Heritage boats
Ashari Balam
The Ashari Balam is the iconic boat of Basra, with a graceful shape and iconic scroll-shaped prow and stern ornaments. Its length ranges from 11–9 metres
Muhaila
The Muhaila is a river boat, used for transportation throughout southern and central Iraq on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It was sailed, punted and sometimes towed by animals or humans.
Isbiya (Kaiya)
The Isbiya (also known locally as the Kaiya) is a cargo barge traditionally built only in the town of Hit on the western bank of the River Euphrates in Anbar province.
Shekhtour
The Shekhtour is a plank (edge to edge) built barge of various sizes found all along the upper Euphrates from Syria (Deir ez-Zor and above) and down river into Anbar–Iraq
Meshouf
The Meshouf is the Iraqi name for a canoe, a type of boat that is made all over the world, although its form and materials vary from place to place. The Mesopotamian Meshouf is between 3 – 11 meters long and has a narrow form
Sheikh’s Tarada
“it was a beautiful craft that could carry as many as 12 people.
36 feet long but only 3 and 1/2 feet at her widest beam. She was carvel-built, flat bottomed and covered outside with a smooth coating of bitumen over the wooden planks…
The Shasha
(reed boat) is a type of raft that floats because it is lighter than the water (unlike displacement boats, which float because they are hollow). There are two distinct types, both called Shasha, used in southern Iraq and the Gulf region.
Zaima
a type of Meshouf made without the use of wood or metal. It is the only type of tar-coated reed Meshouf that has been recorded photographically in the 20th century.
Mama Tarada
The Mama Tarada is a modernized boat adapted from a large Tarada (Barkash) with an outboard motor incorporated into the design. It is part of Safina Projects’ initiative to revitalise the use of marsh boats, and is used as a tourist boat and as a safety and support boat for Heritage Boat Clubs. It was developed at Huwaïr Traditional Boat Workshop by craftsman Jewad Kadhim in collaboration with artist Rashad Salim from Safina Projects.
Danek
The Danek is one of the two largest inland sailing boats of Iraq, alongside the Muhaila. The Muhaila is clearly a river boat, designed for broad areas of shallow water, with a shallow draft and wide beam; it also has a distinctive angular, high prow.
Chilaika
Variations on the Tarada form include the Chilaika, the smallest type of high-prowed Meshouf, about 7 metres in length. Other varieties include the Nawfiliya, named after a clan who preferred a more vertical prow form; and the Farsiya, a particularly elegant, small Tarada named after its maker, Faris.
Kelek
Simple rafts made of logs tied together are among the most ancient types of watercraft known to man. A more sophisticated type using inflated skin floats to add buoyancy can be found in various cultures with upland free flowing rivers, many notably in Asia.
Guffa
The Guffa is the central Mesopotamian coracle, a round boat whose shell is a coil basket made of a single spiral bundle of grass wrapped with palm leaf. It is braced inside with pomegranate wands. It is then covered and saturated from the inside and outside with liquid tar, and after drying it completely under the sun, it is covered on the outside with a layer of solid tar, then painted with a final layer of clay from the outside to protect the tar from melting.
Baghdadi Balam
The Baghdadi Balam is a type of small row boat with similarity to boats found in the European tradition such as the Thames Skiff as well as in the Ottoman tradition. Whether the Baghdadi Balam has roots in earlier Islamic tradition is an open question.
Jendoul
The term “Jendoul” refers to a class of boats that has been proposed as a distinct category through Rashad Salim’s research since around 2020. Its defining characteristics are its size (no longer than 11 m), giving it the ability to manoeuvre around corners within canal
Teksi
The Teksi (or Matour) is the smallest type of Meshouf, from around 3 metres long, with curved (flared) sides. It is a one-person boat used for hunting birds. It has a flat prow that can be used to “park” the boat by lodging it among reeds.
