The Boat Museum is the only one of its kind in India. It is a noble venture on the part of the Department of Backward Classes, West Bengal, and contains 46 scale models of boats and ships dating back to the days of Indus Valley civilisation and covering areas from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Bangladesh. All the models in the museum have been crafted by Rajbanshi woodcraft artists from Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal. Some of the important exhibits include the scale model of a Harappan boat amulet, Patia (coastal fishing boats operating in West Bengal and Orissa), Kerala boat, Bhedi (flat-bottomed long boat for carrying passengers and even bullock carts), Padma boat (One of Tagore's five boats that he spent time in when he visited Shilaidaha and Bangladesh between 1890 and 1891), among others.
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Overview of Inner museum gallery
Photo Courtesy: Rangan Datta
A two-mast boat with a cabin in the stern position, propelled by both sail and oar.
Photo Courtesy: Rangan Datta
Patia: Coastal fishing boat operating in the coastal areas of Bengal and Orissa. The planks of the boat are joined together by nails.
Dholai: Large cargo boat operating in the Sundarban area, mainly used to carry gol pata (Nipa fruticans) and garan kath (Ceriops roxburghiana). But presently it carries a wide variety of items such as brick, sand, tiles, and any other goods. Dhaloi is round hulled and the boat is entirely stapled and rabbeted.
Photo Courtesy: Rangan Datta
Khorokisti: Kisti is the Persian term for boat, while khar means straw in Bengali, so the boat was built to carry straw only.
Goloiya: Goloiya operates on River Ganga in the vicinity of Mathurapur of Malda District. It is heavily built fully rabbeted and stapled.
Photo Courtesy: Rangan Datta
Padma boat: Rabindranath Tagore had five boats and ‘Padma’ is one of them. He spent time in this boat during his visit to Shilaidaha, Bangladesh, between 1890 and 1891, and many a time acted as host to eminent guests.
Kosa: Flat bottomed, stapled, fishing boat with stem and stern posts, ideal for propelling in the shallow rivers with high water current.
Trawler: Entirely rabbeted and stapled boat with fully covered deck without any mast and sail.
Salti: A flat-bottomed small boat used to catch fish in shallow waters of East Kolkata wetlands.
Photo Courtesy: Rangan Datta