Sifting through pieces of Indonesian maritime history
Sifting through pieces of Indonesian maritime history
Text and photos by Bambang Budi Utomo
JAKARTA (JP): My forefathers were people of the sea.
Conquering the wide open seas was their passion...
This song was popular years ago with school children and
villagers. But today it is barely heard, despite the fact that
our forefathers were renowned seaman and that the year 1996 has
been declared the Year of the Sky and the Sea by President
Soeharto.
Somehow the song's declining popularity reflects the reality
of our national maritime industry, which is a far cry from its
past glory.
In medieval times, the Hindu kingdom Sriwijaya in South
Sumatra controlled the seas. And no discussion on national
maritime affairs or ship-building technology would be complete if
Sriwijaya was neglected. Many archeological finds of ancient
ships indicate that the wrecks were boats built during the
Sriwijaya period from the 7th century through to the 13th
century.
"This is a piece of a very old ship," said a villager from
Samirejo hamlet, showing a wooden piece of an ancient prau.
The village is in a swampy area some 25 kilometers from
Palembang. Two kilometers to the north of the village is the Musi
river.
The piece of wood was part of a discovery of wooden planks
from an ancient boat.
A French expert of ancient boats, Pierre-Yves Manguin, is
convinced that the wooden planks belonged to a prehistoric ship.
"When we found them, the holes in the boat still had palm
fiber string," said a villager.
The pieces suggested that the boat was made by a sewn plank
and lashed-lug technique, an ancient prau-building technique,
said Manguin who has found many old shipwrecks in Southeast Asia.
This technique is still used in prau-building in Southeast Asia.
Technique
When the people of Southeast Asia began building praus is
unclear. Historical and archeological information is hopelessly
lacking in this respect.
A sketch of a prehistoric prau carved on a cave wall, provides
some information. The stone carving suggests that the boat was
very simple.
It is likely that this prau-building technique strongly
resembles the techniques which ethnic people have used to build
praus.
The technique requires a large tree trunk which is hollowed
out with a stone pickax. Another technique is to gradually burn
out a tree trunk. The boat's walls must be neither too thick or
too thin to prevent cracking and leaks, in case the boat hits a
reef or is beached on a rocky coastline.
After the hull of the boat has been carved, the boat is fitted
with outriggers to port and starboard. These type of boat is
known as perahu lesung or sampan.
SE Asian tradition
In prehistoric times outrigger boats played an important role
in inter-island trade and trade between Indonesia and Southeast
Asia. The Southeast Asian connection brought an exchange of
knowledge at all levels, including skills for building temples,
cities, and, no doubt, boats.
Boat-building observers say that progress was made in the
local boat-building industry because of the Southeast Asian
connection.
Shipwrecks beneath the archipelagic seas have provided much
information on the ancient boat-building industry.
Local boat-building developed along the same lines as
Southeast Asian and Chinese traditions.
Praus made in the Southeast Asian tradition have special
features: a V-formed body line along both decks with bow and keel
covered. The bow and stern are usually symmetrical, showing no
waterline on the body. Two rudders are fitted to the port and
starboard of the bow.
Iron nails are not used in building praus. Cleverly, the
wooden planks of the boats are tied to one another with palm
fiber strings.
Wooden laths protrude in the boats. Four holes are bored in
the thickest part of the wooden protrusions. Palm fiber ropes are
strung through the holes and tied onto other wooden laths. The
thickened part is then reinforced with wooden or bamboo bolts.
Examples of Southeast Asian praus were discovered in the
Samirejo village of Mariana district in the Musi Banyuasin I
regency in August 1987. The remnants of the praus consisted of
nine wooden laths and a rudder. Two laths belonged to one prau
while the other eight pieces belonged to another.
The praus were made in Southeast Asian sewn-plank and lashed-
lug techniques, endowed with wooden and bamboo pegs. The longest
wooden plank measured 9.95 meters while the shortest was 4.02
meters long. The planks were 23 centimeters wide and 3.5
centimeters deep. The planks had elongated square protrusions
containing 1 centimeter holes. The planks had been tied to each
other and the prau's keels. The wooden laths were tied by palm
fiber ropes (Arenga pinnata). The knots were reinforced by wooden
or bamboo pegs.
