prow as well as to the sheer strake. I’m not sure what material has been used to effect this, but assume it to be iron or steel, the former preferable.

These next three photographs are of shuw’i in the harbour at Doha. They are here to illustrate how some of the wooden craft are being decorated. There appear to be two reasons for this. The first is that there has been a tradition in the Indian sub-continent to decorate their wooden craft, and many of the builders of wooden craft in Doha have been brought in from that part of the world. In fact they populate the boatyards the length of the Gulf. As with any industry there are those who specialise in different elements of the manufacture of these craft; some build, some decorate and, in the suq there is even a model boat builder brought in produce models for the tourism industry.

The second reason for decoration must have something to so with the amount of disposable income there is available for these, now recreational, craft. While the lines of boats have an intrinsic beauty in them related to the functions they have been designed over time to fulfill, the urge to decorate lies within all of us. There are parts of the craft that cry out to be decorated and, in these three photographs you can see how this has typically been carried out.

The three photographs show how the prow, stern strake and sheer strake have been decorated. It is evident that the carvings have no relationship with traditional patterns found in Qatar, but it has to be remembered that, in a sense, the craft belong not to Qatar but to the traditions of the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. One particular difference between these craft and the older, traditional shuw’i is the shape of the prow in the first photograph where it can be seen to have little of the strong reflex curve of the traditional country craft.

While the carving on the prow, stern and sheer strakes are strongly curvilinear, the door panels in the lowest photograph show a far stricter geometric pattern. I don’t know why this is but suspect that part of the carving was carried out by craftsmen from the Indian sub-continent, while the doors have been decorated by a local craftsman. What is noticeable is that all the carving is carried out within framed panels; there is no carving in the round.

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Recreation

Qataris enjoy the sea now as they always have. My experience is that it is not only those with a marine connection that do so, but also those of badu stock. Because of this, recreation is an increasing activity in the use of smaller, less expensive, dhows in Qatar. This reflects both a decrease in the traditional use of the dhow – pearling and, to a smaller extent, fishing – and a significant increase in disposable income and time available for recreation. Those who can afford it can usually afford to employ somebody to look after and helm the boat when it is taken to sea, and the boats are usually available at short notice.

This photograph of a dhow illustrates a typical converted leisure craft at its mooring. You can see that a considerable amount of the available deck space has been enclosed and glazed, that above this a deck has been created with seating established on it, and that modern navigation and communication systems have been installed as well as two air-conditioning units.

Many such dhows have been converted for recreational use by their owners, and the market for them has risen accordingly as those who have not been in the marine business have sought out these craft now they have the funds to afford them.

Generally the interiors of these craft are enlarged and enclosed with the addition of facilities such as air-conditioning and television being made. Fishing is very popular from them and day trips are common both for men and their guests as well as for all the family.

With increasing leisure time, sometimes the trips take place over a number of days and, in a similar manner to camping in the desert, sometimes the owner will travel to the boat – or vice versa – each day. There seems to be a genuine interest in the sea both by those you would expect to have this love of the sea – those whose families have been associated with fishing and pearling – as well as those whose families come from the desert. In both cases it often appears to be very much a relocation of the majlis from the land to the sea, and with similar activities undertaken. Nevertheless fishing is very popular activity and everybody seems to come back from their trips with fish for the table, friends and family, as well as for the freezer.

The boats used for recreation can consume considerable funds as not only do the boats need maintaining, but they invariably have at least one crewman to handle everything to do with maintaining and running it. Generally boats are looked after well. It is apparent that while the interiors may be unsophisticated, the basic elements of the traditional craft are detailed, well maintained and, in cases such as the zuli developed from both a functional and decorative point of view.

In addition, the opportunity is taken to add details which would not have been used traditionally on dhows, but which find their provenance in the traditional Gulf architecture of Qatar. In the case of this solid, carved detail, it illustrates both the relationship between owner and boat as well as that with his heritage.

The boats above have been relatively tastefully converted and retain a lot of their original character despite the addition of enclosures and the provision of air-conditioning. The main reason for this has been in maintaining a recognisable shape of the craft, and keeping them honest to their purpose. Here are three boats which are slightly different.

The first of the two is a shuw’i which has been given a modern styling. The curious thing is that it appears to me not to be constructed of teak but perhaps of steel or fibreglass, though I have to admit I’m not sure. The clues are the openings in the hull, its unnatural smoothness and the fins at water level on its stern. The addition of the two zuli over the stern give it an interesting symmetry and the detailing of the cabin is certainly modern. Without a doubt it is an attractive craft and, if I am right about the construction, I have no difficulty with the copying of a traditional form in a different material. If you compare this with comments I have made about pastiche in traditional building, then I think this is a reasonable and well executed way of designing modern boats.

