Abstract
Padewakang was a type of long-distance sailing vessels that, since at least the early eighteenth century, was mainly built in South Sulawesi and used throughout the Malay Archipelago and beyond for blue-water trading and fishing ventures. In 2019, the Abu Hanifa Institute in Sydney commissioned the construction of such a boat, Nur Al-Marege, for a documentary film at a shipyard in Tana Beru, a village in the district of Bontobahari (South Sulawesi, Indonesia), that in 2017 was inscribed into the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for its historic tradition of an extensive wooden boat industry. This was the occasion for a team of scholars, both independent and from the Universitas Indonesia and Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” to analyze iconographic sources and historical documents relating to the padewakang and to document a contemporary process of wooden boat construction by interviewing people involved in this activity. The article aims to summarize previous and current studies on shipbuilding activities in Tana Beru, to present the iconographic study which led to the reconstruction of the padewakang, and present a description of the conception and actual execution of the Nur Al-Marege construction and its representation.
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Introduction
Tana Beru, a small town at the southwestern tip of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where the vessel discussed in this article was built, has one of the world’s largest clusters of wooden boatbuilding yards.Footnote 1 Along the 1.5 km of beach, in 2019, Myojo found ‘40–50 boats’ under construction with between 2 and 400 tons of estimated cargo capacity (this is Myojo 2020: 39f; the tonnages noted exclude #34, an unfinished boat of reportedly 700 tons cargo capacity); and Myojo notes, ‘in the 1990s, (another Japanese researcher) reported that 158 boats were being built’ (ibid.) along Tana Beru’s beachfront, though of generally smaller sizes. It is difficult to find reliable statistics on the actual size of the workforce employed in the industry (cf. Rasyid 2019)—our estimate of somewhere between 1000 and 1500 people is based on a number of partial and contradictory accounts (see, e.g., Ahmad 1990: 71; Asnira 2018: 41–2; Dewi 2016: 31ff; Hadi 2019: 69) (Fig. 1). Boat-building activities had moved to Tana Beru with shipwrights from the neighboring hamlets of Lemo-Lemo and Ara, the previous centers of the industry who, throughout the 1950s, fled sectarian unrest affecting their villages (Gibson 2000: 66f, 2007: 173f; interviews with, among others, H. Jafar and Syarifuddin, Tana Beru, 2017–2019). However, in the last decade, a number of shipwrights previously operating in Tana Beru have relocated their activities to the beaches of Ara and Panrangluhuk, Bira, while there presently is no boatbuilding at the beach of Lemo-Lemo.
A The location of current and previous centers of the boatbuilding industry (Image: Google Earth) B Detail view of Tana Beru boatyards (Image: Google Earth). (Ahmad Ginanjar Purnawibawa)
The first detailed seventeenth-century description of the area encompassing the communities mentioned above notes it as the locale of ‘the most prominent shipyards of the Makassar people’ (Speelman 1669 [2001]: 8, our translation), thus indicating the presence of at least 350 years of unbroken maritime traditions. It is this heritage, that in 2017, was inscribed into the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and that, since 2018, became the topic of an interdisciplinary documentation project organized by the University of Napoli “L’Orientale” [UNIOR]Footnote 2 and the University of Indonesia [UI].Footnote 3 The main aim of the project is the documentation of these contemporary boatbuilding practices which are constantly changing for ecological reasons, due to the changing provision in wood, and to respond to the more profitable requests of the market. However, in this article, the authors focus on the reconstruction of a padewakang, a type of ship extinct since the early 20th century that, in early 2019, was commissioned by the Abu Hanifa Institute, Sydney for use in a documentary film about the role of trepang fishermen from South Sulawesi on the northern Australian coast.Footnote 4Padewakang are the largest kind of indigenous vessels that since at least the early eighteenth century were closely associated with South Sulawesi’s trader–sailors (Knaap 1996: 34; Knaap and Sutherland 2004: 47f) and are noted as the ships typically employed in voyages to Northern Australia (see, e.g., Cense 1979, Clark and May 2013, Macknight 1976). Given over 300 years of such relations, the ship was intended to resemble the earliest type of padewakang on which information is available.
The hull of the padewakang is similar to those of the contemporary pajala and patorani fishing vessels, but larger, and onto which a number of topside strakes are added. Some of the elder shipwrights in Tana Beru still recall how to build these type of boats following the traditional tatta’ tallu conception scheme, and using the panatta’ measuring device. Therefore, the documentation of the padewakang construction was at the same time an opportunity to record and describe in detail contemporary methods of traditional hull construction, applying an ethnographic approach, and experimenting with the construction of an extinct historical vessel using an experimental archaeology approach, showing selected examples of the iconography to the shipwrights for the construction of the upperworks.
The vessel was constructed in the yard by a group of boatbuilders lead by the late Haji Muhammad Jafar, a master shipwright of Lemo-Lemo, who in 1987 built the replica Hati Marege, now on display in the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery, Darwin, Australia, and in 2017, an unnamed padewakang for the exhibition Archipel at the La Boverie, Liege, Belgium. The vessel discussed here (Fig. 2) was christened Nur Al-Marege, Arabic for ‘the Light of Marege,’ referring to the local name for the northern Australian coast.
Nur Al-Marege in the boatyard during the construction (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Methodology
As stated above, both experimental archaeology and ethnographic methods were applied in the Nur Al-Marege construction project.
A detailed historical, ethnographic, and iconographic study was initially conducted by Horst Liebner for the design of the Nur Al-Marege, mainly for the reconstruction of the upperworks and the rigging.
The documentation commenced in May 2019 with a team from Abu Hanifa Institute that visited Tana Beru observing and video-recording the design of the panatta’, a length of bamboo marked with the basic measurements of the vessel, the customary way to secure a building contract.
The 3D recording of the hull was executed before the construction of decks, cabin, masts, rudders and all the upperworks and before the adding of the last two topside strakes, thus allowing for a full representation of the planking and framing. The 3D model also served to represent the main hull’s architectural characteristics as a contemporary vernacular vessel of Tana Beru, with the exclusion of upper work parts which are the result of reconstruction work based on iconography and historical records.
The team carried out two photogrammetric surveys using two different cameras, a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II compact camera and a Canon M100, to allow for better results, which in this case were given by the Sony camera. Given the large size of the boat, the limited space of the boatyard, and the obstacles encountered as a result of the boat still being under construction, various trials were conducted in order to achieve a good result, with the outer and inner hulls being recorded separately.