The praus discovered in Samirejo village are estimated to have
been 20 meters to 22 meters long. A lab analysis of the carbon (C
14) of the wooden laths revealed, 1350 + 50 BP, that the boats
were built between 610 and 775 A.D.
Portuguese writer Antonio Galvao wrote in 1544 that East
Indonesia (the Moluccas [Maluku] and its surroundings) had its
foot in the door of the prau industry. According to Galvao, the
Moluccans built their boats in egg shapes, slanting both ends
upwards. This enabled the praus to sail forward and backward.
The praus were waterproofed by having their joints polished
with baru, a type of resin. The planks were wedged in expertly,
giving the impression that the boats were forged from one piece
of wood. A horned dragon at the stern completed the boats.
Traditional Chinese praus have different features. They have a
round base instead of a keel, and their hulls are constructed of
wooden squares connected to one another by iron nails. The boats
have single rudders.
Most ancient praus discovered in the archipelago's waters were
of Southeast Asian designs. Many of them were recognized as
phinisi, Buginese schooners.
The phinisi, however, were not made with traditional sewn-
plank and lashed-lug techniques. Bugis boat-builders nowadays
apply advanced techniques, but still keep to some of the
Southeast Asian boat-building traditions.
Sriwijaya fleet
The kingdom of Sriwijaya spanned the Southeast Asian waters
right through to Madagascar, off southern Africa.
The Sriwijaya kingdom's fleet was large for its time. An
inscription at Kedukan Bukit in Palembang dating 682 A.D.,
mentions that Dapunta Hyang, the first king of Sriwijaya,
traveled with 20,000 men in praus and 200 crates of commodities
from Minanga. Assuming that the boats were the same size as the
phinisi, which can carry 500 men, Dapunta Hyang's men must have
taken 40 boats. A very large fleet, indeed!
A Buddhist priest from China, I-tsing, documented the
developments of the Sriwijaya kingdom in the 7th century.
He said the trips to China were made by ships of the Sriwijaya
kingdom.
In 1225, a Chinese report mentioned the Suwarnabhumi kingdom.
It described a town of people who sailed in straw-roofed rafts.
It said they were good at war on land and at sea. When a war
involving a foreign kingdom approached they assembled and chose a
commander and a leader. Warriors provided their own weapons.
There was no race that equaled their valor and courage at war.
The sea people living on Sumatra's east coast could well be
direct descendants from this mighty warrior race.
A study on ancient maritime affairs has revealed that the
names of many places along the coast of Campa and Annam (now
Vietnam) are Malay in origin. This supports the view that the
boats traveling to China were navigated by Malays. A study by
Wolters, an expert on the Sriwijaya period at Cornell University,
concludes that shippers in Persian trade in the pre-Sriwijayan
period were also Malays.
The skill of Malay seamen was renowned even outside their
local boundaries. Portuguese seamen compiled their knowledge
in an ocean guide called roteiros. There are still traces of
Malay seamanship in communities in Riau whose people are direct
Malay descendants.
Riau is also home to an ethnic race known as Orang Laut
(people of the sea) who are sustained by the sea.
Their art nearly always reflects life at sea. It can be found
in poetry, in which the Malayan lilt is unmistakable. Popular
Malay songs, including Perahu Cina ke Indragiri (A boat from
China to Indragiri), Anaklah Riau jadi Nakhoda (A child from Riau
becomes a skipper), are examples of art on life at sea.
The Orang Laut in Riau are the only race of people in the
archipelago whose maritime culture surpasses any other race. They
live near river mouths and along the mangrove coastline of east
Sumatra, in Riau-Lingga, and west of the Malayan Peninsula right
through to southern Thailand. They live in boats, making them a
sea people in the true sense of the word.
Indonesians originate from a seafaring race who used to roam
the archipelagic waters, hopping from one region to another. The
government declared Sept. 23 Maritime Day because of the nation's
seafaring background which should not be mistaken for a revival
of the political expansionist strategy exercised in the
Sriwijayan kingdom.
Ships no longer transport troops to beleaguer other countries.
They play an important role in inter-island transportation and
communication throughout the archipelago.
With Maritime Day barely a month behind us and Maritime Year
1996 with two months remaining, we hope that Indonesia can
rebuild a fleet of unconquerable dimensions.