Here, however, is something rather different. The craft in this photograph appears, again, to be a converted shuw’i, here constructed in the traditional manner, but on which has been constructed a rather unsympathetic addition. If you compare this with the photo of the converted shuw’i above you will see a significant difference. The shuw’i further up the page has its cabin positioned so that it is possible to move around its external wall in order to reach the stern. In this shuw’i the cabin has been constructed as an extension of the hull – you can see the shape of the traditional stern extensions enclosed by the cabin wall in this photo – but this key element of the form of the shuw’i has been masked by the cabin walls which have been extended even further than the traditional extensions. While both craft have square windows, those on this shuw’i look cruder as they are not masked by the extended cabin roof. These decisions have, to my mind, compromised the design of the traditional shuw’i and, while times change, this really is not an attractive addition to the marine fleet.

This shuw’i has been converted slightly differently from the craft illustrated above, in that the extension to the stern has been carried out in a way that preserves the visual importance of the stern strake extensions. Despite this, however, the mass of the new cabin seems out of character with the lines and volume of the shuw’i and produces an ugly design from what is basically a beautiful craft. Under normal conditions, when design development begins – in this case the conversion of traditional fishing craft to recreational use – there are likely to be anomalies as immediate needs can take precedence over form generated over centuries. What is surprising to me is that boat builders have not yet begun to find forms more in tune with the design of traditional craft, and produce results where land-based architectural forms are applied in an uncoordinated manner to a marine-based architecture.

Here is a photograph of a similar shuw’i putting out from Doha’s harbour. The reason I have included it is to show a little of the differences that exist with converted shwa’i. A small, but enclosed zuli has been added over the stern between the transom strakes, and a platform sits across the stern directly above the zuli, but smaller than the structure in the shuw’i above. As a consequence, this will produce a more stable craft if the intent is for passengers to use it, and it is not provided just for the use of the captain or members of his crew, as is the custom.

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The different craft

The different types of dhow include but are not limited to the following, in descending order of size:

baghala

This is the largest type of boat in the Gulf and is rarely seen. Those that are still in use tend to operate for ceremonial or special purposes. They have curved, decorated prows and a high transom stern and poop. In this respect they have a similarity to European craft. This drawing of a baghala was taken from Paris’ Souvenirs de Marine, 1882 and additionally illustrates the lateen sails common to dhows. I see that the baghala in this illustration has a straight prow and that the lateen sails have a luff – the leading edge of the sail as opposed to the leech, the trailing edge. The addition of the luff adds a significant element of sail compared with a triangular sail, increasing the potential speed of the craft. You can also see that the main lateen yard is constructed of two pieces of timber due to its length.

This photograph was taken in Kuwait and is of the stern of a baghala that was built between 1997 and 2000. There are few of these craft around nowadays and those that are built, such as this, are usually for recreation or display. Although construction is greatly modernised a significant amount of the work is carried out manually by craftsmen keeping the tradition of these great boats alive.

boom

The boom is the most common of the large dhows likely to be seen in Qatar. To all extents and purposes I believe they have effectively replaced the baghala and are the largest of the craft regularly trading within the Gulf including Iran, and to the east coast of Africa as well as to the ports of the Indian sub-continent. They are much larger than they appear at first sight and I have seen two buses sitting on the deck of one of them, one each side of the mast and not looking at all crowded. The boom can be readily distinguished from the baghala by its curved transom and a long, straight stem post raking out at an angle of about 40º.

Something of the size of these craft can be seen from the second photograph of a beached boom, this one carrying a Kuwaiti flag. Here the full shape of the hull can be readily see. Designed to optimise the amount of cargo that can be stowed, it nevertheless has a good-sized keel to maintain stability and direct it accurately through the water. Notice that the rudder is relatively narrow to turn a craft of this size. Note also the double height of the accommodation added on deck at the stern. The lower detail photograph is of the zuli adjacent to the stern post to give an indication of the scale of this particular craft.

