The Adventures of Trevor Corner; Dhow Do They Do IT… (From The Northern Echo)

The Adventures of Trevor Corner; Dhow Do They Do IT…

7:43pm Thursday 8th July 2010 in

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The sailing Dhow in the UAE is still an integral part of life. If you go to the creek in Dubai you can see them being loaded with modern day cargo such as food, fridges, flat screen tellies and second hand cars, covered and tied down with canvas sheets. They are heading for markets as far a field as Iran, India, Africa and Somalia, which is amazing when you see them and how they are built.

It’s not always been like that, as originally they were used when Dubai was a tented city less than six decades ago where the trade then was spices and pearls.

These hands built Dhows are still built now but this is a slow process (2 to 5years) and one intended to preserve tradition.

When I first came to the UAE a year ago I was advised that the last local traditional Dhow was being built, to me that was like a red rag to a bull. I went to find it and was astounded that this 100 foot long 60 foot high Dhow was being hand built out of teak on dry land some 300 feet from the sea.

I was fascinated and visited the construction on a regular basis where I was given free access to all parts of the construction, even up all the scaffolding! The shipbuilder was a 77 year old retired Dhow captain with a workforce of Indian labour, using only hand tools.

All the pieces of teak were hand cut and chiselled into shape with no drawings or plans, all done from verbal communications from the captain!

It was interesting watching them work making internal spars shaped to fit the contours of the hull and designed to take the pressures of the water when fully loaded.

I then realised why we did resultant of forces at Bishop Tech, but I bet the captain didn’t have that opportunity!

To work they entered the Dhow from a 6 foot hole in the bottom of the boat and finally filled in the hole when internal work was complete.

They then set about caulking the boat, hammering rope in the gaps of every plank so when it went in the water the wood expanded and made it watertight.

Once finished they had to think about getting it into the water.

This is when I got excited, having watched ships being launched on the telly. I approached the owner’s son, an Arabic gentleman who spoke English. I explained that we had a great heritage of ship building in the north of England and asked how he felt about a ‘fell man’ being on his launch team. He was happy as I was, easy to spot being the only non Indian!

Launch day (week) was now fixed around the high tide of the year.

To get the boat to the water they laid planks on the sand and used wooden rollers and planks of wood to stop it falling sideways. They then brought a ships capstan and fixed it to the beach, buried a large anchor in the sand and proceeded to slide the Dhow towards the water.

The Dhow was moving at a rate of 2/3 feet per hour and the process of moving the anchor and capstan was done on an hourly basis. The captain sat under the huge draft of the boat as it slid along the sand. Finally, it got to the waters edge at low tide. Then with a huge crash, the boat fell onto its side, shattering all its supports, to the layman it looked like a disaster.

The captain was smiling as he said the high tide will float her, and then we can tow her away.

It was an awe inspiring experience and for a ‘Cockfield lad’ to be part of the launch of one of the last hand made Dhows was very satisfying and something you can only see once in a lifetime.

The Dhow was a bit more ambitious than making a glove box at woodwork lessons at Lynesack School with Mr Simpson!

By the way, my mam still has the glove box I made 50 years ago!!