Text and photos by Bambang Budi Utomo
JAKARTA (JP): My forefathers were people of the sea.
Conquering the wide open seas was their passion...
This song was popular years ago with school children and
villagers. But today it is barely heard, despite the fact that
our forefathers were renowned seaman and that the year 1996 has
been declared the Year of the Sky and the Sea by President
Soeharto.
Somehow the song's declining popularity reflects the reality
of our national maritime industry, which is a far cry from its
past glory.
In medieval times, the Hindu kingdom Sriwijaya in South
Sumatra controlled the seas. And no discussion on national
maritime affairs or ship-building technology would be complete if
Sriwijaya was neglected. Many archeological finds of ancient
ships indicate that the wrecks were boats built during the
Sriwijaya period from the 7th century through to the 13th
century.
"This is a piece of a very old ship," said a villager from
Samirejo hamlet, showing a wooden piece of an ancient prau.
The village is in a swampy area some 25 kilometers from
Palembang. Two kilometers to the north of the village is the Musi
river.
The piece of wood was part of a discovery of wooden planks
from an ancient boat.
A French expert of ancient boats, Pierre-Yves Manguin, is
convinced that the wooden planks belonged to a prehistoric ship.
"When we found them, the holes in the boat still had palm
fiber string," said a villager.
The pieces suggested that the boat was made by a sewn plank
and lashed-lug technique, an ancient prau-building technique,
said Manguin who has found many old shipwrecks in Southeast Asia.
This technique is still used in prau-building in Southeast Asia.
Technique
When the people of Southeast Asia began building praus is
unclear. Historical and archeological information is hopelessly
lacking in this respect.
A sketch of a prehistoric prau carved on a cave wall, provides
some information. The stone carving suggests that the boat was
very simple.
It is likely that this prau-building technique strongly
resembles the techniques which ethnic people have used to build
praus.
The technique requires a large tree trunk which is hollowed
out with a stone pickax. Another technique is to gradually burn
out a tree trunk. The boat's walls must be neither too thick or
too thin to prevent cracking and leaks, in case the boat hits a
reef or is beached on a rocky coastline.
After the hull of the boat has been carved, the boat is fitted
with outriggers to port and starboard. These type of boat is
known as perahu lesung or sampan.
SE Asian tradition
In prehistoric times outrigger boats played an important role
in inter-island trade and trade between Indonesia and Southeast
Asia. The Southeast Asian connection brought an exchange of
knowledge at all levels, including skills for building temples,
cities, and, no doubt, boats.
Boat-building observers say that progress was made in the
local boat-building industry because of the Southeast Asian
connection.
Shipwrecks beneath the archipelagic seas have provided much
information on the ancient boat-building industry.
Local boat-building developed along the same lines as
Southeast Asian and Chinese traditions.
Praus made in the Southeast Asian tradition have special
features: a V-formed body line along both decks with bow and keel
covered. The bow and stern are usually symmetrical, showing no
waterline on the body. Two rudders are fitted to the port and
starboard of the bow.
Iron nails are not used in building praus. Cleverly, the
wooden planks of the boats are tied to one another with palm
fiber strings.
Wooden laths protrude in the boats. Four holes are bored in
the thickest part of the wooden protrusions. Palm fiber ropes are
strung through the holes and tied onto other wooden laths. The
thickened part is then reinforced with wooden or bamboo bolts.
Examples of Southeast Asian praus were discovered in the
Samirejo village of Mariana district in the Musi Banyuasin I
regency in August 1987. The remnants of the praus consisted of
nine wooden laths and a rudder. Two laths belonged to one prau
while the other eight pieces belonged to another.
The praus were made in Southeast Asian sewn-plank and lashed-
lug techniques, endowed with wooden and bamboo pegs. The longest
wooden plank measured 9.95 meters while the shortest was 4.02
meters long. The planks were 23 centimeters wide and 3.5
centimeters deep. The planks had elongated square protrusions
containing 1 centimeter holes. The planks had been tied to each
other and the prau's keels. The wooden laths were tied by palm
fiber ropes (Arenga pinnata). The knots were reinforced by wooden
or bamboo pegs.