This photograph was taken on National Day, 18th December 2008, and shows two of the traditional craft taking part in the celebrations. The craft on the left is a boom, easily recognised by its long prow and tall rudder and, on the right is a two-masted shuw’i with its squared off transom. Both craft are moving under a ‘bad tack’, with their sails pressed against their masts, an effect reducing the potential speed of the craft as mentioned above. Despite this, both craft look beautiful under sail and it’s a pity that commercial pressures make this form of travel uneconomic and only suited to occasions such as this.

sambooq

The sambooq was mainly used as a pearling craft, though occasionally for passengers and other uses. It has a curved prow and flat, relatively high transom with, usually, two masts and a short keel. Its stem head is finished with a single curve compared with the shuw’i’s double curve. The stern of the craft has a vertical timber beam from which the rudder is suspended. The sambooq’s short keel made it very manoeuverable over the common sandbanks of the Gulf, enabling oarsmen to pull it around. The sambooq is now used for fishing but was commonly used for pearling. As the pearling season lasted only three months or so, it would have been natural to employ it for fishing the rest of the year, as well as for trading.

bateel

All the traditional Arab boats appear to have graceful lines. The shapes of sailing craft obviously evolved over time. Each is built – as is the practice all over the world – to have a form above and below the water suited to the waters in which the craft will normally sail. The bateel has a lovely, attenuated shape with a beautiful, long raking prow. It was the craft mainly used by the Arabs as a fighting ship because of its manoeuvrability which suggests it has a relatively shallow draft. It was also or, perhaps more normally, used for fishing, a good cover for a fighting ship. Nowadays I believe they are mainly used for oared racing, though this looks as if it is being used for personal leisure. This first photograph, taken in the West Bay of Doha, illustrates the beauty of its lines as well as the shape of its raised lateen sails, a very familiar outline in the last century on many of the traditional craft, even when fitted with engines.

In this photograph a bateel sails in Doha’s West Bay, the tall constructions of the New District of Doha forming a rectangular backdrop to its curved shapes. Compared with the bateel above, this is two-masted, each mast carrying a lateen sail. The mizzen mast appears to be of a similar height to the mast on the bateel above, but the main mast is considerably taller and is able to carry a much larger sail. There is considerable beauty in the curved shapes of the sail and its bent yardarm. These, together with the raked prow give the appearance of grace and speed to this type of craft. Note that the yardarm is constructed of two lengths of timber strengthened by binding a third timber to them in the centre.

You can also see that the bateel is moving on what is termed a ‘bad tack’, that is with the sail pressed by the wind against the mast. When moving in this manner the air is unable to move over the sail in a clean manner, reducing the speed of the craft. When moving on the opposite tack, the wind keeps the sail clear of the mast enabling the sail to operate more effectively and giving not just better speed, but also improving manoeuvrability.

Compare the photograph above with this photo, taken from the other side of the bateel. The craft here is manoeuvring to bring the wind to bear on the clean side of the sails. As the prow of the bateel moves across the direction from which the wind is coming – as can be seen from the direction in which the stern flag is flying – for a short time its sails lie relatively slack. The bateel is tacking – turning its bow across the wind – rather than jibing – turning its stern across the wind, in order to make progress. Note the scale given by the man standing next to the prow.

The prow is distinctive as is the structured stern which can be seen in these next two photographs, regrettably its hull amidships being obscured by a more modern addition to Qatar’s fishing fleet. The lower photograph – a detail of the middle photograph – shows the manner in which the stern post has been raised to support the rudder, and a glimpse can also be seen of the seating arrangement for the steersman, a sort of dikka which appears to be placed on the starboard side of the deck. I don’t know why this is so – whether it is a traditional arrangement or a modern design. However, with the design of the stern being as it is, there is the obvious need to take the rudder up the stern post to support it, in the process producing both a functional and aesthetically attractive design.

jaliboot

I understand from talking with Qataris that the jaliboot used to be relatively common in Qatar though there were nowhere near as many as the shuw’i. The jaliboot has a straight keel and squared transom with an almost upright prow, the top of which has a distinctive concave curve to it. Although it is used for fishing, it is also popular as a recreational craft.

As an aside, there is an argument that the name, ‘jaliboot’, is derived from the Royal Navy’s ‘jolly-boat’ – a boat which is used to ferry people between shore and a large ship as well as carry out small tasks – but I have also heard the converse argument made as there are many English words that have been derived from Arabic. However, it is perhaps more probable that the name comes to both English and Arabic from the name ‘gellyvat’, a shallow draught war boat sailed off the west coast of India into the middle of the nineteenth century and itself perhaps deriving from the Portuguese ‘galeot’, a galley. Whatever the derivation, there is a significant difference in size between the British jolly-boat and the Arabic jaliboot.