The photographs were processed using Metashape Pro photogrammetry software which generated 3D point clouds. The 3D point cloud was scaled and a mesh and orthophotographs were then generated from it. Post-processing also included the generation of orthorectified photographs, construction drawings and a lines plan extrapolated from the 3D model. Naval lines (Fig. 3) were generated from the 3D mesh model obtained from the photogrammetry. The construction drawings were traced on the orthophotographs generated from the 3D model (Fig. 4). A plank explosion plan was also executed to better represent and explain the planking pattern (Fig. 5).
Naval lines of the Nur Al-Marege. (Luigi Ombrato)
Construction drawings of the Nur Al-Marege. (Chiara Zazzaro)
Expanded planking plan of the Nur Al-Marege. (Luigi Ombrato)
During the construction of the padewakang, preliminary ethnographic interviews were conducted in 2019, with shipwrights, boatbuilders, and contractors from Tana Beru, Bulukumba, Bira, and Ara around ship construction and the associated ritual and social settings. These interviews had the fourfold objectives of understanding details of boat construction and problems related to craftsmanship, and the economic and social issues, as well as deepening our knowledge of the language, cultural practices that revolved around the knowledge, and the transmission and preservation of boat construction in the region. The process of building the traditional padewakang in Tana Beru allowed the researchers to collect information on the various steps of boat construction and the terminology dealing with tools, parts of the boat, activities, and so on.
In Tana Beru the main source of knowledge and information were the people involved in the construction of the Nur Al-Marege, mainly Mr. Haji Jafar, the main supervisor of the construction (panrita lopi), Haji Usman, boatbuilder and head builder (punggawa), Darwis, an assistant builder, and Saibo, a worker. Other workers who took part in the construction of the Nur Al-Marege were asked about details of their work assignments but had a smaller role in the interviews, they being Albar, Asan and Mawar. Beyond giving important information about terminology and the various steps and processes of boat building, Haji Usman stressed the role of the human factor in mistakes and repairs. He gave a detailed explanation of the measuring of the boat and the construction technique, especially on particularly complex parts of the boat involving an elaborate system of bending and curving or carving. Other interviews with workers such as Darwis, Saibo, and Harli described problems related to working conditions, safety, training, and security. A preliminary assessment of the maritime landscape and daily life was also conducted.
Haji Usman and the other boatbuilders provided a description of the parts of the boat using Coastal Konjo (kjc ISO 639–3) terminology mixed with Indonesian explanations and sometimes terms of Bugis origin. The writing system used to refer to the terms is Konjo, listed in alphabetical order in the glossary at the end of this paper, is the one commonly used in Indonesia. Here, the main orthographic conventions used by Jukes (2020: xviv) for the Makasar language:
’ is a glottal stop [ʔ].Footnote 5
ng is a velar nasal [ŋ].
ny is a palatal nasal [ɲ].
c is a voiceless palatal stop [c].
j is a voiced palatal stop [ɟ].
South Sulawesi Shipbuilding Technology
Like most Insular Southeast Asian vessels, South Sulawesian ships are built mostly ‘shell-first’ with a hull’s planking being edge-fastened using wooden dowels before any internal strengthening like frames, thwarts or stingers are mounted. Before the advent of machine-sawn lumber, the majority of hull planks were not bent, but carved to their shape, fabricating corresponding planks for starboard and portside from split tree trunks. As a result, any more rapid changes in the geometry had to be achieved by sequences of shorter planks. The ethnographic record thus notes complex procedures, often called ‘plank patterns,’ ‘that stipulate placement, length and shape of a hull’s planks’ (Liebner 2014: 235ff). The general concept and its history are described in Horridge (1981, 1986a) or Manguin (1995, 2016); plank patterns found in Southeast Sulawesian ships are discussed in Southon (1995: 106–7 and his Fig. 6), Liebner (1990) or Vermonden (2006: 238–9), and that of the whaling vessels of Lamalera in the Lesser Sundas in Barnes (1996: 208ff). Comparable patterns are known from southern Bengal (Bhattacharrya 2006: 246–248) or Lamu in East Africa (Ahmad Sheikh Nabhany 1979: 11ff). It is of note that in absence of design drawings all of these ‘building plans’ rely heavily on a specialized terminology for the ‘different names for the special position of each strake’ (Bhattacharya 2006: 248) and the planks they contain.
Details of the padewakang steering devices (A). Placement of rudderbeams, wing-shaped railings quarter deck and poop (B) (RV-351-27)
The counter-sterned motorized vessels that since the 1980s have all but replaced Sulawesi’s indigenous sailing craft, are built up following ad hoc patterns based on the available timbers and a laterally inverted arrangement of their port and starboard planking. For most of the double-ended hulls of the various types of ships, however, elder shipwrights recall two formalized schemes: the tatta’ tallu, the ‘three(-times) cut,’ generating small- to medium-sized vessels of up to 25 metric ton burthen and the tatta’ appa’ (‘four(-times) cut’) that allows the building of ships of 20–70 ton (t) cargo capacity (for discussions of these plans see Horridge 1979a, b: 49f; Liebner 1992: 66ff, 1993: 22f, 2004, 2005b: 87f; Pelly 1975: 85f, 1977: 95f., 2013: 52ff, 142f; Saenong 2013: 97ff). The former is associated with the boatbuilders of Lemo-Lemo, the latter with those of Ara. As will become evident in the following, both patterns determine not only the arrangements of a hull’s planking, but also establish frame stations and the positioning of inter-strake dowels. To the best of our knowledge, these ‘plans’ are the most complex of such patterns on record. By their very nature and execution, they firmly stand in ‘a highly developed tradition of Southeast Asian naval constructions that can be traced back to the very beginnings of Austronesian boatbuilding’ (Liebner 2014: 236).
Basics for the Design of Nur Al-Marege: The Historic and Ethnographic Record
The earliest sources on South Sulawesi ships, found in early seventeenth-century reports, consistently praise their builders’ workmanship. A Dutch envoy to Makassar, Paulus van Soldt, in 1607 saw ships ‘so large, and beautiful, that all our carpenters who have knowledge about them, agree, that no master craftsman in our land, could imitate (these) in such a manner’ (Commelin 1646: II, 12, 81, our translation). Another observer in 1632 saw “the most beautiful galleys and graceful ship[s]/which I have seen in my life/there are 2–3 galleys which (the ruler of Makassar) keeps for his amusement if he wants to go somewhere playing/so extraordinarily cut from below to above and inlayed with black ebony and ivory/and carved in the most antique ways/so that one should say/how it is possible that these (vessels) could have been made by the Indians” (van Rechteren 1639: 47, our translation).