The praus discovered in Samirejo village are estimated to have
been 20 meters to 22 meters long. A lab analysis of the carbon (C
14) of the wooden laths revealed, 1350 + 50 BP, that the boats
were built between 610 and 775 A.D.
Portuguese writer Antonio Galvao wrote in 1544 that East
Indonesia (the Moluccas [Maluku] and its surroundings) had its
foot in the door of the prau industry. According to Galvao, the
Moluccans built their boats in egg shapes, slanting both ends
upwards. This enabled the praus to sail forward and backward.
The praus were waterproofed by having their joints polished
with baru, a type of resin. The planks were wedged in expertly,
giving the impression that the boats were forged from one piece
of wood. A horned dragon at the stern completed the boats.
Traditional Chinese praus have different features. They have a
round base instead of a keel, and their hulls are constructed of
wooden squares connected to one another by iron nails. The boats
have single rudders.
Most ancient praus discovered in the archipelago's waters were
of Southeast Asian designs. Many of them were recognized as
phinisi, Buginese schooners.
The phinisi, however, were not made with traditional sewn-
plank and lashed-lug techniques. Bugis boat-builders nowadays
apply advanced techniques, but still keep to some of the
Southeast Asian boat-building traditions.
Sriwijaya fleet
The kingdom of Sriwijaya spanned the Southeast Asian waters
right through to Madagascar, off southern Africa.
The Sriwijaya kingdom's fleet was large for its time. An
inscription at Kedukan Bukit in Palembang dating 682 A.D.,
mentions that Dapunta Hyang, the first king of Sriwijaya,
traveled with 20,000 men in praus and 200 crates of commodities
from Minanga. Assuming that the boats were the same size as the
phinisi, which can carry 500 men, Dapunta Hyang's men must have
taken 40 boats. A very large fleet, indeed!
A Buddhist priest from China, I-tsing, documented the
developments of the Sriwijaya kingdom in the 7th century.
He said the trips to China were made by ships of the Sriwijaya
kingdom.
In 1225, a Chinese report mentioned the Suwarnabhumi kingdom.
It described a town of people who sailed in straw-roofed rafts.
It said they were good at war on land and at sea. When a war
involving a foreign kingdom approached they assembled and chose a
commander and a leader. Warriors provided their own weapons.
There was no race that equaled their valor and courage at war.
The sea people living on Sumatra's east coast could well be
direct descendants from this mighty warrior race.
A study on ancient maritime affairs has revealed that the
names of many places along the coast of Campa and Annam (now
Vietnam) are Malay in origin. This supports the view that the
boats traveling to China were navigated by Malays. A study by
Wolters, an expert on the Sriwijaya period at Cornell University,
concludes that shippers in Persian trade in the pre-Sriwijayan
period were also Malays.
The skill of Malay seamen was renowned even outside their
local boundaries. Portuguese seamen compiled their knowledge
in an ocean guide called roteiros. There are still traces of
Malay seamanship in communities in Riau whose people are direct
Malay descendants.
Riau is also home to an ethnic race known as Orang Laut
(people of the sea) who are sustained by the sea.
Their art nearly always reflects life at sea. It can be found
in poetry, in which the Malayan lilt is unmistakable. Popular
Malay songs, including Perahu Cina ke Indragiri (A boat from
China to Indragiri), Anaklah Riau jadi Nakhoda (A child from Riau
becomes a skipper), are examples of art on life at sea.
The Orang Laut in Riau are the only race of people in the
archipelago whose maritime culture surpasses any other race. They
live near river mouths and along the mangrove coastline of east
Sumatra, in Riau-Lingga, and west of the Malayan Peninsula right
through to southern Thailand. They live in boats, making them a
sea people in the true sense of the word.
Indonesians originate from a seafaring race who used to roam
the archipelagic waters, hopping from one region to another. The
government declared Sept. 23 Maritime Day because of the nation's
seafaring background which should not be mistaken for a revival
of the political expansionist strategy exercised in the
Sriwijayan kingdom.
Ships no longer transport troops to beleaguer other countries.
They play an important role in inter-island transportation and
communication throughout the archipelago.
With Maritime Day barely a month behind us and Maritime Year
1996 with two months remaining, we hope that Indonesia can
rebuild a fleet of unconquerable dimensions.