A characteristic of the jaliboot is the manner in which the rudder is connected as, compared with the shuw’i and sambooq, there is no upright timber from which a rudder is hung. Instead wrought iron rings are let into the body of the stern and the rudder is hung from them.

This photograph was taken on Qatar’s National Day, 18th December 2009, with a fleet of traditional craft being sailed in Doha’s West Bay. Here you can see a jaliboot with, behind it, a shuw’i and, to the left, a kitr, all three under sail. You can see from the number of people standing and sitting on deck, an indication of the scale of the jaliboot and its ability to move people around, a use which relates to the Royal Navy’s jolly-boat mentioned above. The marks on the lateen sail appear to be related to storage.

markab

I understand this to be a generic name for a boat or ship, and is similar in this sense, but perhaps larger than, the

khashab

which is the general collective name given to boats, the word literally meaning ‘wood’ in Arabic. The small boat shown here, beached between two other boats, is such an example, the term applying to any small wooden boat, although the boat I am referring to here might also be a kitr, that is discussed lower down on this page.

lanj

This is another name, like the jaliboot, which is thought to be derived from the English ‘launch’ – again, or vice versa.

shuw’i

This first photograph of a shuw’i shows it under a single sail in the West Bay of Doha, riding relatively high out of the water. A lateen sail is hung from its mainmast and, from the look of its wake, it appears to be travelling relatively fast. If you compare this photo of a shuw’i with this photo above – of a bateel sailing with its sail held against the mainmast – you will see the difference with the sail on the shuw’i blowing free of the mast, allowing the wind to move across the sail without interference.

This second photograph shows a similar, or the same, shuw’i being sailed under two sails on Qatar’s National Day 2009. Note from its wake that although the shuw’i is making headway, its sails are not drawing wind and it is moving into or out of a ‘bad tack’ with the wind pressing the sails against the masts. Although it is difficult to see from this photograph, the boom of the main mast is composed of four pieces of timber strapped together, a heavy piece in the centre with two finer ones at the top and one at the bottom of the boom. The boom of the smaller mast is composed of three pieces of timber.

The impression I have is that the shuw’i appears to be by far the most popular boat in Qatar which appears to have much to do with the flexibility it had in the past, and retains even today. Many of them can be seen in the old port opposite the old suq and at the end of Grand Hamad avenue. For a relatively small craft, it has long, flowing, graceful lines and bears a strong resemblance to the larger sambooq.

Not only does it appear to be the most common boat in the Doha bay, but it is also the basis of the fishing fleets to be seen around the peninsula at villages or towns such as at al Wakra and al Khor where fishing is still a commercial activity and way of life. Here is a typical sight, taken in the morning light with the fishing cages piled on its stern superstructure.

This photograph of a small shuw’i illustrates not only its graceful lines and the care that has gone into the detailing of the projecting strakes at its stern, but also the typical arrangement of its two masts and their horizontal booms or spars together with the arrangement of lines, blocks and tackle that ease the work of raising, lowering and adjusting the spars and their lateen sails for optimal travel.

In this detail taken from the above photograph you can see how the spars or booms of both masts – and from which the lateen sails are suspended – are constructed of lengths of timber bound together in order to strengthen the centre of the spar while allowing its ends to be relatively slender. This was, and remains, the normal way of constructing these spars. Whether this is likely to have come about from the relative scarcity of suitable timber, or if it is because this arrangement is more flexible in taking the loads placed upon it by the lateen sail, I don’t know.

As I noted above, the shuw’i is the chief fishing craft though it does have other uses as well, the most common being recreational. But I have seen it used for transporting goods short distances and believe there may still be these boats moving between Gulf states in addition to the larger boom. To the right you can see a shuw’i with fish traps piled on its stern and this is a common sight both on the craft as well as piled on the adjacent quay waiting use, or being constructed by fishermen.

In the photo below it, note the straight, raked stem finished with a long reflex double curve – a detail of which, from a different shuw’i, is shown below – and the transom stern with its transom strakes projected over the sea on which a platform is usually constructed to take the fishing traps, providing more usable space in the open body of the craft. You should also note on the prow the government licence as well as the small good luck symbol, a tradition in many parts of the world.

