Windtowers of Dubai
'Dubai Creek 1970'
Oil painting by Tony Fernandes
Size 3ft x 2ft
View of Bur Dubai across the Creek from Ras Deira
Across the creek: Left Customs House & Ruler's Office,
centre: Nat.Bank of Dubai and backdrop of the wind towers of Bastakiya Quarter.
Oil painting by Tony Fernandes
Size 3ft x 2ft
View of Bur Dubai across the Creek from Ras Deira
Across the creek: Left Customs House & Ruler's Office,
centre: Nat.Bank of Dubai and backdrop of the wind towers of Bastakiya Quarter.
Dubai - United Arab Emirates
(Oil Painting by Tony Fernandes)
BEYOND THE ARABIAN SEA
BEYOND THE ARABIAN SEA
aboard the m.s. SIRDHANA
Part 3 (Final)
Muscat, Oman
The early morning of Day 5, (6th September 1967), found us approaching Muscat, Oman. The s.s. 'Sirdhana' cast anchor about half a nautical mile away from the breathtaking mountains of Oman. Cargo shipments were unloaded and loaded to and from small boats that came alongside. Although Muscat had no port, it was a magnificent sight to behold from the sea with beautiful cliffs some of which had names of visiting ships painted by sailors in large letters on the sloping sides. We knew that this was our last port of call before reaching Dubai.
After leaving Muscat in Oman by the afternoon, passengers disembarking in Dubai seemed quite excited. The morning of Day 6 (7th September 1967) saw us through the Straits of Hormuz. Dubai would be the next stop in about 18 hours as I had learned from a fellow traveler. There were in fact many passengers on board who had traveled this route before. As the ship sailed towards the Hormuz Strait, the Hajjar mountain range loomed high and large in the distance on the port side.
Then everyone was reaching for their note books, writing names and addresses of their new friends, so that we could keep in touch in the future wherever we would be or wherever our destiny would take us eventually. It was almost like a family leaving their relatives behind at this point. Most of my friends that I made on board the ship seemed to be in their twenties or thirties. Some were headed for other places like Doha, Bahrain, Kuwait and the final destination Basra from where some said they would hitch-hike across Europe.
It was Thursday, 7th of September 1967, having sailed through the Straits of Hormuz, the ship turned south-west towards Dubai. On the portside was the Hajjar mountain range of Ras al Khaimah and on the starboard side was the vast expanse of the Arabian Gulf. It was a hot and humid afternoon with bright sunshine. Simmering in the heat far away I could see what seemed like silhouettes on horizon of high-rise apartments. Oh! Skyscrapers! I thought, but they in fact were beautiful wind towers in disguise.
As the 'Sirdhana' steadily edged towards Dubai, she dropped anchor about a nautical mile off the entrance to Dubai Creek. After a while Immigration officials from the Trucial States arrived in a in a police boat and boarded the ship to check on the visas that were issued by the British Consulate in Dubai. The ship’s officers’ main dining area was immediately converted into an immigration office for the purpose.
Dubai did not have a sea port for the m.s. Sirdhana to berth then. We disembarked using the ship’s ladder onto small boats that took us ashore, through the winding creek. The small shuttle motor boats were berthed at the jetty near the market place in Bur Dubai.
The early morning of Day 5, (6th September 1967), found us approaching Muscat, Oman. The s.s. 'Sirdhana' cast anchor about half a nautical mile away from the breathtaking mountains of Oman. Cargo shipments were unloaded and loaded to and from small boats that came alongside. Although Muscat had no port, it was a magnificent sight to behold from the sea with beautiful cliffs some of which had names of visiting ships painted by sailors in large letters on the sloping sides. We knew that this was our last port of call before reaching Dubai.
After leaving Muscat in Oman by the afternoon, passengers disembarking in Dubai seemed quite excited. The morning of Day 6 (7th September 1967) saw us through the Straits of Hormuz. Dubai would be the next stop in about 18 hours as I had learned from a fellow traveler. There were in fact many passengers on board who had traveled this route before. As the ship sailed towards the Hormuz Strait, the Hajjar mountain range loomed high and large in the distance on the port side.
