Ghanja
A Ghanja or Kotia is a two- or three-masted fast west Arabian pirate and warship, later also a cargo ship in the eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean and from the coast of Saudi Arabia to the Malabar coast . Ghanjas were slimmer and longer than other types of dhows .
On the three-masted Ghanja the mainmast was leaning forward, the Bonaventurmast leaning aft, the mizzenmast was vertical. All three masts were with trapezoidal Setteesegel on an upper inclined Rah rigged. As a merchant ship, it had a stern resembling the Bagalla and a gaff sail on the aft mast. Two-masted ghanjas, which were mainly built since the mid-18th century, had masts with a parallel incline of about 7 °. The sail area was about 300 m 2 . The hull had a slim shape, the impression of which was reinforced by a long projecting stem and stern with transom. The overall length was around 30 m, with a keel length of 15.5 m and a swimming water line of 20.5 m. The Ghanja had a carrying capacity of 70 to 200 tons. Due to the relatively light construction with a low side height, the ships had a draft of around 2–2.5 m, which is low for sailing ships of this size.
Similar Arab ships, but of a different size, were the Sambuke , Pattamar and Bagalla .
See also
Web links
literature
- Wiebeck, Erno: Indian boats and ships , Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock, 1987, ISBN 3-356-00084-5
- Dudszus, Henriot, Krumrey (transpress VEB publishing house for traffic, Berlin, 1987): The big book of ship types