Kerala - Kochi   

Charting India’s maritime tradition

From a gallant past: Exhibits on display at Indian Navy’s maritime museum in Fort Kochi.

KOCHI: It is fascinating to see how two fortified ammunition bunkers built prior to World War II by the British in Fort Kochi have been turned into a maritime museum of the Indian Navy.

One of the bunkers charts the maritime history of Kerela, while the other details the history and evolution of Indian Navy.

The museum located within INS Dronarcharya (the Navy’s gunnery and missile school) took shape in 2001, after Rear Admiral (retd) Kirpal Singh donated Rs.5 lakh.

Among the outdoor exhibits is a huge missile like the one that was used to bombard Karachi harbour in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, depth charges, mines, huge guns used by old Delhi-class warships, models of warships made in India and anti-aircraft guns used by the British to guard Fort Kochi.

The museum is among those mentioned in Kerala Tourism’s official website and is a storehouse of information on India’s maritime history since the Indus Valley Civilisation and other prominent world civilisations. Among the exhibits is the detailed map of the route that adventurers from the west took to sail to the east, following the Ottoman Turks blocking the land route.Visitors would never miss the model of the menacing-looking Kunjali Marakkar, Kerala’s proud sea warrior, located alongside that of Vasco Da Gama. Cdr A.N. Satish of INS Dronacharya spoke of how Marakkar harassed the Portuguese Navy using many small boats under the camouflage provided by big ones.

“Few people know that many of the ships used by the British were built at the Mumbai dockyard during the early part of the century,” he said. Among the prominent exhibits is a brass muzzle-loading canon used by ships in the 17th and 18th centuries and a 150-year-old anchor.

The museum’s curator, Danny Dunstan, who worked in the erstwhile Royal Indian Navy spoke of how Kerala, strategically located on India’s south-western end, was the maritime gateway to India for foreign powers, starting with the Portuguese.

An oil painting shows San Gabriel, the flagship of Vasco Da Gama sail into Kozhikode in 1498.

There is also a model of a dhow-boats built mainly at Beypore in Kozhikode. The life buoy of Albuquerque, the Portuguese warship forced aground by Indians in the conflict preceding the Goa liberation welcomes visitors to the second bunker.

A collage film of the 1971 war, in which the Navy played a significant role, is shown to people who come in groups. Thousands of years of India’s maritime history have been shown in pictographic form, all with English and Malayalam sub-titles.

Among the visitors was Paul Trumble from England. “I was impressed by the exhibits that showed the conflicts at sea and the evolution of the Indian Navy.”

The Commanding Officer of INS Dronacharya, Capt. Sanjiv Issar said efforts are on to air-condition the two bunkers, which would add to the ambience and make them more comfortable for visitors.

“This will help preserve the artefacts better. We are sustaining the museum using the nominal amount given by visitors,” he said.

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