A chhot boat, which was made under the Endangered Materials Knowledge Programme (EMKP) of Exeter University, UK, set sail on the Rupnarayan on Thursday from Dihimondal Ghat at Howrah’s Shyampur and will reach Calcutta via Kolaghat.

Calcutta Port Trust has taken possession of the boat and will keep it till it finds its final destination at the National Maritime Heritage Complex, which is coming up in Gujarat, said anthropologist Swarup Bhattacharyya, the local collaborator of the EMKP project.

The chhot boat is an endangered boat that used to be made in Shyampur, on the shores of the Rupnarayan. It was used for fishing and transporting goods.

Panchanan Mondal, the lone survivor who still knows how to make chhot boats, was involved by the EMKP authorities to build one in October 2022. And the entire boat-making process was documented by EMKP. The documentary is preserved at the British Museum.

Completed in November 2022 at a cost of ₹16 lakh, the chhot boat was left by the riverside with no keepers or takers, open to the vagaries of nature.

Mondal said: “I would sometimes come and have a look around.”

Before it set sail on Thursday, Calcutta Port Trust agents undertook some repairs. “We sealed some gaps and holes,” said a worker.

When contacted by The Telegraph, port officials denied comment on the boat.

The reconstruction was a collaborative work involving the University of Exeter in the UK and the Central University of Haryana.

The design of the boat is such that it can sail in coastal rivers. The hull of the boat is deep and pointed.

“If we look at the medial cross-section of the boat, we will see it is V-shaped. It sits easily in the water and can also cut through water,” said anthropologist Bhattacharyya.

The V-shape allows the boat to remain stable even when buffeted by waves or wind.

The boat became extinct about 30 years ago when such boats could no longer navigate the Rupnarayan, which had lost its depth because of silt.

Made with different kinds of wood cut into strips and stapled with nails, the chhot boat is painted with the gum of a local fruit called gab.

Unlike the contemporary boats that are painted with tar, the chhot boat retains the original colour of the wood, true to its indigenous style. With two years on the shore of
the river, the boat might have lost a bit of its sheen, but it sure looks sturdy and weatherbeaten to take on the river.