Buggalow Comment

For reasons unknown, a reader's useful contribution isn't showing up in the comments section of a previous post about buggalows (a dhow-rigged vessel of the Indian Ocean), so I'll copy it here:

Hi Bob.
Wonderful blog you have here. I am portuguese and write also a blog on traditional boats, mainly of Portugal. I do investigation as a hobby on the roots of our boats, and keeping myself between Mediterranean and North Europe is already a huge circle. That´s why this blog of yours is very important, about the "not so glamorous" types of boats of the rest of the world. Many of your articles I could comment, and this one caught my special attention, because of the buggalow good construction and all on board different from the "crude" dhow, thar populated the Indian Ocean for centuries. Calicut, being in the Kerala region of India, has a past of european contacts, more strongly after Vasco da Gama. Looking at the buggalow I clearly see european característics, and although the Dutch and English had also presence in the region, I would say these european fine construction methods arrived and were kept in Kerala by the Portuguese positions there after 1498.


I have an article prepared to publish in the future which makes me believe even more strongly in this Portuguese influence in Kerala boats, this time in a Kerala fishing boat, lauched from the beach and with a half-moon shape. This boat is almost the same as the ones in central Portugal coast, the "barco-de-mar", considered very ancient in their roots, possibly of Greek, Phoenician times and their colonies in Iberian coast. Even the method of fishing used is the same as in Portugal, pulling the nets from the beach.

I may send you some pictures about these two examples of boats in Portugal for your analysis.

Best Regards,
António Fangueiro
www.caxinas-a-freguesia.blogs.sapo.pt


Antonio's blog is extensive and looks very interesting, and Google's automatic translation function makes it somewhat intelligible to non-Portuguese speakers.

Antonio -- Thanks for your comments. Although I can't promise a well-informed analysis, I (and, I think, my readers) would be very interested in seeing the photos. Feel free to send them here.