The earliest users of catamaran were apparently fishermen living on the southern coast of Tamil Nadu, and the word itself is of Tamil origin. To be sure, catamarans are found elsewhere in Asia as well. The twin hulls of a catamaran made them more stable in rough seas, a legendary problem around the beaches of Madras (today's Chennai). William Dampier, an English adventurer, first mentioned the catamaran at the end of the 17th century. Today they are used in high-end boat races.
This is a very early Tuck's postcard, part of a series on "Curious Craft" and one of their earliest images of India.