‘Padewakang’ is a generic term for a class of historic long-distance sailing craft of the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago that, as noted above, in the extant sources is persistently linked with sailors and boatbuilders from South Sulawesi. The word is written variously as ‘paduakan,’ ‘paduwakang,’ etc., the former being a Dutch spelling of the eighteenth century, the latter a version found in 19th-century dictionaries (Matthes 1859, 1874). Searches in https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten for mentions in Netherlands East-Indies newspaper of dates before 1900-01-01 show an early preference of the term ‘paduakan(g)’ that in the second half of the nineteenth century is increasingly superseded by ‘padewakang.’ Possible etymologies of the word are discussed in, e.g., Liebner 2003: 377, 218a: 234 or Saenong 2013: 49.
As far as we presently know, padewakang had become common enough by the 1740s to be mentioned (and sailed) by Europeans. The earliest mention of such a vessel we have found is a 1735 ‘Register of letters [received at Batavia …] from Makassar […] per paduakang’ (Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie 1.04.02–8207-0005) superseded by increasingly often references to such vessels being used by both European and indigenous trader–sailors (e.g. Coolhaas et al. (eds.) 1960–2007: vol.11 (1744), 147, 512; vol.12 (1754), 404, 413; vol.13 (1759-60), 365, 502; vol.14 (1761), 41). In the second half of the 18th century, padewakang carried by far largest share of the private cargoes vended in the port of Makassar (Knaap and Sutherland 2004: 186f; Nagel 2003: 557f), and were a common sight between Sumatra and Melaka in the west and the Moluccan Islands and Timor in the east (Lee 1986: 64; Coolhaas et al. [eds.] 1960–2007). Liedermoij (1854: 363) claims that padewakang ‘in earlier times even sailed to Ceylon,’ and a startling sketch from the 1880s shows ‘a pirate [vessel] in the Persian Gulf’ (Pritchett 1899: 134f; cf. Folkard 1901: 430) that cannot be but a ship of this type (cf. Nooteboom 1952: 377f). Being the largest of the indigenous craft built in Sulawesi throughout the eighteenth and 19th centuries, padewakang were the ships of choice for voyages to the northern coasts of Australia, where mainly Makassan sailors, since at least the early 1700s, collected trepang, tortoiseshell, nacre and various other products of land and sea (e.g., Burningham 1987, 1988; Chaloupka 1996; Macknight 1976)—hence the decision to use such a ship for Abu Hanifa Institute’s project.
The descriptions available to us mention a wide range of sizes of these vessels. In the mid-19th century, it is reported that ‘the largest of these vessels are 50–60 feet [ft; 15–18 m (m)] long, have a beam of 13 ft [4 m] and a depth of 6 ft [1.8 m;] smaller ones are 25–30 ft [8–9 m] long, have a beam of 8 [ft; 2.7 m] and a depth of 6 [ft; 1.8 m]’ (de Bruijn Kops 1854: 39). A more common benchmark of size was carrying capacity: Thus, ‘the largest’ padewakang built in the area here under discussion in the end of the eighteenth century ‘never exceed fifty tons [burthen]’ (the editor ‘T.’ of Stavorinus 1798: II, 260); ‘paduakang’ of the early nineteenth century carried ‘from nine to thirty or forty koyang, [roughly 15–70 metric ton (t)], and occasionally but very seldom, sixty or seventy koyang [100–120 t]’ (a 1814 letter by A.J. van Schinne, harbourmaster of Makassar, as quoted in Sutherland 2000: 454; calculations are based on the Batavian koyang of around 1700 kg [Knaap 1996: 191; Nagel 2003: 842]); in the mid- nineteenth century, such vessels would ‘load between 15 and 90 koyang [25 to 150 t]’ (Liedermoij 1854: 362). Harbourmaster records in the latter half of the eighteenth century average the carrying capacity of padewakang frequenting the port of Makassar’s at less than 20 t burthen (Nagel 2003: 553; Knaap and Sutherland 2004: 187), while extant statistics (Bruijn 1857–1869) indicate that by the mid-nineteenth century their typical size appears to have risen slightly. Using the Builders Old Measurement formula (BOM; Forbes and Jackson, und.) and de Bruijn Kops’ measurements quoted above we arrive at carrying capacities of around 25–75 t. Padewakang, arriving in Northern Australia in the last decades of the nineteenth century, were guessed to be of between 6 and 31 t burthen, with an average of about 18 t (Macknight 1976: App. 2). Nur Al-Marege was estimated by her builders to be able to carry around 25 t of cargo, calculated by the BOM she has a burthen of around 30 t.
Notwithstanding their widespread use, the minutiae of a padewakang’s design did not receive much attention. The first informed accounts we are aware of were written only in the later eighteenth century (Forrest 1792: 80) and the following hundred years saw a small number of more detailed descriptions (e.g., de Bruijn Kops 1854: 37ff; Liedermoij 1854: 362f; Wallace 1962 [1890]: 310ff; and, though written somewhat later, de Bruyn Kops 1927: 438). There are numerous models of such ships in Dutch collections, best viewed via a search for ‘scheepsmodellen,’ ‘Zuidoost-Azië: Insulair,’ at https://collectie.wereldculturen.nl/. Those relevant for the present discussion will be noted by their registration numbers there mentioned. We had access only to pictures of the models.
As stated by Burningham (1987: 104), ‘a number of […] pictorial sources available [… show only …] unclear or unlikely detail,’ and hence are not overly useful for the present discussion. Here of interest are his items A, B, F and J (Burningham op. cit.: 104-5); a set of drawings by H.A. Karnebeek, a master in the Dutch colonial navy at Batavia, held at the Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam (Inv. No. S.0782[nn]); plates 93 and 96 in Paris 1843; and the respective figures on plates 16 and 17 in Matthes and Schröder 1859. Beginning in the 1890s, a number of photographs of the last of these ships were taken (e.g., Tropenmuseum Amsterdam [TM-]10010501, TM-10008070, TM-60008824; Koninglijk Instituut voor Taal, Land-, en Volkenkunde, Leiden [KITLV-]34218, KITLV-1407322; Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden [RV]-A440-i-86). While the appellation padewakang survived in the northern parts of South Sulawesi until the 1930s it, by then, named gaff-ketch-rigged vessels (Nooteboom 1940), the predecessors of the pinisi-schooners of the later twentieth century.
