The Times of India
March 13 2010

And… Khoob-Surat, said the pirate
ASHLESHAA KHURANA , TOI Crest, Mar 13, 2010, 09.24am IST

Burned and scuttled off the Carribean in the 17th century, The Quedagh
Merchant, an Armenian trade vessel that was built in Gujarat and
hijacked by the notorious William Kidd ‘ whose story inspired
‘Treasure Island’ ‘ is preparing for a return to her homeland as a
‘living museum’.

Shiver me shattered timbers" screamed headlines across the world, when
the 310-year-old , barnacle-covered , coral-encrusted ‘The Quedagh
Merchant’ was discovered in the pristine seas off the Dominican
Republic, 70 feet off Catalina Island. This was no ordinary vessel ‘
it was stuff that legends are made of, on the hot list of every
treasure hunter.

The Quedagh Merchant, alias Cara Merchant, belonged to the notorious
Captain William Kidd ‘ a Scottish privateer-turned-pirate who was
hanged after a summary trial in London in 1701. Robert Louis
Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Edgar Allen Poe’s The Gold Bug are
some among the works of pirate lore inspired by Kidd’s story.

Now, three years after this find, Charles D Beeker, director of
Underwater Science and Academics at Indiana University, USA, is
preparing to visit the Gujarati city of Surat, where the ship was
built in the 17th century, for "a presentation on a unique and
significant aspect" of India’s maritime lore.

Beeker, who recently presented the results of his research at the
Museum of London Docklands, said: "I am committed to featuring India’s
maritime heritage as represented through Captain Kidd’s captured ship.
This is the only example of the unique 17th century Surat shipbuilding
technology and should be recognised for its international
significance."

For more than 12 years, Beeker and fellow Indiana University
archaeologist Geoffrey Conrad have been researching the era where the
"new and old worlds first met", focusing on La Isabela Bay, where the
first Spanish settlement was established by Christopher Columbus in
1494.

Appointed by the Dominican Republic to research the shipwreck, Beeker
confirmed its authenticity. "Last summer, when we first recovered a
cannon from the shipwreck, we found the keel of the ship. I’m shocked
it is still there. It is made of teak, resistant to decomposition,
which probably explains how the keel managed to survive so many
decades under water."

Gujarat’s shipbuilders used indigenous technology on the timber of
which the keel was made ‘ the teak was smeared with a paste of chunnam
(lime), gum sandrac and gingelly and left to dry. In only a day, the
process made the wood almost as hard as stone. The keel was then lined
with dammar, a vegetable-based substitute for tar, to make it
leak-proof .

Praful Wadia, who still practices his ancestral trade of boat-building
, said: "The boats made in Gujarat were thrice as capable of wading
into deep seas while remaining leak proof." Wadia, who constructs and
supplies boats for Surat Municipal Corporation, said Suratis used the
locally-made wadhrai joints ‘ ‘N’ -shaped rabbets ‘ to hold the ship
together and used special marine waxlike glue on the joints to caulk
the planks. They then covered it with cotton and clamped it tight,
making it leak proof. Teak from the Dang forests was preferred as it
had a heavy content of oil, which made the vessel resistant to decay
in water.’

Shipbuilding was not a just a trade in the coastal towns of Gujarat,
according to ancient Indian texts, it was a way of life. Located along
the country’s longest coastline that runs 1,600km, trade via sea
existed here since 2 BC, as Lothal’s trapezoid reservoir and
terracotta boat models prove. Even the Mahabharata, the ancient
Greco-Roman texts like the Batiyas and Peryaksa and African Tibu Tib
mention the ports of Gujarat. European travellers of THE 16th and 17th
centuries ‘ Tomes Pires, Nicolo Conti and J Ovington to name a few ‘
have written of the master craftsmanship and shipbuilding skills of
the Gujaratis.

During the Mughal reign, Aurangzeb’s fleet anchored on the Gujarat
coast included massive 800-ton vessels like the ‘Ganj-i-Sawai’ , which
would sail out from Surat’s Meccapul with Haj pilgrims bound for
Mecca.

Ships built in Surat ‘ constructed to survive rough voyages in spite
of damage to certain parts ‘ easily outshone the ones made in Europe.
Lovji Nusservanji Wadia, who set up the Bombay Dockyard in 1750 and
went on to build frigates for the British, had honed his skills in his
home state, particularly in Surat. His surname, Wadia, is derived from
the word ‘Wahandia’ , meaning shipbuilder. During his trial, in 1699,
William Kidd had testified that

The Quedagh Merchant was a "ship about 400 tons in burthen, made by
the Surrat moors".

Being the only pirate ship ever discovered in the Caribbean and only
one of three ever found in the Americas, The Quedagh Merchant is a
prized catch for archaeologists, marine biologists, ecologists and
geologists .

"Interpretation is very important to this project, as one of our main
goals is to educate the general public not just about the shipwreck,
but also about the fragility of the surrounding marine life and their
ecosystem," says Fritz Hanselmann, anthropologist and research
coordinator with Indiana University’s Office of Underwater Science.

