Shivaji and His Times c12.s6.7

c12.s6.7

Shivaji's navy had by this time been increased to 20 two-masted *ghurabs* and 40 gallivats. "None of his harbours admitted ships of a great size, such as were used at Surat, or by the Europeans. The (immense) traffic from port to port of the Malabar and.........Konkan coasts had from time immemorial been carried on in vessels of shallow burden capable of taking close refuge under every shelter of the land. The vessels for fight (on) these coasts were" also built of the same small size, "and trusted to the superiority of number (and not of gun-power or seaworthiness) against ships of burden in the open sea. Shivaji did not change this system in his own marine." (*Orme's Fragments*, 77-78.)