The descriptions, drawings, and models illustrate a wide range of layouts of decks and upper works, often leaving the impression that we are looking at different types of ships. However, consistently noted are conspicuously low foreships, quarter rudders, and ‘oblong’ sails set fore and aft as the main characteristics of such vessels. These features, in Konjo [KON], the language of the Tana Beru boatbuilders, respectively, called salompong, guling and sombala’ tanja’, are, just the same, the main criteria a contemporary Sulawesian shipwright relates with a padewakang.
Rigging and Steering Devices
The padewakang’s rig and steering are described in some detail by most early observers (besides the source already noted, see Forrest 1779: 10f and de Bruijn Kops 1854: 25f). Depending on size, these vessels reportedly carried one to three masts setting the tilted rectangular sails fore-n-aft known to the shipwrights as sombala’Footnote 6 (‘sail’; a concise list of shipbuilding terms and explanations regarding the orthography used here are found in the Glossary) tanja’, commonly called layar tanjak in Malay and modern Indonesian. Abiding by the prevalent practice found in, for example, the works of Horridge or Manguin listed in the bibliography, we will use tanja’ to denote this type of rigging going forward. Ships with such sails were already depicted on a number of reliefs of the ninth-century Borobudur stupa (e.g., van Erp 1923, Heide 1928, Liebner 2014: 237ff; Petersen 2006), and survived until very recently in the patorani, vessels for harvesting flying fish caviar (Borahima et al 1977: 56ff; Hawkins 1982: 42ff; Horridge 1981: 13f); the tanja’ thus was the rig of choice for Nur Al-Marege (Fig. 7).
The Nur Al-Marege: blue, running backstays; red, sheets; yellow, vangs (Ridwan Muhammad modified by Horst Liebner) (Color figure online)
All of these types of craft were ‘steered with two commoodies [apparently an English adaptation of the word kemudi, “ship’s rudder”, in Malay/Indonesian], a sort of broad paddle’ (Forrest 1779: 11), that were ‘hung on the quarters from strong crossbeams which [project] out two to three feet on each side’ (Wallace 1962 [1890]: 310).
Spars were, in most cases, of stout bamboo, preferably Dendrocalamus asper, Southeast Asia’s ‘Giant Bamboo’ (cf. Burningham 1987: 117f) and when exceeding the viable length of a single culm, yards (bau) and booms (pelokang) would be ‘formed of many pieces of wood and bamboo bound together with rattans in an ingenious manner’ (Wallace 1962 [1890]: 311). One or two halyards (bu’bukang), lashed somewhat forward of the spar’s midpoint, raise the yard and the running end is reeved from fore to aft over a sheave that is worked into a wooden mast cap or a block attached to the mast top (cf. de Bruijn Kops 1854: 52). The yard’s angle of tilt is controlled by a vang fastened to the sail’s aft peak and a heel line on its foreward end (tuntung and lolo’). The boom is unattached and controlled by the sheet (kalla’) and a tack (poko’). The latter in practice comprises arrangements of lines temporarily tied to the boom’s heel and/or loops of rope fixed onto beams on the foredeck into which the forward arm of the boom can be shipped. To take them in, tanja’ sails are rolled onto the boom by means of a detachable crossbar at its forepeak, and any rope permanently attached to the spar’s forward end could considerably impair that operation (Forrest 1792: 10f, Burningham 2005: 12f). As its sole pivot is the halliard, appropriate trim of tacks, sheet, and vangs allows for a wide range of positions of the sail.
Most of the models and drawings of the larger tanja’-rigged vessels available to us show two masts (pallayareng) and a corresponding number of oblong sails, with the largest canvas (sombala’ bakka’, the ‘big sail’) set on the foremost mast, plus a smaller mizzen (s. caddiya [‘the small sail’] or s. ri bokoa [‘the aft sail’]) that, if set on the main mast, can double as a bad weather sail. We know of only one three-masted model, WM-29568. There is, however, a rock-drawing of such a vessel in the Marnggala 1 rock shelter on Groote Island, Arnhem Land (Chaloupka 1996: 13). Notwithstanding the obvious unwieldiness of such a rig, the above-mentioned model is frequently cited as the paragon of a padewakang (see, e.g., Horridge 1979a, b: 26; Salam 2016: 923).
Masts are, in most cases, made of ‘three stout bamboos; two rising from the side, and one from the fore part of the vessel, lashed together at the top’ (the editor ‘T.’ of Stavorinus 1798: II, 260), and by Wallace (1962 [1890]: 311) described thus: ‘If in an ordinary ship you replace the shrouds and backstay by strong timbers, and take away the mast altogether, you have the arrangement adopted on board a [Sulawesian sailing vessel].’ Both recent observers and the ethnographic record note such tripods as a distinctive feature of South Sulawesi sailing vessels; however, on about half of the models, drawings, and photographs we consulted, the mizzen mast is but a single spar. Both tripod and single masts are fixed into tabernacles (bangkeng salara’) attached to the hull’s lower framing that stand out well above the deck (katabang), thus allowing the masts to be ‘struck with the greatest ease’ (Forrest 1779: 10). To provide for a less cluttered aft ship, Nur Al-Marege carried a tripod main and a single-pole mizzen mast.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, many of these ships sported an additional gaff sail on a standing spar on their mizzens plus one or two jibs (kalewere’) that were set ‘flying,’ without fixed forestays, over a bowsprit (anjong). Paris (1843: pl. 96) even depicts a padewakang-style ship with standing gaffs on both masts and Matthes and Schröder (1859: Pl. 16.1) show a two-masted tanja’-rigged vessel with a gaff sail on the main. This combination of indigenous and western elements appears to have been a fairly cumbersome solution, tempting an eyewitness’s comment that during maneuvers ‘yet scarcely anything can be done without first clearing something else out of the way’ (Wallace 1962 [1890]: 316).
