Underi Fort

Underi Fort, Thal, Raigad, Maharashtra 402201

Underi (also called Jaidurg) is a fortified island near the mouth of Mumbai harbour south of Prong's Lighthouse. It is a companion fort to Khanderi and currently lies in Raigad district, Maharashtra. These islands of Khanderi and Underi served as one of the landmarks for ships entering Mumbai harbour.[1] Underi is smaller than Khanderi.

History

On 9th January 1680, Siddi started building fortification on Underi Island. The Marathas attacked on the dawn of 27th January, but did not succeed. During Sambhaji’s reign, the Marathas attempted another attack on 18th August 1680. However, Siddi was ready for this and 80 Marathas were killed, including Maynak Bhandari’s son. Yet another attempt happened on 18th July 1681 which caused a great damage to Siddi, but the fort was not won. On 28th January Naro Trimbak captured the fort and named it as Jaidurg. In 1818, the fort went to the British, who gave its ownership to Angre dynasty in 1824. When Angres surrendered to British in 1840, the fort came under British control again.

Ways To Reach :

That town is located at about 8 km north of Alibaug, and the diversion to Thal is 4 km away from Alibaug on Alibaug Revas road. ST buses ply regularly between Alibaug and Thal. We can hire small boats from Thal beach, owned by local fishermen who take us to the fort. Khanderi is located bit far from the beach, and can be visited irrespective of high or low tide as it has a jetty. Since Underi has no jetty, one can visit it only during low tide. There is a method to find the timings for low and high tides.

High tide timings can be taken from Hindu Panchang by multiplying the date by ¾. For example, if it is the 4th day of the month (Chaturthi), then (¾ x 4) gives 3. This indicates that the high tide will be at 3 am and 3 pm. Low tide will occur 6 hours after high tide, hence the low tide timings would be 9 am and 9 pm.

The fishermen might sometimes demand doubled costs, and we need to bargain with them. Also, most of the fishermen leave for fishing early morning, by 6 am. Hence we need to inquire locally about the timings.

Following are the timings as per Hindu Panchang for low tides

Pratipada 4:00 to 6:00

Dwitiya 5:00 to 7:00

Tritiya 5:30 to 8:00

Chaturthi 6:00 to 9:00

Panchami 7:00 to 9:30

Shashti 8:00 to 10:00

Saptami 8:30 to 11:00

Ashtami 9:00 to 12:00

Navami 10:00 to 12:30

Dashmi 11:00 to 13:00

Ekadashi 11:30 to 14:00

Dwadshi 12:00 to 15:00

Tryodshi 13:00 to 16:00

Chartudshi 13:00 to 16:00

Poornima / Amavasya 14:30 to 17:00