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Marine archaeology set for quantum boost in India By Vishnu Makhijani, Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Mar 8 (IANS) The excavation of a 200-year-old shipwreck off the southern coast is set to give marine archaeology a quantum boost through a collaborative effort between the Indian Navy and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). "India is one of the world's oldest maritime nations but by and large the history of India's seafaring activities has yet to be written," said Vice Admiral S.V. Gopalachari, the Indian Navy's deputy chief, at a media interaction to announce an International Seminar on Marine Archaeology to be held here on March 14-15. "Very few, for instance, realise the Battle of Nagapattinam in which the Dutch Navy defeated the Portuguese actually laid the foundation of the British empire in India. That event held the British gain a foothold in India and saw them oust the Portuguese from India a century later," added naval historian Rear Admiral (retired) K. Raja Menon, one of the prime movers of the seminar. "Marine artefacts bearing inscriptions in Tamil have been found as far away as New Zealand and Vietnam. How did they get there? The primary sources of naval history are marine archaeology," Menon maintained. A highlight of the seminar will be the presentation of a paper on the excavation of the British merchantman Princess Royal that sank off Bangaram Island in the Lakshwadeep chain, 230 nautical miles from Kochi, in 1792. It was the first time the Indian Navy and ASI had collaborated on a marine archaeological project and could be the precursor to many such projects along the country's west and east coasts, Gopalachari said. "The west coast is a particularly rich area. At various times, it has been home to some 400 harbours. And where there are harbours, there are bound to be shipwrecks. They are a rich fund of information," he opined. To that extent, the Princess Royal could only be considered a teaser. "The artefacts found during the excavation included four cannons, an anchor, copper utensils, grinding stones, iron pieces, copper sheets and rods, bricks, pottery and glazed storage jars," said Rear Admiral Rusi Contractor, who will chair the archaeology seminar. The excavation was mooted in March 2002 and the actual operations were conducted in November and December of that that year with INS Nireekshak, the navy's state-of-the-art underwater exploration vessel. "The Indian Ocean, lying across one of the most important sea-lanes that connect the east to the west, has been silent observer to a number of ships going down through the ages. Such shipwrecks are valuable time capsules. Through the systematic study of such wrecks, a wealth of scientific cultural, historic and traditional data can be gleaned," Gopalachari held. The paper on the Princess Royal will be presented by Commodore A.K. Patnaik of the Indian Navy and Alok Tripathi of the ASI who were involved in the effort hands-on. Among the other treatises to be presented are on Arab Seagoing Tradition in the Indian Ocean by John Craswell of Spain, The Portuguese Presence in the Indian Ocean by Malhao Periera of Portugal, British Strategic Vision of the Indian Ocean 1957-1947 by Andrew Lambert of King's College, London, and The Indian and Pacific Oceans in World Maritime History by Rear Admiral Joseph J. Krol of the U.S. Navy. Historian Menon will present a paper on India's shipbuilding industry, weapon making skills and social systems and the European conquest of the sub-continent. --Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
