The Dr. Roland Silva Memorial Lecture (131st in the Monthly Lecture Series), organised by The National Trust Sri Lanka, titled “Sailing Ships of Serendib: In Search of Lost Nautical Cultures”, will be delivered by Lt. Commander Somasiri Devendra online via Zoom tomorrow (27).
The lecture will focus on the interesting nautical culture in Sri Lanka in the 20th Century.
Somasiri Devendra set his eyes on the field of maritime heritage studies after retirement, under the guidance of Vini Vitharana. He introduced maritime archaeology as a mainstream activity of Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology (PIAR) and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). He led every project on behalf of the Archaeological Dept., Central Cultural Fund (CCF), and National Museums on a voluntary basis.
As a well-known founding member of the International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH), he also took part in drafting the ICOMOS Charter and the UNESCO International Convention. He is very well researched in his field of interest.
Speaking to The Morning Brunch, Lt. Commander Somasiri Devendra talked about what we can expect from this lecture. “I want to bring attention to this field, as it is rarely spoken about, so that the audience will learn and gain knowledge on the subject of nautical cultures.” He further added that one will learn about sailing ships and the long history behind them.
Giving us a bit of insight into the history of nautical cultures, he informed us that maritime history dates back thousands of years. In ancient maritime history, evidence of maritime trade between civilisations dates back at least two millennia. The first prehistoric boats are presumed to have been dugout canoes, which were developed independently by various stone age populations. In ancient history, various vessels were used for coastal fishing and travel.
The first true ocean-going boats were invented by the Austronesian peoples, using novel technologies like multihulls, outriggers, crab claw sails, and tanja sails. This enabled the rapid spread of Austronesians into the islands of both the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, known as the Austronesian expansion. They laid the groundwork for the maritime trade routes into South Asia and the Arabian Sea by around 1000 to 600 BC, which would later become the Maritime Silk Road.
Sri Lanka was linked by sea to maritime cultures of the Euro-Asian landmass. Mariners and merchants spread ideas and technology between these cultures. While we had our own vernacular nautical culture, foreign mercantile communities settled in the country continued to use their own craft which would have sailed in our waters at the same time, for as long as necessarily needed.
By the 20th Century, due to European domination, all forms of non-British watercraft had ceased to be of relevance. The lecture will touch on three watercrafts that were left as it, with a focus on an account of efforts to re-discover material information of the three cultures behind these ships: How they came to be here, who built them, who sailed them, what they were like, and why they disappeared. It is about sailing ships and not boats, based on material evidence rather than literary references.
Commander Devendra added that maritime history is an important heritage of our country: “I’m talking about this subject because we need to keep these traditions alive. Sri Lanka has always had a rich and interesting history, but our maritime cultures are not spoken about as often even though we need to hold on to these aspects of our history and pass them down to the generations to come.”
Catch the lecture on their Facebook page: The National Trust Sri Lanka. Register to watch at https://forms.gle/KGyv7xH3MEsBHLuP9.
