Johnny sets sail in time-honored tradition

JAKARTA (JP): Like generations of Sulawesi seafarers before him, Johnny's life is anchored to the Bugis schooners that crisscross the waters of the Indonesian archipelago.

"Ever since I was young I have worked on boats," Johnny said. His early days were spent as a fisherman, and now he shuttles lumber between Palembang, South Sumatra, and Jakarta, aboard one of the schooners of his homeland.

Johnny's ship, the Bone Jaya Mulya, docks at Sunda Kelapa, the seed of Jakarta and its port. The site of Sunda Kelapa was used as a port as early as the 5th century A.D. by the Hindu kingdom of Tarumanegara. It passed between the Portuguese, Moslems and the Dutch, who seized it in the early 17th century and extended the wharf in 1817.

"The port of Sunda Kelapa is really the beginning of the city of Jakarta," said Pat Cottrell of the Indonesian Heritage Society. The capture of Sunda Kelapa from the Portuguese by Fatahillah's army on June 22, 1527 is recognized as the founding date of Jakarta.

In a city that changes each day, Sunda Kelapa may be Jakarta's only slice of timelessness. Each day 70 to 80 phinisi schooners, still built without nails, bring wood from Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Sumatra and return with rice, cement or oil.

Indeed, Indonesia's fleet of Bugis schooners is one of the world's last remaining commercial sailing fleets. Elsewhere, steel ships have long since taken over trade, while wooden ships are used for tourism or remain as historical relics.

But the sailboats at Sunda Kelapa are not entirely unaffected by time and technology. Beginning in the early 1980s, all of them added engines to their hulls. Now the Bone Jaya Mulya is assured of making the voyage to Palembang in three days, and uses its sails only to augment its speed. Previously, with headwinds, the same trip might take two months.

During the voyages, for which they earn Rp 400,000, Johnny and the 12 other crew members rotate on four-hour shifts. In calm waters, two people are on duty at a time, but in storms it takes three people to sail the ship.

During storms the sailors say they try to sleep, but they often lie awake in their collective berth feeling the ship tossed about and thinking of their families back in Palembang. No matter how many times their ship survives a storm, they say a new gale always makes them wonder if their ship will sink, or smash against rocks, or if their tri-monthly coats of paint have been enough to keep the wooden planks from cracking.

They say the regular route to and from Palembang is safe because it is well-marked and well-traveled, but they worry when they make occasional trips to Pontianak, West Kalimantan, where there are many rocks and little company out at the sea.

But most of the time, life at sea is less eventful. They pass the time between shifts snoozing, doing puzzles or playing cards or chess. When they are hungry, they can help themselves to rice or ask the cook to prepare the vegetables that each of them purchases individually for the voyage. Fish caught along the way is a special treat.

Ships like the Bone Jaya Mulya often spend two of their three weeks in port in Jakarta. The sailors say they enjoy being in the big city, where they can go to Ancol, hear dangdut music in North Jakarta and visit the brothels at the Kramat Tunggak prostitution complex.

They spend one week each month at home, which technician Mulyadi said "seems like the first honeymoon when we meet our wives".

But they say they get restless after a few days at home.

The sea has gotten into their blood and they long to be back on the water, feeling the waves, watching the whales and hauling cargo to Jakarta once again.