swally suvali surat

SUVALI SHORE’S SWALLY SECRETS……….
As the winter Sun beckons us Surtis to bask in it for a picnic, more often than not, suburbanites head towards Suvali beach that lies12 kms.NorthWest; Famous for its privacy and infamous for its treacherous tides, here many a young soul has lost its life. Deep down, a number of secrets lie buried below the sands. There is a lot more than meets the eye on this now barren land………………
In the pages of Indian and British history, ‘Swally’ as the Brits called it in their anglicized way, was the port where the English ships docked to enter and depart Surat .Since the Tapti was heavily silted at times and busy with the Portuguese ships ,this shore made easy entry point even in times of low tide. So deep are the waters off –shore this area that it was possible to embark even the heavy tonnage ships here. Little wonder then, that till this date a number of people enjoying on the edge of the beach are caught completely unawares when the tide comes in inundating the otherwise dry area and makes it absolutely impossible for anyone to swim back to the shore.
Few people know that Suvali is also the birthplace of the Indian Navy. Surprised, are you? Well here is the low down on it-In 1612, Captain Thomas Best encountered and defeated the Portuguese in the Battle of Swally.This marked the end of the Portugal commercial trade in India and the beginning of British ascent .To protect the port from further such encounters with pirates and intruders The English maintained a small fighting fleet from 5th September that year onwards .Named The Honourable East India Company’s Marine, the officers of which went on to play an important role in surveying and protecting the Arabian, Persian and Indian coastlines and later functioned from Bombay. Then onwards, any ship embarking this shore would have to pay tax to the Company to do so.
Below the now silted shores lie a field of bones in what used to be the graveyard of Swally.Historians believe that the eccentric English author ,polyglot and traveller Thomas Coryate ,whose travel book ‘Coryat’s Crudities’ was a rage in that age lies buried here. A comedian at heart, he was known for his humorous way of writing about his courageous travels around the Globe. Known as the ‘English Fakir’ in Surat, his tomb was constructed in Mohammedan style with a 20 feet high edifice over it.
One of India’s oldest lighthouses, the Hazira light, previously known as the Taptee/Suvali light also shares the Suvali shore further down. Humbly built with masts and fire logs initially, the tower built thereafter was completely destroyed by a fire from its petromax apparatus in 1836. Since then it has been upgraded often with lights from different parts of the world and now stands proudly with state of the art equipment and a metal halide lamp.
Thus, the silent Suvali shores share secrets in galore. So the next time you visit this now vacant shore, try and envisage what Suvali must have looked like in its busy days of yore.