PATAMAR, a vessel employed in the coasting trade of Bombay to Ceylon. Patamar vessels may be considered the best in India, as they sail remarkably well, and stow a good cargo of mer chandise. They are grab-built, that is, with a prow stem, which is the same length as the keel ; and the dimensions of the large class are 76 feet 6 inches in length, 21 feet 6 inches in breadth, 11 feet, 9 inches in depth, and about 200 tons burden. They are planked with teak, upon jungle-wood frames, and are really very handsome vessels, being put together in the European manner, with nails, bolts, etc. ; and their bottoms are sheathed with inch-board, and a layer of chunam mined with cocoanut oil and a portion of dammer (country rosin). This is a very durable substance, and a great preservative to the plank against worms. Some of the smaller class of these vessels, of about 60 tons burden, are sewed together With coir, as other native boats are. The small class has one, and the large class two masts, with the lateen sail, the foremast raking forward for the purpose of keeping the ponderous yard clear when it is raised or lowered. The yard is slung
at one-third of its length ; the tack Of the sail is brought to the stern-head, through a fixed block, and the sheet hauled aft at the side, as usual. The halyard is a pendent and treble block, from the masthead aft to midships, thus acting as a backstay for the mast's security, together with about two pairs of shrouds. These vessels gen erally export salt from Bombay to the coast, and take back coir, rice, cocoanuts, copra, oil, timber, sandal-wood, pepper, and various articles, the production of the emit. They are navigated with much skill by men of the Moplah sect and other Muhammad:ins, and have a crew of ten or twelve men, and a tindal, who are good pilots and navigators off the coast from Bombay to Cape Comorin ; generally speaking, honest and trustworthy.