Finally for this group of craft, here are two contrasting images of a shuw’i, the top photograph taken in the West Bay of Doha, and the lower one in the Arabian Sea: the first under sail, the second motor driven. The first photograph shows the craft with its sails set, although the rear sail is not yet under full control, and gives a gives a strong insight into the scale of the craft, and something of its size and capability. The second photograph illustrates the craft at sea. Though the sea is not as rough as it can be, this is a common sight of these craft moving around the Gulf and the Arabian Sea as they transport goods between the Indian sub-continent, Iran, East Africa and the Arabian side of the Gulf. While the shuw’i is not as large as a boom, it is still capable of moving a considerable cargo. Note that this shuw’i is not equipped with a mast and so will not be able to use a sail to save fuel as is sometimes customary.

kitr

I have to admit that I’m not absolutely sure about the boat in this photograph, but I think it is of a masted kitr. They are usually double-ended, and this one carries a dropped sail which I assume will be a lateen sail.

This second photograph shows two small craft moored beside the Corniche at night. The larger craft has an outboard engine mounted on it between the two transom strakes, in front of which is a low-positioned steering wheel though I don’t see why this would be needed with a movable outboard engine. It also has a housing for a narrow mast amidships. The smaller boat, perhaps a khashab, appears to be similar in design with a similar prow configuration as the larger. There are simple masaanid al majdthaaf, rowlocks, and what might be provision for a rope-enabled steering mechanism, though this would be unnecessary on a rowing boat.

This photograph is a detail of one above, taken on Qatar’s National Day, 18th December 2009. It shows a kitr under its lateen sail, a sight that was not uncommon a couple of generations ago. The reason this was particularly applicable to the kitr was that it was an easier way to power the small craft, compared with oars, as it often carried only a single person. Here, with the sail loose, it appears to be changing tack in order to draw wind and make progress with the rest of the traditional craft.

The final photograph of these small craft is of a single boat which, again I believe to be a khashab, but where it is easier to see its form and, particularly the configuration of its squared, low transom. Unlike the preceding example, there is no extension of the transom strakes and the transom is cut low, I suspect to accommodate an outboard engine as has the previous example. There is no steering wheel as has the example above, and I imagine steering would be effected by a movable outboard engine.

These next two photographs were taken in the Doha suq, where a number of items are displayed as, in effect, part of an exhibition rather than as items for sale. For sale or not, I think this qualifies as a kitr as they are essentially small craft designed to take people from the shore to their larger boats. The peculiarity of this boat is that it is not constructed from planks, but is carved out of the solid. The wood must have been brought in for the construction as well as, I assume, the boat builder as it is the first of its sort I have seen in Doha and I have talked there with boat builders who come from Kerala.

At the bow and stern the difficulty of fixing planks is avoided in this form of construction, and the craft will be significantly stronger – but less flexible – compared with standard planked constructions. Its stability is, however, dependent both on the skill of the builder in creating an evenly balanced boat with an evenly carved thickness, as well as the characteristics of the tree from which it was crafted. In addition to this, the timber must still be looked after properly in order to avoid or ameliorate the problems of shrinkage, warping and cracking.

Two further points are worth noting on these photographs. In the upper photograph you will see that the shape of the oars are virtually circular, a shape which provides an efficient area, but which is not as efficient in water as an elongated shape. The second point can be seen in the lower photograph where you can see, lying across the seats, a mast and boom which can be raised at will in order to give the oars a rest.

I’m not sure if this is a kitr or not, but I am including it as it is an interesting craft. It is evidently relatively new, perhaps unfinished, as it looks clean and shows provision at the stern for the incorporation of a propellor, yet to be fixed. The extended gunwales or caprails at the stern are similar to the kitr shown three photographs further up the page, and the photo illustrates clearly at the prow two important elements of the craft. The two uprights are known as bitts and are used to fix anchor lines or ropes to, and the horizontal cross bar is the cat beam – kalba, on which an anchor can be hung. Interestingly the term in English refers to a cat and, in Arabic, a dog.

I took this photograph in the old fishing harbour, the harbour directly north of the centre of Doha’s suq, in the late nineteen-seventies. It shows five of the small boats used to ferry fishermen between the shore and those boats not easily accessible from the shore or jetty. The interesting boat is the central one which, unlike the others, can be seen to have been constructed out of carved solid timbers, and not planked on ribs. Boats carved out of solid trees are wasteful of resources, labour intensive and take time to complete. There were not trees in Qatar suited to constructing this type of boat so, whether the boats were brought in completed or whether they were constructed in Qatar, I’m not able to say.

With time this difficult process was refined into craft having a keel, a frame – the ribs – and carvel planking, a better use of resources. Carvel planking, or smooth planking, is a type of construction where planks are butted edge to edge. In many parts of the world this gave way to clinker planking where the planks were overlapped, a generally more sound method of construction.

