Where Sinbad Sailed His Dhow

The Maritime History of the Arabian Peninsula Comes Alive in Oman

- Sonal Shah

In 1979, British adventurer and maritime explorer Tim Severin wandered the west coast of India, the country of his birth, looking for rope. Severin had already voyaged across the Atlantic in an open boat, approximating the journey of a sixth-century monk. Now he wanted to captain a craft from Oman to China, bringing to life the legend of Sinbad the Sailor.

Severin’s search for good coir rope eventually led him to the Lakshadweep islands, along the Indian Ocean route, advanced during the early centuries of Islam by Arab merchants. Arab ships— loosely referred to as dhows—were stitched: the planks of their narrow, long hulls woven together by a kind of coconut husk coir. It was only after the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century that dhows began to be nailed together in the European style.

Severin’s dhow was named Sohar for the Omani town where, according to some stories, Sinbad was born. Today, 200 kilometres from Muscat, in the northeastern port town of Sur where the Sohar was built, one can still see a living piece of Oman’s maritime history.

PORT OF DEPARTURE

Severin chronicled his 9,600 kilometre journey to China (on the world’s longest sea route before Magellan circumnavigated the globe) in his 1982 book, The Sinbad Voyage. While scholars argue whether Sinbad, if he even existed, was from Oman, there’s no doubt about the historical importance of Sur on the map of an empire that at its peak in the 19th century stretched from modern-day Pakistan and Iran, down the shores of eastern Africa to Mozambique and Zanzibar. At that time, Sur was a big shipbuilding centre, supplying vessels used to transport slaves and spices.