Thefirst Indiancircumnavigation in a sail boat was undertaken in 1985–1987[1] by a team comprising officers of theIndian Army Corps of Engineers on yachtTrishna, a 1970-vintageSwan 37 sloop.
Trishna was given the singular honour thereafter of being transported toNew Delhi and displayed on a tableau during theRepublic Day Parade, 1987.[2]
The country's first voyage in a sailboat to foreign shores was conducted on the 20-footSeabird 'Albatross' in 1977 by theIndian Army Engineers as a trial for the ultimate goal of circumnavigating the globe. The 68-day 7,000 km Seabird voyage to the Persian Gulf port ofBandar Abbas, Iran, was one of the early major ventures by the Corps.[3]
On 28 September 1985Trishna set sail from the Naval Sailing Club jetty atColaba,Mumbai with GeneralArun Shridhar Vaidya, then-Chief of Army Staff accompanied by Lt. Gen. P.R. Puri, Engineer-in-Chief flagging off the First Indian Expedition Around the World.[4]
The team consisted of ten members, with six on the boat at any one time, of which four were permanent crew:[4]
The sailing expedition commenced fromBombay, India on 28 Sept 1985.[5] Right from the timeTrishna left harbour, she ran into the low pressure weather system of the receding monsoons which accompanied her till her first port of call atMale and thereafter toMauritius on 25 October 1985.[6] The boat was hit by severe storms on several occasions which damaged the VHF and HF radio aerials and electrical systems on board. The crew resorted to makeshift repairs at sea to restore communication and navigation systems.[7]After a brief halt, the boat set sail fromPort Louis,Mauritius on 30 October 1985. The sail toSaint Helena,South Atlantic Ocean around theCape of Good Hope was rough and the longest non-stop leg of the trip, taking 33 days.Trishna on one occasion was swamped by a rogue wave and lost most of her life-saving equipment in the incident. The radio set was damaged and the antenna on the masthead broke. Communication with Mumbai and other ports was cut off. The sail across the South Atlantic Ocean was peaceful andTrishna reachedSt Helena on 2 December 1985.[8]
The boat reachedAscension Island on 15 December 1985.[9] Staying ashore or mooring on the island was not permitted andTrishna had to tie up alongside the oil tankerMaersk Ascension which is permanently anchored off the island.
The sail thereafter till theCaribbean Sea was largely calm. The winds remained predominantly South-Easterly. The first port of call on the continent ofSouth America was at the coastal town ofNatal.[10] The crew celebrated the New Year of 1986 there with theirBrazilian Navy hosts.[11] From there, the boat sailed along the coast and then up thePara River to the port ofBelém.Trishna had to sail upstream on this tributary of theAmazon River for 70 nautical miles against strong currents and myriad dangers in the form of fishing nets, unlit fishing trawlers and huge log floating down. Most of this distance was completed at night.
The next halt was at the port ofParamaribo,Suriname. The country has a large East Indian origin population and programs inHindi were broadcast by the local radio station. It was a short hop from there toGeorgetown, Guyana. The crew received an enthusiastic reception from the large Indian-origin population here. TheGuyana Defence Force arranged a visit to theKaieteur Falls by air during the short stay there.Trishna then proceeded to the Caribbean port ofPort of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago for the first crew change of the voyage. The first crew change took place here and Capt R. Bassi was replaced by Lt. Navin Ahuja.[12]
The boat then sailed toBridgetown,Barbados[13] and then toKingston, Jamaica.[14] From there the boat crossed thePanama Canal.[15]
AtPanama City, the boat was taken out of the water and overhauled at the local US Naval Base.[16] Minor repairs were carried out, barnacles removed and the hull was given a fresh coat ofanti-fouling paint by the crew.
The voyage in the northernPacific Ocean was relatively calm. With good windsTrishna sailed the 3,200 nautical miles – fromGalapagos toMarquesas Islands non-stop in 23 days. This was her fastest passage so far.
Trishna halted atTahiti[17] and then sailed onward toRarotonga andSuva,Fiji. The weather remained adverse on the leg fromFiji toAuckland. Winter had already set in the Southern Hemisphere by this time and the sail was extremely punishing for the crew in the wet and cold conditions.