This appears to be a different type of boat, or at least constructed in a different manner. The base of the boat is flat and appears to have been constructed from solid planks to which a keel has been attached, and from which the sides have been raised and the stern added from three large planks. It is, in effect, a three sided box and would have been relatively easy to construct, assuming the planks were readily available. Boats such as this can only operate in relatively calm waters.

Finally, a photograph of another small craft in the fishing harbour. The form is quite different from those above, particularly at the stern where there is a considerable overhang. The boat has been designed for rowing as can be seen by the incorporation of two robust rowlocks. I can’t see any function for the stern post but it is evident that no provision has been made to have an engine attached or incorporated into the boat’s construction.

racing craft

At present I am not sure of the name of these craft. They are designed and built as racing boats and, as you can see, are powered by fourteen or fifteen pairs of oars. They are brought out on high days and holidays and race against each other. I assume their crews are associated with the pearling heritage rather than fishing, but I am not able to write more about them now. More research is needed here.

Here is a view of the interior of one of these racing craft, taken in Sheikh Faisal’s museum. There are a number of interesting things to look at here. Firstly the tall misnad al majdthaaf which have the oars bound to them with hemp rope, the rope providing a degree of protection between the majdthaaf and rowlock during the stroke. I’m not sure why they are taller than their functional requirement, but they give a distinctive appearance to the craft. The second thing to notice is the shape of the oars. Again I can find no rationale for this particular shape as racing oars tend to have different profiles, in particular they do not narrow at their tip as do these, thereby reducing the effort put into propulsion. As you can see, the boat is of modern construction, the ribs being formed of squared section timber and with the horizontal sheer strakes, into which the misnad al majdthaaf are set. Finally, note the relatively shallow draught of the boat which would have enabled it to move through the shallows commonly found off the peninsula’s coast and which, to some extent, protected littoral settlements in the past.

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Other craft

There are a number of other craft used in the region of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. These include, but are not limited to the:

• badan,
• balam nasari,
• baqarah,
• butairah,
• dangiyah,
• huri – a small dugout,
• huwairiyah – made of date palm stalks,
• khansha,
• kutiyah,
• muhailah – a river craft,
• mashoowah, and
• zarooqah.

At present I am unable to define them but will add them to the definitions above as and when I have more details.

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The zuli

Dhows are usually provided with a zuli, a small latrine cantilevered over the side of the craft for use at sea. The zuli are provided with a low enclosing wall to provide some degree of basic privacy and are equipped with a hole in their base. Usually the latrine is suspended near the stern of the craft, but I understand it can also be located near the prow, the position dependent upon the direction of the wind and the attitude of the craft in order for the zuli to sit on the lee side of the craft. They’re a necessary and typical feature of traditional Gulf craft.

With the developing interest in the use of boats for recreation, more up-to-date versions of the zuli can be seen on new or converted dhows. It is notable that boat owners continue to use an external version of the traditional zuli rather than an internally located latrine as would be found on Western craft. This appears to say much for the intent to keep traditions and to develop, in the case of the zuli shown in this photograph, woodworking skills to produce a refined teak unit which provides considerable privacy with its high external treatment and doors on the access side to create privacy, a bracing board and traditionally-based decoration around it.

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Construction

As I mentioned above, in the past dhows were constructed of teak planks connected with coir rope bindings and heavily greased. This method was similar to the manner in which the Vikings constructed their longships and gave considerable flexibility to the longships, particularly in heavy seas. The mobility with which the longships responded to the seas gave rise to the animal heads carved on the prow, the longship being thought to have a life of its own. But I digress…

The construction of dhows is still carried out in Qatar, though not on the scale it once was. Other Gulf states continue to build both dhows for general use but, increasingly, for the recreational market. This includes both dhows for personal pleasure as well as those for competitive racing.

The traditional wooden craft have to be maintained constantly in order to keep them seaworwthy and working for their owners. Here an owner talks over the work that has to be carried out on his boat. Many of the fishing boats used to be drawn up on the foreshore as a regular practice. In that position it was possible to inspect their hulls on a regular basis. Where this was not possible, traditionally, once a year, the boats would be drawn up on the foreshore or slipped and inspected for mechanical and marine animal damage, the caulking checked and the hull cleaned down. It is still the practice to apply and work in, usually by hand as is shown in this photograph, a mixture of lime and fish oil onto the hull below the waterline and shark liver oil above it in order to protect the timbers. I have always assumed this to be relatively effective as the practice seems to be continuing into the twenty-first century.

