weight of tradition among Indian shipbuilders overwhelmed the needs of sailors for secure oceangoing craft. Second, India’s west coast did not produce enough iron for construction. Third, although the sewn craft may have been less seaworthy, they were more “beachworthy”—that is, more pliable, and thus better able to survive the frequent encounters with the reefs, rocks, and shallows of the coasting trade than were the more rigid planked and ribbed Chinese and European ships.
