Al Bahran Arabian Dhow Model Ship Kit – Corel (SM36)

The Al Bahran Arabian Dhow Model Ship Kit is manufactured by Corel Model Ship Kits & Corel Model Boat Kits. Corel Model Ships are historically accurate and all ship model kits contain the highest quality parts, cast metal fittings and photo-etched brass parts, and the best available timbers. Wherever possible all parts are pre-cut and ready for assembly.

History of the Al Bahran Arabian Dhow

The Al Bahran Arabian Dhow is a reproduction of a sambuq typical of the waters of the Arabian Peninsula used both for fishing and for the transport of goods along the coastal routes of East Africa and the Indian Peninsula. From some hull characteristics, in particular the poop structure and rudder, the sambuq may be traced back to the Portuguese vessels, which, after circumnavigating the continent of Africa, from the 15th century onwards advanced along the southern coasts of Asia.

These sailing ships, very widespread up to twenty or thirty years ago, is today limited to some exemplars in the Red Sea, the waters of the Aden and the Persian Gulf, used to collect pearl oysters. And in our century, sambuqs armed with pieces of bulwark of various calibers carried on a profitable contraband activity and slave-trading for the Middle East.

To repress these, during colonial occupation, the Italian Navy armed the sambuqs with 37mm light cannon and incorporated them in its fleet; these vessels, with tonnage varying from 60 to 70 tons and 20-man crews composed of native sailors and Italian officers, were the last exclusively sailing vessels used for war in the world.