Sampan is a type of wooden boat that has a unique design. It has a fat bottom built on an easily curved keel line, with a sharp head called an anni that rises prominently.

These vessels are hand-crafted from several types of wood, including Pitraj, Gamari, Jam, Garjan, Phool Karai, and Hinyari. Seeing these men use hand tools to shape raw timber and build these boats in the sweltering sun is impressive. 

Once completed, their hulls are sealed with tar and fitted with diesel engines. As you can see from the images, every inch of space on the boat serves a purpose, including a below-deck storage space for ice and fish, a living area for the men above, and a tiny squat toilette on the top deck. There’s a dedicated cook for preparing meals.

Ibrahim’s employer owns three of these impressive fishing boats.

Unfortunately, these boats rarely last five years before their hulls start rotting out despite the tar-based bottom coat. Discarded boats are chopped up and used for firewood, which I find oddly, given the toxic burnoff of their protective coatings.

Clusters of sampan boats docked up and down the shoreline, with many waiting to head out or returning from 3-10 days of fishing on the Bay of Bengali. It’s incredible to see how skilled those fishermen are living and working on these boats in groups of as many as 20 men per vessel for days on end, extreme rain or shine, for a few dollars a day.

Did you know the word ‘sampan’ originated from Cantonese, meaning ‘three planks’? In a Chinese sampan, the hull is made from a single plank joined with two side planks, giving it a flat bottom.

However, a Chittagonian sampan uses narrow wood straps instead of three whole planks. Interestingly, there are some similarities in design between the two types of sampans, such as the hull, stern, and thatched shelter.

The distinctive Chittagonian features include the rising head (anni), the sculls (halish), and the triangular sail (sar). It’s fascinating how different regions have unique characteristics that distinguish them from others.

I also discovered that rural residents in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and Japan commonly use sampans. Learning about different cultures and their ways of life is always interesting.