I think that the lines of dhows are beautiful, though this is true of many boats. This photograph shows the way in which the need for speed and the carrying of cargo have produced an optimal shape – sharp at the prow to cut through the water, enough of a keel to provide lateral stability, width amidships to optimise the carrying of goods and people, and with a relatively shallow draught enabling it to move readily over sandbanks.

One thing I should mention at this point is a significant difference between modern dhows and true traditional ones: that is the provision of engines. You can see here how the shuw’i has been adapted with the provision of an opening in the boat’s construction and installation of a knee to receive a propellor located forward of the rudder. The junction of the sternpost and keel are strengthened by a steel plate to compensate for the hole where once there would have been planks linking the body of the boat with the sternpost.

Looking at the boats out of water I am always surprised by their relative crude junctions. I have even seen keels made of two lengths spliced together when I thought that it was essential for structural strength that a keel be formed of a single piece of timber.

The sternpost and, here, the stempost, are rebated into the keel for structural coherence. I believe that the junction is pinned but you can see another, smaller, steel strap pinned to the keel and stempost in order to keep them together. To the right of the stempost a teak outer stem timber has been bird-mouthed and fitted over the keel and stempost junction in order to protect that relatively fragile junction.

The top photograph shows a relatively poor example of planking, mainly due to the crack between two nails. Bear in mind that this boat has been drawn out of the water for maintenance and the timbers are drying out in the strong heat. The caulking between planks can be seen, as can the countersunk iron nails. The caulking is made with cotton threads impregnated with fish oil and hammered into the joints between the planks. I believe that in some areas coir is used instead of cotton. A similar material is wrapped round the heads of of the iron nails before they are hammered into holes made with bow-drills which are centred on holes made with an auger which form the countersink.

The second photograph shows a better set of planks but what distinguishes these from more modern works is the unevenness of the planks. Generally speaking, the more regular they are in width, the more recent the work. With regard to workmanship you can see, top centre, the marks made by an adze used in trimming the planks. Having said that, I believe these planks are relatively recent as they do not show the ageing that might be anticipated.

This photograph shows part of a shuw’i in the water. It appears to be due a cleaning as there is underwater accretion which slows dhows due to the action of friction against the water, as well as deterioration of the protective coat. The part of the boat above water level is usually painted with shark liver oil to protect it both inside and out. I don’t know why it is white unless that is something to do with salt.

Here you can see the form of the hull of a shuw’i delineated by the pattern of nails fixing the planks to the ribs. The nail holes have recently been treated, presumably as part of its maintenance. I can’t see a similar treatment to the caulking so assume it might have been carried out because of deterioration of the nail heads. One of the problems with nails is that they used to be wrought iron but can now be steel which, of course, rusts, and needs treatment.

The part of the boat that would be submerged was painted with a mixture of lime and fish oil or fat, a disgusting white mixture which was applied by hand and, to some extent, protected the boat from the salt water and vegetable growth. I don’t know if this material also protected against ship worm.

Most of the serious maintenance work carried out on wooden craft is done so with the boat drawn up out of the water where the whole of the hull is accessible. But where this is not necessary, work is carried out with the craft in the water, a much less expensive proposition for the owner and one which allows the crew to carry out some or all of the work rather than having to rely on builders to do the work. In this photograph damage to the top rail of a large shuw’i has resulted in it being replaced, with work also being carried out on the head of at least one of the ribs, and the replacing of part of the sheer strake, the top-most strake of the craft.

It is necessary to inspect the hull closely at regular intervals in order to see what damage may have been caused. Members of the crew need to be able to inspect parts of the hull above the waterline either, as is usual, by drawing up a small boat alongside and drawing it round the craft or, as photographed here, unusually with the help of a raft and the comfort of a chair.

But far more usually it is common to find men at work sitting on the deck where they have ample space to set up and organise their work as well as being able to carry it out under shade. There is always work to be found on wooden craft as material shows wear, becomes damaged, and there is a need for continuing maintenance or replacement of elements of the timber.

A far more common site is that of fishing crews sitting in port mending their nets. One of the hazards of fishing is that nets are damaged in being drawn across rough surfaces, particularly sharp coral. There is a continuing need to repair this damage and, in Qatar, it is common to see fishermen either sitting on the quayside or, as here, on their boats under shade weaving in new lines to repair the nets. Note how his feet are being used to hold the net taut.