When close hauled, much of a tanja’ sail’s effective profile is perpendicular to the apparent direction of the wind, a circumstance that, in combination with the typically flat midship section of most South Sulawesi hull types, renders padewakang rather sluggish up-wind. Unsurprisingly, Nur Al-Marege, throughout her voyage to Arnhem Land, only once managed to beat efficiently into a headwind—and very probably so because of a favoring current. Main sails are rather sizeable Wallace (1962 [1890]: 311, 316) reports of a main yard of ‘about seventy feet long,’ around 20 m in length, on a vessel of 70 ton burthen. Liedermoij (1854: 362) even notes that the yard ‘should be a third longer’ than the hull. As the sail covers both fore and aft of the masts, tanja’-rigged vessels cannot be brought overly close to the wind without risking the forward section of the sail to luff. Going about (tunggeng), hence, is effected by wearing (tunggeng turu’), with the yard being peaked up vertically and boom and sail flown around to fore of the mast, a rather arduous undertaking that, as so vividly described by Burningham (2005: 12f), needs many hands and careful execution. This maneuver is further complicated by a number of shrouds and backstays (tambera), most to all of which have to be detached before and set on the new windward side after changing tack. However, once properly set and trimmed, on downwind courses (lari turu’) the tanja’ rig proves reliable and powerful: with its loose boom, the sail produces a considerable uplifting force that enhances seakeeping ability; on two-masted vessels, the mizzen’s trim greatly helps in balancing the helm; easing sheets and tacks allows to weather stronger winds without reefing. It was these characteristics that made the tanja’ the sails of choice for monsoon-dependent long-distance travel.
With the exception of de Bruijns Kops (1854: 28f), it proves difficult to find detail comparable to the rather intricate arrangements of present-day rudder fittings (see Burningham 2000; Horridge 1979a, b: 20f, 1985: 11; Liebner 1992: 50f, 55f, 60) in the available written and iconographic sources. Most of the extant models do not have their rudders in place, and when they do, then the execution was haphazard (Fig. 6A). Comparison of the available information and the ethnographic record, however, allows for some general conclusions. Rudders are held by an upper (sanjata) and a lower (sangkilang) beam that are placed athwart the hull at about the commencement of the final inward turn of its aft planking; the rudders’ neck and stock rest in notches (konta) carved into these beams. The two beams are vertically connected by stout posts (Tana Beru, jangka; Bira, tinra’), and the rudders’ heads are attached by a tight grommet hung over the top end of this post. The rudders then are pressed into the lower notches by means of ropes tied around the lower beam or, apparently more often, on larger and/or more modern vessels, with levers (sambila; sukke-sukke) fastened to their necks with grommets that run under the lower beam and are pulled tight onto the upper beam by a rope attached to the levers’ top ends, thus concurrently tightening the upper grommet. Effectively used on extant vessels carrying lateral rudders, such levers were the solution of choice for Nur Al-Marege’s rudder fittings (Fig. 8).
Details of the Nur Al-Marege steering devices. (Ridwan Muhammad)
On older models, the upper rudder beam is placed considerably higher than on the newer ones: on, e.g., RV-351-2, RV-351-27 or WM-29506 it apparently forms the aft end of a quarter deck placed before the poop (Figs. 6A and 9A).
‘Sunken’ aft-cabin, poop deck and wing-shaped railing (WM-29506)
Its extremities appear to be hidden behind the ‘wing-shaped pieces of wood that serve as both brightwork and railings’ (de Bruijn Kops1854: 38) which, too, are depicted on the early 19th-century drawings by Karnebeek and on Matthes’ and Schröder’s (1859) plate 16.1. The older representations also do not display the lengthwise beams countering the considerable lateral forces which affect especially a leeward rudder, when under way, that are so commonly found on later portrayals and current vessels (see Burningham 2000: 102f and Horridge 1979a, b: 21 for details of such assemblies). Conspicuously missing in the models are the timbers (sanrerang) that, inboard of the rudders, run from the lower rudder beam over a couple of additional crossbeams aft of it, thus preventing a leeward rudder from being forced out of its notch and pressed onto the hull’s planking. For example models as WM-29506, RV-351-27 or RV-351-2, these beams are replaced by heavy blocks of timber placed atop the lower rudder beam and additional crossbeams to the fore and aft of it with the blocks retaining much of the notch receiving the rudder stock, thus assuring a better fit. Checking outward movements of the rudders’ heads, on newer vessels affected by lengthwise beams (lehangang) running aft atop the upper rudder beam, seemingly was achieved by the wing-shaped timber mentioned above. As Nur Al-Marege was intended to represent the earliest type of a padewakang on which information is available, the arrangements of the rudder beams follow those found on the older models.
Upperworks and Decks
The extant drawings, photographs, and models illustrate a wide variety and style of upperworks and deck layout. Regularly seen, though, are various attap-thatched tent or even house-like structures, to an extent that one observer called them ‘villagey’ (Pritchett 1899: 178; cf. Brassey 1887: 203 or Paris 1843: Pl. 96). Judged by the extant descriptions, models, drawings, and photographs available to us, the most common of these ‘roofs’ would cover an undecked mid-body of the hull. Other structures (like, e.g., Wallace’s cabin on a larger padewakang of the 1850s (1962 [1890]: 310f)) must have been semi-permanent assemblies; others still being temporary covers erected with bamboo rafters and attap ‘sheets’ that could shelter crew and cargo against tropical rains, sunlight, and heat. Nur Al-Marege carried such sheets for a temporary ‘leaf-awning’ for the poop deck that, if fitted, resembled a house roof.
Padewakang (and their descendants, the ketch-rigged palari) sported a raised poop (ambeng) that observers regularly compared to the high sterns of European vessels of the Early Modern Period (thus, e.g., Collins 1936: 10, 40; 1992 [1937]: 40f). To the sides, under this deck the tillers, ‘enter the vessel through two square openings into a lower or half deck […], in which sit the two steersmen’ (Wallace 1962 [1890]: 310, 315; cf. de Bruijn Kops 1854: 42; or Folkard 1901: 430), while additional space under the poop provided for a cabin reserved for the vessel’s master. Regarding the diverse positions of the tillers known from the ethnographic record, Collins (1936:20-1) quotes this explanation by a Sulawesi captain: ‘If [the tillers] point in [side the hull], Tuan, the helmsmen can sit inside the ship in comfort. But then a lookout must be on watch on deck, as neither helmsman can see ahead. And if helmsmen can sit in comfort they often go to sleep. If the tiller points astern he can still sit inside, reaching out to move it when he has to. And he can go to sleep too. But if they point out like the Mula Mulai's [the informant’s vessel], each helmsman has to sit outside and balance himself on a wooden bar over the water [the lehangang]. If he falls asleep he drops off into the sea.’
