The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c14.33

c14.33

The Maratha navy contained five types of fighting ships. Of these the most important were the *Ghurab* and the *Gallivat*, but we also read of *Pals*, *Shibars* and *Manjhuas* of war. There were probably few *Ghurabs* in Shivaji’s fleet, the small frigates, mentioned in the English factory records, being rowing *Gallivats*. ‘The grabs’, says Robert Orme, ‘have rarely more than two masts, although some have three; those of three are about 300 tons burthen; but the others are not more than 150: they are built to draw very little water, being very broad in proportion to their length, narrowing however from the middle to the end, where instead of bows they have a prow, projecting like that of a Mediterranean galley, and covered with a strong deck level with the main deck of the vessel, from which, however, it is separated by a bulkhead which terminates the forecastle: as this construction subjects the grab to pitch violently when sailing against a head sea, the deck of the prow is not enclosed with sides as the rest of the vessel is, but remains bare; that the water which dashes upon it may pass off without interruption. On the main deck under the forecastle are mounted two pieces of cannon of nine or twelve pounders, which point forwards through the port holes cut in the bulkhead, and fire over the prow; the cannon of the broadside are from six to nine pounders.' A *Ghurab* never went into action unless it was accompanied by one or more *Gallivats*, which, Orme says, 'are large row-boats built like the grab, but of smaller dimensions, the largest rarely exceeding 70 tons: they have two masts of which the mizen is very slight; the main mast bears only one sail, which is triangular and very large, the peak of it when hoisted being much higher than the mast itself. In general the gallivats are covered with a spar deck, made for lightness of bamboos split, and these only carry petteraroes fixed on swivels in the gunnel of the vessel; but those of the largest size have a fixed deck on which they mount six or eight pieces of cannon, from two to four pounders: they have forty to fifty stout oars and may be rowed four miles an hour.'¹ Captain Anselm of the *Derby*, who had first hand knowledge of Sambhaji Angria's ships, says that 'his Gallivats had thirty oars or upwards' and they had remarkable speed.² Some of Shivaji's frigates, as we learn from the English factory records, did not carry more than four guns. Of the other vessels the *Pal* has been likened by an eighteenth century Portuguese writer with the frigates of Europe.³ Gemelli Careri, who travelled in a Portuguese *Manchua* in 1695, describes it as follows: "These *Manchucas* had such a Main Sail as the *Lentis* of Trapan in the Kingdom of Sicily, 12 oars and four small guns."⁴ Hamilton calls a *Shibar* a half galley.⁵ These boats were all designed for shallow water, and from the few accounts of the naval actions that have come down to us it appears that they generally waited for the calm when they had to fight against a European ship as their oars placed them at an advantage over their antagonist, and when discomfited, they readily retired to shallow waters where their heavier rival could not follow.