It’s always sad to see a boat of any sort sunk, but it’s not an unusual sight. Here a shuw’i has sunk or been allowed to sink in the port. Why this should be allowed to happen I don’t know as it is usually not a slow process and I would have thought that there would be sufficient time to move or beach them either to mend or use parts of them – as well as keep them out of the way of other, navigable, craft.

Here is the sad sight of a large number of boats drawn up on the foreshore, their greying timbers unprotected by oil or other finish, and rotting slowly. I don’t know if this reflects a reduction in fishing but it’s unusual to see so many being allowed to deteriorate. I also don’t know how much of the timber is usable on new craft. Most of the boats I saw had their timber taken for firewood. I can recall when the corniche was under construction that bulldozers with wire cables were brought in to move any craft marooned inside the new road, but the cables just cut through the boats like a wire through cheese and the timber was immediately removed to near-by housing for fuel.

I mentioned above that there have been a number of changes made to the traditional boats of the region. These relate at least to the methods and materials of construction, the use of diesel engines instead of sails and the design modifications this entails and, shown here on a shuw’i drawn up at Khor, the provision of a glazed cab to create a degree of protection for the nakhuda or for a helmsman. While the principle might be useful, this design jars sadly with the traditional lines and materials of the shuw’i. This cab can be compared with the enclosure shown on the recreational craft further up the page. It is obvious that neither is an attractive design solution in that neither appear to have been integrated well into the existing design of the craft. It is interesting that the builders see the solution to providing protection lies in applying something to an existing design rather than developing the design as might be expected. In this example it may well be because the work was not carried out in a boatyard, but this would not be the case of the recreational example.

These next two photographs have been included as they show details which can’t be seen on dhows nowadays. They are details of a photograph taken in Doha’s suq of a model of a traditional shuw’i as can just be determined by the shape of the prow.

The top photo illustrates the overall manner in which the shuw’i would have put to sea. The only thing I can see missing is a zuli though this could, of course, be on the other side of the craft. The superstructure construction which provides the frame for shelter is also evident. The lower photo shows better the manner in which access was gained to the structure above the poop deck where, customarily the nakhood would sit and sleep, steering being carried out from below this vantage point by a system of ropes controlling the rudder. The photos also show the continuation of the keel, there being no cutting back of it forward of the rudder in order to accommodate the propellor which is, nowadays, a necessary element of these craft. The difficulty with dependence on wind is its variability both in terms of direction and strength. Additionally, motors enable a degree of manoeuvrabiity which is impossible with a sail-powered craft. It is interesting to see that the model is constructed without a propellor, indicating that there is a strong awareness of marine tradition.

The combination of the decline in fishing and the boat construction industry, together with the policy of developing tourism, has seen a burgeoning of the traditional sailor’s craft of model boat building. I have to admit that I don’t know if the model of the shuw’i above was built by a sailor but it’s a possibility. However, I understand that the majority of models are, and were, constructed by men who used to build boats as this has long been a tradition of theirs though many of these, as in these photographs of a bateel being carved, appear to come from the Indian sub-continent. Many Qataris having association with the sea have models in their majaalis. The skill in model making is to get the scale of the elements right and while this appears to hold for the larger model above, these smaller bateel models, although skilfully worked, appear to be less well-fashioned and are likely be made for the tourist market.

This line of models shows something more of the quality of craftsmanship that goes into this tourist-oriented craft. The bateel, like all of the traditional craft, are extremely graceful in their lines. These models differ from the tradition of Western model boat building where the intent is to replicate the scale of all the elements including, importantly, their textures. Here the intent is different. The models are essentially caricatures of their subjects, the proportions shorter and plumper than the originals with little intent to capture the sleek lines of the bateel. That is not a criticism of the models as they have a truth or honesty of their own as can be seen, for instance, in the omission of the propellor. However, some details seem curious – witness the heavy design of the stern post and the rudder extending well below the foot of the stern post.

Finally, and as a comparison with the carvings above, here is a lovely little completed model of a boom made by a craftsman in Kuwait. What I particularly like about this carving is that it is, like the bateel above, made in the form of a caricature with all the features of a traditional two-masted boom, but with those features exaggerated. These are clever and amusing pieces of craftsmanship that show a novel approach to the carving of model traditional craft.

For anybody who has an interest in learning more about the construction of dhows, I recommend they read this book which is based on research along the Gulf. More generally, but also dealing with this area, the author has written two other books dealing with seafaring and associated matters in the region of the Indian Ocean, Oman and the Arabian Gulf.

More to be written…