baghlah
{{Short description|Arabian dhow}}
A baghlah, bagala, bugala or baggala ({{langx|ar|بغلة}}) is a large deep-sea dhow, a traditional Arabic sailing vessel.Clifford W. Hawkins, The dhow: an illustrated history of the dhow and its world The name "baghla" means "mule" in the Arabic language.
Description
File:Sailors working on a deck covered in mangrove poles.jpg
The baghlah dhows have a curved prow with a stem-head, and sometimes an ornately carved stern and quarter galleries. Their average length w
is {{convert|100|ft|0|abbr=on}} with an average weight of 275 tons.
Usually they have two masts using two to three lateen sails; supplementary sails like a jib are often added on the bowsprit, as well as on a topmast atop the main mast.[http://indigenousboats.blogspot.com/2008/08/too-late-to-document-dhows.html Too Late to Document Dhows?]
As a large and heavy ship the baghlah require a crew of at least 30 sailors. Some have even up to 40.Thabit A. J. Abdullah, The Political Economy of Trade in Eighteenth-Century Basra, SUNY series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East , 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-4808-3}}
The ghanjah or kotiya is a similar type of vessel, often difficult to distinguish from the baghlah.[http://www.omanet.om/english/culture/boats.asp?cat=cult The Traditional Dhow]
History
Baghlahs are widely used and have been in the past centuries as merchant ships in the Indian Ocean and the minor seas around the Arabian Peninsula. They reach eastwards to Sindh, India and up to the Bay of Bengal and further beyond as far as the Spice Islands. Southwestwards they reach down to the East African coast. They are one of the main types of ship used by Bohra traders.
In the early 19th century these ships were also part of the pirate fleets operating from semi-independent or completely independent harbours in Persia or along the Arabian Peninsula.Gardiner, Robert (2001 [1998]). The Victory of Seapower. Caxton Editions. {{ISBN|1-84067-359-1}}. p. 89
During the 19th century, the Royal Navy attempted to suppress the Indian Ocean slave trade and in his 1873 book, Captain G. L. Sulivan described the "Bugala or genuine Dhow" as "by far the most numerous class" of dhow.{{cite book | last=Sulivan | first=G.L. | title=Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters and on the Eastern Coast of Africa: Narrative of Five Years' Experiences in the Suppression of the Slave Trade | publisher=S. Low, Marston, Low & Searle | year=1873 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bg8_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA102 | access-date=15 November 2021 | pages=102–103}} (with engraving as illustration)
In favorable conditions a baghlah can sail up to 9 knots, but is a somewhat unwieldy ship and is not as popular as the easier to maneuver boom.
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{commonscat|Baghlah}}
- [http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1R2541H951A77.55299&profile=liball&uri=link=3100009~!1600632~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ri=2&source=~!silibraries&term=Dhows+--+History.&index=#focus Hikoichi Yajima, The Arab dhow trade in the Indian Ocean : preliminary report]
- [http://socheapandchic.blogspot.com/2011/11/culture-first-traditional-dhow.html “The first traditional Dhow Exhibition” in Qatar]
{{Sailing vessels and rigs}}