This article examines how far existing work on the Indian Ocean has focused on aspects like sovereignty and maritime law in the western Indian Ocean and argues for more research in this field. The conduct of shipping in the western Indian Ocean took a drastic shift during the period from 1700 to 1900 when an organised admiralty law was drafted in India, indicating that the role played by the British in this process cannot be disregarded. Highlighting the struggle between various European powers for supremacy over maritime trade and commerce in the Indian Ocean by analysing the available sources, this article identifies numerous gaps in studies of the Indian Ocean, which need further scholarly exploration.

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This article assesses the historiography of navigation and shipbuilding technology in India. Though the paucity of Indian primary sources has deterred historians from compiling large-scale works on these themes, they have been elucidated in a number of valuable publications. Moreover, the voluminous data recorded by the British in particular, and Europeans in general, during seventeenth and eighteenth centuries provides further relevant information on these themes.

This article begins by investigating the construction techniques of medieval Indian ships to explore the extent to which the building methods were responsible for shipwrecks. Then, the article attends to the impacts of a shipwreck on the minds or behaviour of sailors. A link is drawn between various superstitious beliefs and certain irrational behaviour among sailors in the Indian Ocean and shipwrecks. The dreaded nature of a voyage would often create panic among sailors, which led them to various superstitious beliefs. However, a voyage would also attract many with the promise of adventure. The article also discusses how the atmosphere in the ship played the role of a catalyst in shaping the behaviour of the mariners. Finally, the article explores the ramifications of shipwrecks in littoral societies across the western Indian Ocean. During the medieval period, merchants from different regions and countries whose livelihood depended on the maritime trade settled in port towns. Moreover, littoral people relied on the supply of products from across the oceans for their livelihoods. Therefore, the smooth conduct of shipping was necessary for these coastal people. This article examines how a shipwreck would impact sectors of the littoral society in general and sailors in particular. Although the paucity of sources sets limits on the extent to which these aspects can be reconstructed, a number of contemporary traveller accounts shed light on the situation.