On the more recent models and photographs, the poop deck is supported by a number of strakes of long planks that, at around the rudder beams are detached from the planking beneath, are allowed to continue in a straight flight to a bulwark closing the construction shortly before the sternpost finial. In some cases, additional planking, railings, beams and various timbers of the rudder fittings support an extension of the poop projecting over the stem to aft and a small ‘hanging deck’ under the latter that serves as the vessel’s heads.
On older models—here, first of all, RV-351-2, RV-351-23, RV-351-27, RV-351-58 and WM-29506–, the topmost strakes stop short at the rudder beams, and poop and aft-cabin are, like ‘a sunken hut’ (de Bruijn Kops 1854: 38) set upon a couple of crossbeams, ‘inserted’ between the sternpost (sotting ri boko) and the topside planking (Figs. 6 and 9). The bulwark closing the cabin to aft is ‘often decorated with carvings and painted very colourful,’ leaving the impression of ‘some resemblance with the farmers’ carts used in Holland’ (de Bruijn Kops 1854), while the aft-cabin’s sides and the stern plate are broken by window-like frames, some of which are actual openings, while others, apparently, are only decoration. On the more elaborate models, another pair of wing-shaped planks serve as the poop’s railing, and the cabin’s lower frame is worked into curved finials projecting somewhat to aft over the stern plate.
Given her emblematic purpose, Nur Al-Marege’s aft ship was, as far as possible, modeled following the latter arrangements. The available materials, however, made a curved lower frame for the aft-cabin’s sides unfeasible, so instead, a half-circular beam was added extending from the cabin’s lower aft corners around the sternpost that served as the vessel’s heads, plus three larger openings in the stern plate that allowed access from the aft-cabin. Due to the size of the obtainable timbers, the wing-shaped railing on the poop’s sides turned out to be considerably smaller than the ones shown on models, reminiscent of what are probably more realistic depictions found on Karnebeek’s pre-1830s sketches. The overhang produced by these railings was lightly decked and closed to aft with a low coaming, to be used as a readily accessible cable locker. On the poop were added the ‘two hatches […] leading to the cabin and allowing the helmsmen to see the sails’ described by de Bruijn Kops (1854: 41) for a model of a larger padewakang; the tillers thus could be worked while standing in the hatch or, in lighter winds, by the feet of a helmsman sitting on the deck.
On those models and photographs of vessels where the topmost planking continues into an overhanging aft deck, the poop inclines at a sometimes considerable angle to a bulwark that at around the rudder beams steps onto the main deck. In contrast, most older models and drawings show a quarterdeck fronting the poop, with the down step between the decks being left open to, what one would assume, allow the helmsmen a view to fore from underneath the poop (Fig. 6B). On both types, the mizzen tabernacles, often braced by a U-shaped framework fastened to futtocks protruding over the deck, are positioned at that down step. Nur Al-Marege was given such a quarter deck, including the wing-shaped brightwork that, as noted above, on most older models covers the outer ends of the upper rudder beams. As, however, the attap-cover on her main deck blocks most of the helmsmen’s view to fore, here a bulwark closes the step to the poop (for this and much of the following details of the vessel’s deck layout, see Figs. 6B, 9 and 10).
A view over Nur Al-Marege’s deck. (Ridwan Muhammad)
As noted above, what would be the main deck of most on the more modern vessels appears covered by gabled attap ‘rooves.’ Most descriptions suggest that this cover shields a large opening stretching over the whole beam of the hull that would be ‘decked’ by ‘split bamboo, worked together with wire or fibre, [that] can be rolled up at pleasure’ (Searcy 1909: 24). Throughout Sulawesi and beyond such bamboo-gratings (galagang) are widely used as removable floors and decks on both sea and land. RV-351-2, evidently one of the oldest models, shows such an open main deck here, but without the bamboo grating. Wallace’s description (1962 [1890]: 310) of the ‘little snuggery’ of a cabin in a ‘thatched house’ he occupied on a large padewakang of the 1850s though mentions its ‘floor of split bamboo […], raised six inches above the deck, so as to be quite dry’ from water coming over the vessel’s topsides, and models WM-29506 and RV-351-27, both dating to the first half of the nineteenth century, show a clear planked main deck with a relatively small hatch (Tana Beru, Lemo-Lemo loë; Ara and Bira, timoang) that allows access into the hold.
All extant drawings and descriptions of trepang vessels (for overviews see, e.g., Burningham 1987: 103f, Chaloupka 1996: 132ff) note a central thatched ‘hut’ or ‘cabin’; accordingly, such an attap-roof (kurung) was installed between the fore end of Nur Al-Marege’s quarter deck and the tabernacles of her main mast. To allow for crew accommodations with sufficient headroom, the central opening under the kurung was not covered with a split-bamboo grating but left open to a bamboo `tween-deck above the ballast storage. As was the case with Hati Marege, the padewakang built for Darwin’s Museum and Art Gallery in 1987, Nur Al-Marege, though, was ‘destined for a more prestigious role’ than that of a mere trading or fishing vessel, thus ‘needing relatively uncluttered planked decks which would not be too awkward for visiting dignitaries, who could hardly be expected to sc[r]amble over [a] thatched cabin roof’ (Burningham 1988: 160); hence, between the sides of the kurung and the lar- and starboard gunwales was provided space of around 1 m [m] for side-decks, and the central opening was lined with coamings (pateppo) that could keep out water washing over the deck. Though different in execution, such decks are also found on models TM-668-123 and WM-29568. Not only visiting dignitaries, but also crewmen, struggling with backstays and vangs, appreciate the reasonably even and unobstructed space they provide.