Months after its discovery, the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) granted the department $200,000 to turn Captain
Kidd’s shipwreck site and three other underwater preserves in the
Dominican Republic into a "no-take, no-anchor living museum" .
National Geographic aired a documentary and released a DVD titled
‘Shipwreck! Captain Kidd’ about the discovery of the shipwreck and on
the research that followed.

In January this year, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (the
biggest of its kind in the world) funded the lifting and transport of
one of the 26 cannons weighing 2,800 kg to Indiana what University’s
underwater Science Conservation Lab for further research and
conservation . "This is a great opportunity for the faculty and
students to experience this unique artefact that has created such
international interest," Beeker said.

Professor Sumit Ganguly, director of India Studies at the Indiana
University, who was conferred with the ‘Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Award’
, the highest honour bestowed on Indians abroad, last year, said:
"Indiana University is globally reputed for academic excellence. Over
and above the discovery of Captain William Kidd’s shipwreck in the
Caribbean, I am pleased with the varsity’s research on The Quedagh
Merchant. The vessel is a unique example of 17th century shipbuilding
technique used in western India and among the most significant
representative of India’s maritime heritage."

"People often ask me if I found any of the famous treasure on board
the Quedagh," smiles Charles Beeker. "To them, I point out the fact
that no other 17th century ships had rabetted joints with
tongue-in-groove construction . We believe this is a living museum.
The treasure, in this case, is the wreck itself. The preserve will
provide riches of sorts for people to enjoy for hundreds of years."
Someday soon, Beeker hopes, he will sail to Indian shores and share
the true wealth of The Quedagh Merchant in her homeland.

PRIVATEER OR PIRATE?
Born in Scotland in 1645, William Kidd started as a legitimate
privateer for Great Britain against the French in the Carribean and
off the coast of North America. By 1690, he was an established sea
captain and shipowner in New York City, where he owned property At
various times, Kidd was dispatched by both New York and Massachusetts
to rid the coast of enemy privateers. In 1695, he received a British
commission to apprehend pirates who targeted East India Company
vessels in the the Indian Ocean Kidd recruited some sailors in New
York. The new members were mostly smugglers and former pirates, and
they intended to attack all ships with no exception. As expected, Kidd
objected and the arguments between him and the newlypromoted crew
began. Some of the disappointed crew left Kidd while others kept
trying to persuade him. In one of the conflicts, an enraged Kidd
killed his gunner, William Moore Sometime in 1696, Kidd, unable to
handle the pressure from his crew, hijacked the East India Company’s
Quedagh Merchant. Kidd became a wanted man as the East India Company
forced the government to brand him a pirate He surrendered in New York
in 1699, after burying his treasure on Gardiners Island (now near Long
Island) having been promised a pardon. Sent to England for trial, he
was found guilty of Moore’s murder and five counts of piracy Kidd was
hanged on May 23, 1701. The first rope put around his neck broke and
he had to be strung up a second time. His corpse was placed in a
gibbet at the mouth of the Thames and left to rot as an example to
other would-be pirates

TALK LIKE A SEAFARER
BARNACLES:
Marine creatures related to crabs and lobsters

CACKLE FRUIT:
Chicken eggs

DUFFLE:
Everything a sailor owns

HOLYSTONE:
Bars of stone used to scrub decks, making sailors look like they are
kneeling and praying

JACOB’S LADDER:
Rope ladder on ships

MONKEY:
Small cannon

SALMAGUNDI:
Popular pirate dish with chopped meat, eggs, anchovies, onions
seasoned with garlic, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper

BLACK JACK:
Large drinking mugs made of leather hardened by tar

SCUTTLEBUTT:
Gossip on the deck with barrels of booze being passed around

CAPTAIN WILLIAM KIDD’S LAST WORDS
My name was Captain Kidd, when I sail’d , when I sail’d , And so
wickedly I did, God’s laws I did forbid, When I sail’d , when I sail’d
. I roam’d from sound to sound, And many a ship I found, And then I
sunk or burn’d , When I sail’d . I murder’d William Moore, And laid
him in his gore, Not many leagues from shore, When I sail’d . Farewell
to young and old, All jolly seamen bold, You’re welcome to my gold,
For I must die, I must die. Farewell to Lunnon town, The pretty girls
all round, No pardon can be found, and I must die, I must die,
Farewell, for I must die. Then to eternity, in hideous misery, I must
lie, I must lie.

SHIP’S NAMES, A STORY BY ITSELF
In British Admiralty Court papers, the vessel is mentioned several
times as ‘The Quidah Merchant’, alias The Kary Merchant. Most likely,
‘Cara’ is misspelled Kary ‘Quedagh’ is derived from Sultanate Kedah.
It was common to give geographical names to ships ‘ India Merchant,
Armenian Merchant or Surat Merchant What is Kary Merchant? One
hypothesis is that the Kalantar family, owners of the vessel, had a
monopoly, granted by the East India Company, over trade of garnets in
England. In Armenian, Kary Merchant is stone merchant.

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