Then everyone was reaching for their note books, writing names and addresses of their new friends, so that we could keep in touch in the future wherever we would be or wherever our destiny would take us eventually. It was almost like a family leaving their relatives behind at this point. Most of my friends that I made on board the ship seemed to be in their twenties or thirties. Some were headed for other places like Doha, Bahrain, Kuwait and the final destination Basra from where some said they would hitch-hike across Europe.
It was Thursday, 7th of September 1967, having sailed through the Straits of Hormuz, the ship turned south-west towards Dubai. On the portside was the Hajjar mountain range of Ras al Khaimah and on the starboard side was the vast expanse of the Arabian Gulf. It was a hot and humid afternoon with bright sunshine. Simmering in the heat far away I could see what seemed like silhouettes on horizon of high-rise apartments. Oh! Skyscrapers! I thought, but they in fact were beautiful wind towers in disguise.
As the 'Sirdhana' steadily edged towards Dubai, she dropped anchor about a nautical mile off the entrance to Dubai Creek. After a while Immigration officials from the Trucial States arrived in a in a police boat and boarded the ship to check on the visas that were issued by the British Consulate in Dubai. The ship’s officers’ main dining area was immediately converted into an immigration office for the purpose.
Dubai did not have a sea port for the m.s. Sirdhana to berth then. We disembarked using the ship’s ladder onto small boats that took us ashore, through the winding creek. The small shuttle motor boats were berthed at the jetty near the market place in Bur Dubai.
I jumped on to the quayside with the famous BOAC blue bag slung over my shoulder with quite a relief. It wasn’t difficult to spot my brother in his trademark crew-cut who had been waiting at the Customs House. We both chatted while waiting for my luggage that would be arriving on another boat. We then headed home in his Volkswagen.
My sea voyage had ended. A new life and a new venture in a different place and culture was about to begin.
The seven sheikhdoms namely, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujeirah, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah, were then known as the TRUCIAL STATES OF OMAN, a British Protectorate. Four years later a federation was formed aimed at attaining subsequent independence. The British left and the United Arab Emirates was born in August 1971.
Today Dubai is a great, modern and magnificent city which boasts of a man-made sea port so large that it can be seen from space. There are many other man-made architectural and engineering wonders of the modern world that we have heard about. The creek is still beautiful albeit bedecked with skyscrapers on both sides, but the cluster of the original wind-towers that I had spotted nearly 42 years ago today still exists on the heritage site at the mouth of the creek still basking in warm sunshine - a reminder of the day when I first set foot in this beautiful country.
My sea voyage had ended. A new life and a new venture in a different place and culture was about to begin.
The seven sheikhdoms namely, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujeirah, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah, were then known as the TRUCIAL STATES OF OMAN, a British Protectorate. Four years later a federation was formed aimed at attaining subsequent independence. The British left and the United Arab Emirates was born in August 1971.
Today Dubai is a great, modern and magnificent city which boasts of a man-made sea port so large that it can be seen from space. There are many other man-made architectural and engineering wonders of the modern world that we have heard about. The creek is still beautiful albeit bedecked with skyscrapers on both sides, but the cluster of the original wind-towers that I had spotted nearly 42 years ago today still exists on the heritage site at the mouth of the creek still basking in warm sunshine - a reminder of the day when I first set foot in this beautiful country.
***** ***** *****
Interestingly, the Sirdhana was the first passenger ship to berth at the opening of Port Rashid on 9th November 1970. Other sister ships were the Dwarka, Daressa, Dumra, and sadly the unfortunate Dara which sunk as a result of a tragic and powerful explosion near Dubai on 8 April 1961, causing the deaths of 238 of the 819 persons on board at the time of the voyage, including 19 officers and 113 crew.
***** ***** *****
One and a half year after I first landed in Dubai, I flew on a BOAC VC-10 Aircraft to Bombay on my first vacation, perhaps leaving a jet-trail like the one I had seen from the s.s. SIRDHANA!!!
'TonFerns' holding on tight to his BOAC Air Ticket
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