Nur Al-Marege’s decks were lined by a low railing (cebeng) fastened onto frame heads (taju’) projecting above the gunwales (baradu). Following several early nineteenth-century models; RV-351-2, RV-351-27, RV-351-59 or WM-29506 and Karnebeek’s drawings, along this railing a gallery projecting around 1 m over the vessel’s sides and fastened to the taju’ was added. Judging by the iconographic record and newer models, such galleries fell into disuse at some time in the nineteenth century, yet are shown on several of the vessels depicted on the ninth-century Borobudur temple (see Heide 1928: 350ff; Petersen 2006: 53f; Liebner 2014: 291f). They were also found on kora-kora, typical Moluccan boats used until the early twentieth century for trade and war throughout today’s Eastern Indonesia (Horridge 1978: 9ff; for their galleries see Coutant and Pellion 1825 or Hornell 1920: 60), or insular Southeast Asian privateers of the late eighteenth and early 19th centuries (Warren 1987: 41f), where they functioned as rowing banks. Sweeps on padewakang-type vessels fastened to such galleries are displayed on, e.g., WM-29568, the model depicted on pl. 17.1 in Matthes’ and Schröder’s Ethnographische Atlas (1859b) or the 1880’s ‘pirate vessel in the Persian Gulf’ mentioned above; as Nur Al-Marege’s crew, just as shown on photographs TM-10010501 or TM-10050011, operated sweeps from the foredeck, the galleries here were employed as a welcome and readily accessible storage space.
The possibly most detailed early description of the layout of a padewakang’s foredecks, in numerous details confirmed by models and drawings, is found in de Bruijn Kops 1854: 41f. See, however, models TM-668-123 and WM-29568 for a somewhat different layout. In general, a padewakang’s foredeck would be but an extension of the main one, from which it is divided by a thick plank atop the deck planking and another U-shaped frame, both of which serve to buttress the aftward tabernacles of the main mast. On all models with a ‘sunken’ aft-cabin and tripod masts (and, as far as can be ascertained, on Karnebeek’s sketches), this foredeck at some distance to the bows ends at a major crossbeam that holds the mainmast’s foreleg tabernacles. Given her rather extensive foredeck and anticipating that wearing the main sail would require clear room before the mast, on Nur Al-Marege the mast’s foreleg (panumbu) was stepped somewhat aft of that beam. As described by contemporary observers and in the ethnographic record, much of the space between the mast’s legs was used for the ship’s galley.
Between the crossbeam, just noted, and the low bow deck to be described presently, models RV-351-2, RV-351-27 or WM-29506, all from the first half of the nineteenth century, show a sunken compartment closed to fore and aft by bulwarks (this and the following, Fig. 9). We assume that this would be the cable storage covered ‘by a loose deck’ described by de Bruijn Kops (1854: 41). On Nur Al-Marege, this cable tier has a sunken deck and is covered by a galagang-grating of heavy bamboo, with several scupper holes (pincorang) allowing for drainage. Its foreward bulwark steps down onto a small deck (lappara’) that runs to the gently curved stem (sotting ri olo), somewhat reminiscent of the beakheads of Early Modern European sailing vessels. Contemporary shipwrights readily recalled that this bulwark consists of ‘three heavy planks or beams which, from above to below, are named patti-patti, lengu’-lengu’ and lemba-lembarang’ (Liebner 1992: 72). A rather light bowsprit would be set above two timbers crossing one another before the stem (surempa’) and fastened to the foot of a bitt post (pattuppuang anjong) a little off the center of this bulwark, in most cases carried lower than the head of the stem, the bowsprit from there passes along, preferably, the starboard side of the stem. Nur Al-Marege’s builders deemed such an arrangement unesthetic and ran the bowsprit from a bitt post in the center of the bulwark over the fore stem.
Hull: Principles of Construction
The characteristic low foreship (generic, salompong) of the padewakang is already noted in the earliest descriptions available to us: ‘paduakans have their bow lowered or cut down in a very awkward manner; a bulk head is raised a good way abaft the stem, to keep off the sea, and the fore part is so low as to be often under water’ (Forrest 1792: 80). This feature is plainly noticed on models and in the iconographic record: the planks and beams that form the bulwark to the main body of the ship cut short the hull’s upper strakes before reaching the stem—which, on most models, drawings, and photographs, appears not high enough to receive those strakes. Evidently, a padewakang’s upperworks are built up upon an initially shallower hull.
Tana Beru shipwrights confirm this impression, describing the hull of a padewakang as a large pajala, a drift-or purse-seine net (jala) fishing vessel (Fig. 11), onto which a number of topside strakes are added. As stem and sternpost of that underlying hull are too short to be joined with the additional planking, the topside strakes are ‘closed’ to fore and aft by the salompong-bulkhead and deck and the stern plate, cabin floors, and poop. The number and arrangements of such additional strakes (and the layout of decks and cabins they might support) would be decided according to the intended use of the vessel. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, this approach was also used for the construction of the palari, the ketch-rigged successor of the padewakang (e.g., Collins 1936: 40f and passim; Gibson-Hill 2009 [1950]: 47f; Nooteboom 1940: 26f).
A pajala under construction in Tana Beru. (Horst Liebner)
Nur Al-Marege’s builders estimated that the budget available would suffice for a vessel of about 20–25 t burden, with a deck of between 14 and 16 m length measured in between the stem. The definite length of a sharp-sterned ‘traditional’ vessel depends on the final form and curve of the stems, shaped from trees that are usually felled only after a building contract has been agreed upon (cf. ‘Minutes of Agreement …’ 2019: pt.4). These parameters are well in the range of the tatta’ tallu, which was, according to our informants, the most common building pattern for a padewakang. A ‘basic’ hull built to such a blueprint consists of seven to eight strakes of shorter planks, plus two to three topside strakes made from longer timbers (for this and the following, Fig. 12). Preferably, the overall number of strakes should be uneven (Liebner 1992: 69f). Quantity and stations of the shorter planks in the lower hull are defined by the pattern, and most to all are carved into their form (hence their appellation papang terassa’, the ‘hard planks’). Planks in the topside strakes can be applied freely and, where feasible, bent onto their respective positions (thus, papang lamma, the ‘soft planks’) (Fig. 12).
The tatta’ tallu scheme with names of hull planks. (Horst Liebner)
Each plank bears an individual name that either by itself, or in combination with the strake in which it is found, serves as a reference. Additional topside strakes can be added according to the form of the upperworks they support; as noted above, none of these would reach onto the stems.
The first step for the implementation of such a pattern is the final drafting of the panatta.’ A baton of split bamboo as long as the central section of the three-parted keel (kalebiseang) is marked with seven units, alternately named tambugu and ruang, plus two short ‘extensions,’ in effect parts of the next ruang, at its extremities. Bound to become the location of the hull’s possi’, the ‘navel’ of the ship and pivot of its proportions, the central ruang is somewhat longer than the other units. These marks, often in the form of shallow lugs for tambugu and notches for ruang, are transferred onto the kalebiseang during the keel-laying procedures (Fig. 13A, B). On the fore and aft keel extensions (panyambung kalebiseang ri olo/ri boko) three further tambugu and four ruang are marked. If the extensions prove to be longer than necessary for an equal division into these units, the last tambugu to fore and aft are lengthened accordingly, a practice called susung kappara’.
