11 - Ships of the Gulf: Shifting Names and Networks

Summary

The ‘dhow’ of the Gulf has been an object of study for well over two centuries. In some ways, it is perhaps one of the best-documented aspects of maritime culture in the region. It often evokes romantic images of an almost timeless traditional vessel, plying the shallow waters of the Gulf and the Indian Ocean for centuries with little to no alteration. And yet hidden within this single English misnomer is a much more complex and contested diversity that reflects the widespread and integral connections that the Gulf has had with the rest of the world. These vessels were a dynamic aspect of the maritime material culture in the Gulf that integrated the region in profound ways with a much larger series of networks in the Indian Ocean world. This chapter will examine two aspects of Gulf shipping in particular, vessel typologies and construction materials, in order to explore these connections.

Before discussing these topics directly, a brief note on the ‘dhow’ is required. The dhow has long been viewed as a technological object, and as a vehicle of transport. More recently, scholars such as the Tanzanian Professor Abdul Sheriff have framed the dhow as a dynamic carrier of culture, religion and ideas: ‘A dhow is not merely an inanimate transporter of goods, but an animated means of social interaction between different peoples who need to exchange those goods, and more.’ This theoretical framework builds on an established tradition within both maritime and world history that views maritime activity as instinctively more global and interactive. The ship is seen in particular to be a primary agent of these processes, facilitating commerce, migration and empire. This discussion builds on the conception of the vessel as an animated vehicle of human interaction to include the classification and construction of the vessels themselves.

Vessel Types

In the English language, the word ‘dhow’ usually refers to any vessel from the north-west Indian Ocean. The term itself has no exact equivalent in the Arabic language, but is often translated into Arabic as safina (ship) or markab (vessel). The British first appropriated the word in the latter half of the eighteenth century, using a term (daww, dau or daw) that referred to a specific type to eventually describe all vessels from East Africa, Arabia, Iran or India.