Overview

Ever since Kuwait emerged in the 18th century as a young maritime state with an extreme dependence on the sea, it has been renowned for the consummate skills of its sailors and dhow-builders. Kuwait's shipwrights became justly famed for the beauty, seaworthiness and practicality of their vessels, and the Kuwaiti boum became a symbol of Kuwait's maritime prowess on all the dhow routes linking Arabia, Iran, India and East Africa. This book describes in detail how Kuwaiti shipwrights built their vessels, in particular the boum. As with dhows everywhere, this was done entirely by hand and eye, without drawings of any kind. There are chapters on celebrated master builders and famous dhows, on sails, rigging and launching, and on tools and timber. There is also an extensive glossary of Kuwaiti nautical terms.

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9781900404280

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Al-Hijji has produced the most comprehensive description of dhow-building so far published. ...Almost uniquely among books on traditional craft, Al-Hijji includes a chapter that puts names and faces to some of Kuwait's most famous boat-builders. ...The construction process is the book's core and its greatest contribution to our understanding of the dhow. -- Eric Kentley, Journal of Maritime Research, September 2002.

"""Al-Hijji has produced the most comprehensive description of dhow-building so far published. ...Almost uniquely among books on traditional craft, Al-Hijji includes a chapter that puts names and faces to some of Kuwait's most famous boat-builders. ...The construction process is the book's core and its greatest contribution to our understanding of the dhow."" -- Eric Kentley, Journal of Maritime Research, September 2002."

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