In 1959, renowned swimmer Mihir Sen founded the Explorers Club of India in Calcutta with the aim of fostering the spirit of adventure among Indian and specifically youth (1/8)
The Explorers Club funded and encouraged many adventures but the most remarkable of these were undertaken by two young men: Lt. George Albert Duke (25) and Pinaki Ranjan Chatterjee (23). The pair decided to sail to Andaman on Calcutta in a row boat (2/8)
Their boat was named "Kanhoji Angre", after a famous Marathi sailor. It was built at the Garden Reach Ship Builders & Engineers (3/8) 
Duke and Chatterjee wanted to prove that the 1500 km perilous journey over the Bay of Bengal could be done in a row boat. The boat had no cover, no sail and no motor. There was no cabin for the men to sleep in (4/8)
It had a lamp mast fitted with a radar reflector which would enable the boat to be picked up on the radar other ships. The crew also had a wireless transmitter set, a transmitter radio & a 16 mm camera to capture the marine life of the bay (5/8)
Special provisions were made to carry 64 gallons of drinking water. And the pair carried large quantities of shark repellants to ward off the Bay's numerous sharks (6/8)
The day the journey started, the jetty was packed with more than 20,000. Tenzing Norgay had fired the flash gun that marked the start of the journey. The journey started on 1st Feb, 1969 and the pair reached Port Blair on 2nd Mar, 1969 (7/8)
One of the difficult moments encounter enroute was a fierce storm that raged for 3 days. On their return to Calcutta, they were felicitated by the West Bengal govt, PM Indira Gandhi and President Zakir Hussain (8/8)
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