Trishna again had a perilous encounter with some whales betweenRarotonga andFiji. On three occasions whales came within 10 to 15 meters of the yacht, dived underneath and swam nearby flipping their huge tails.[18]
One of the most difficult legs of the voyage was the passage fromAuckland toSydney across theTasman Sea. The leg was sailed from 3 to 17 Aug 1986.Trishna was hit by gales continuously for five days. The sails were ripped off and for the first time in the expedition, the 'hove-to' drill was carried out to ensure that the boat did not suffer major damages. The same storm meanwhile struckSydney, causing the worst inundation of the city in the century.[19][20]
The legSydney -Brisbane -Cairns -Thursday Island continued in rough weather, as predicted during the winter months. The voyage was difficult, though spectacular, owing to the sail along theGreat Barrier Reef. Navigation was critical while sailing through the numerous reefs and on one occasion the boat ran aground on a moving sandbar. Fortunately, there was no damage though the crew had to wait till the next high tide to sail the boat off. The sail throughTorres Straits again caused anxious moments as the Strait is only about a mile wide and it was a challenge navigating through this narrow passage. FromThursday Island toDarwin was a pleasant sail and the crew finally got some respite from adverse weather conditions. This gave the crew opportunity to work on the communication equipment to re-establish radio communications with India through theHAM network. Since rounding theCape of Good Hope, there had been no direct communication between the boat and India. Maj SN Mathur was an expertHAM operator and he soon established a regular link with India.
Trishna leftDarwin, North Australia on 13 October 1986 forKupang,Timor. From there the boat sailed toWaingapu inSumba and then toBali,Indonesia. Good 'following' winds helpedTrishna reachBali on 22 October 1986.Bali has manyHindu temples and the crew arrived during one of the mainHindu festivals,Diwali, the festival of lights. This was the thirdDiwali celebrated by the crew away from home.
The yacht set sail fromBali on 2 November 1986, reachingJakarta on 9 November; then viaSingapore andPenang,Trishna made its first landfall on Indian shores atCampbell Bay,Nicobar on 10 December 1986.[21] It was a momentous occasion and was celebrated with gusto with the whole crew present on the occasion. Maj KS Rao, the Skipper, also received his long-delayed promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel here.
The home run viaColombo,Sri Lanka was uneventful.
Trishna received an enthusiastic welcome at theGateway of India,Mumbai on her arrival there on 10 January 1987 where she was received by GeneralKrishnaswamy Sundarji, theChief of the Army Staff (India) accompanied by a large gathering of sailors, Service officers, friends and relatives.[22]
The sea is a great mistress; she is really a magnificent lady of great stature. But as I have found out, you must treat her with enormous respect; for, she is inclined, if you do not do so, to suddenly smack you with a back-hander – if ever you get too familiar with her – which can be quite disastrous.
You must now be crossing the Pacific, and that would be your greatest hurdle, for that ocean can be imperious and very unrelenting. It is quite an uncharitable bit of water but I am quite sure, the whole world will be watching you and praying for you, and so you must come through.
Ten officers of theIndian Army Corps of Engineers in a sailboat girdled the globe – 30,000 nautical miles – in less than 16 months creatingIndian maritime history.[23][12] They arethe first Indians to circumnavigate the globe[24] onTrishna - inSanskrit the name means to fulfil their 'thirst' of sailing around the world.
Trishna was given the singular honour of thereafter being transported toNew Delhi and took part on a tableau during theRepublic Day Parade, 1987.[2] This in itself was a herculean effort as the boat had reached Mumbai on 10 Jan 1987 itself and to participate in theRepublic Day Parade on 26th, the boat had to be transported to New Delhi, the tableau to be fabricated to the exacting standards of theMinistry of Defence and cleared by their internal committee well before the rehearsals commenced. It seemed an impossible task, but with the concerted efforts of all those involved, theIndian Railways provided the carriage,Naval Dockyard Mumbai fabricated the boat cradle overnight on the railway carriage and then again the Railways moved it at express speed, literally, to New Delhi. TheBengal Engineer Group,Roorkee sent their fabrication team and completed the fabrication work atVijay Chowk itself since the boat with its 54 ft high mast could not be transported anywhere else in the capital.
A commemorative postage stamp was released byIndia Post on the arrival of the boat back inBombay on 10 January 1987.[25][26]
The crew ofTrishna was also honoured with theOrder of Merit by theOcean Cruising Club which recognised the voyage as the first circumnavigation by an Indian yacht.[27]
The Government acknowledged this achievement by announcing awards for the whole crew onRepublic Day, 1987.[28]
The Trishna crew were awarded the"Admiral RH Tahiliani Trophy" for the Yachtsman of the Year1987[29]
Maj AK Singh became the first disabled sailor to circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat.[30][31]
Celebrated author,Dom Moraes volunteered to write an account of the historic voyage. The book named 'Trishna' was published by Perennial Press Mumbai and was released on 10 March 1988 at a glittering function held at theCollege of Military Engineering, Pune.[32] The book received rave reviews and in the reviewer's words"Trishna is, in essence Moraes' personal tribute to the heroes whose courage and ability inspired him to undertake what, for him, is a new literary voyage."[33]
He had earlier written an exhaustive account of the voyage in the Imprint magazine soon after the completion of the voyage.[12]