A and B The use of the panatta to mark the sequence of tambugu and ruang onto the keel; C nilisu (> lisu, ‘to swirl’) kalebiseang: banana stalk of about 10–15 cm width are placed centered over the edges between the tambugu and ruang to mark two alternating rows of marks on the keel’s sides, one to the fore, the mark on the other side to the aft of cuts, in order to dictate the placement of the dowels inter-connecting plank strakes. (Ridwan Muhammad)
The marks indicate, first of all, the proportional measurements of the papang terassa’ in the lower strakes of the hull. Starting with the tambugu fore and aft of the central ruang, entities called tari-taripang and each consisting of one tambugu and the following ruang are ‘counted’ to fore- and aft ward up to the keel’s extremities, with the ‘ends’ of these units—i.e., the, respectively, fore and aft edges of ruang—delimit the positions and dimensions of the planks in the pattern. Many of the planks bear names that reflect such a ‘count,’ with a papang appa’, a ‘four[-count] plank,’ stretches over four tari-taripang; a panapu tallu lalang, a ‘continuation [plank of] three-inside,’ covers three of these units. The ‘count’ ends at the connections of keel and stems, and subsequent marks defining the length of the short bow and stern planks (tungku-tungkulu’, the ‘braces’), are taken from the upper ends of the planks meeting the stems at two strakes below. In the initial interviews, shipwrights claimed that the overall pattern has to be followed meticulously, and that throughout the papang terassa’ any available longer planks would have to be cut short to fit into their respective slots. On further inquiry, however, they allowed for a number of possible exceptions: thus the possibility that the pannapu lalang and panapu sarrro’ in strake VI could be combined into one plank, or, as long as it does not result in a vertical flight of plank scarfs, these planks in the following strakes can be shortened or extended by one tari-taripang (Fig. 12). Of note is the builders’ claim that bow and stern of the pattern are interchangeable.
Tambugu and ruang also define the frame stations. Floors will be placed over the midpoint of the former and futtocks at the midpoint of the latter. Placement of dowels inter-connecting plank strakes follows two alternating rows of marks on the keel’s sides, one to the fore, the mark on the other side to the aft of cuts of banana stalk of about 10–15 cm width that are placed centered over the edges between the tambugu and ruang (Fig. 13C). Cross-changing of the two patterns for every new strake avoids breaking into dowels in the preceding strake, and their positions circumvent both the dowels holding the framing onto the planks as well as the planks’ scarves that, as we have seen, are delineated by the boundaries between ruang and tambugu.
The complexity of the tatta’ scheme implies a long development. In some debatable detail, Horridge (1979a, b: 16) finds a planking configuration comparable to the tatta’ appa’ (Pelly 2013: 144, Saenong 2013: 106) on RV-29568, a model of a large padewakang made in the 1850s signature detail, the tambugu, even leads us back to the most iconic Austronesian nautical invention, the outrigger craft (see, e.g., Liebner 2014: 234f and 2018: 236f and the sources there mentioned).
Without a doubt, the panatta’ is but a ‘pre-conceived concept […] that define[s] not only the size and structure but also the details of lines and shapes of [a] vessel-to-be’ (Crumlin-Pedersen and Olsen 2002: 231)—thus, a genuine plan. One way to determine a ship’s plank pattern is fixed by the breadth of the later owner's hand. Taken as a unit for measuring, this unit is symbolically transferred on the panatta’ and on the length of the main keel piece noting, in sequence, the five possible ‘fates’ of the future boat (each unit corresponding to a ‘fate’): ‘dying on land’ (coming back to the place where she had been built), ‘being stolen,’ ‘finding luck,’ ‘sinking at sea,’ and ‘being a reason for joy’ (for builder and owner). The sequence is repeated until one of the ‘good fates’ (‘finding luck’ or ‘being a reason for joy’) turns up at the suitable size for building the ship. The boatbuilder counts the hand spans again until getting to the end of the panatta’, making sure that the last does not correspond to one of the bad fates. The remaining part of the panatta’ which does not fit the last hand span, is cut off and this establishes the length of the panatta.’ The process of marking the panatta’ can be considered a ritual with the social function of motivating the builder and the owner at the moment of the contract agreement; in effect, the final length of the panatta’is established on the basis of the builders’ judgement.
It is these plans, their apparent antiquity, and, as signified in a number of the various rituals surrounding the construction of a ship at Tana Beru, their embeddedness into the socioeconomic fabric of naval construction that are core to the inscription of South Sulawesi’s shipbuilding traditions in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. However, today only about one out of 50 of the vessels built at Tana Beru is still constructed following such patterns; most being rather small and shallow boats of the pajala-type. Nur Al-Marege was thus a rare opportunity to record how the shipwrights would apply such a tatta’-scheme to a larger—and in this case, professedly historic—vessel.
The Construction Process
Nur Al-Marege’s basic hull is 17.5 m in length (LOA), with a maximum beam of ca. 4.77 m, with a beam of ca. 4.65 m amidships, and hull depth in the hold of ca. 1.18 m. The displacement is about 30 tons at the draft. The ship carried two masts, one tripod and the other a single, and is rigged with two tanja’ sails and steered by quarter rudders (Fig. 7).
The construction of Nur Al-Marege started in early July 2019 and was completed in early November, then launched on the 9th of November 2019. Part of the team’s research fieldwork ended in early September, therefore, the construction of the quarter rudders, the decks, the cabins and superstructures, and of the mast, sail and rigging, which continued in September and October, was not recorded as for the hull.
As stated before, Nur Al-Marege is a shell-based construction where all the elements are jointed together using dowels. The construction of the hull followed the tatta’ tallu system, the same as the contemporary patorani and pajala fishing boats, still built in the Tana Beru boatyards (Fig. 11). Interviews conducted with the boatbuilders during the construction did not find exact correspondence with the descriptive sequence and terminology mentioned before (Hull: Principle of Construction). This suggests that the people who actually build the boat following the tatta’ tallu system, do not know the details of the procedure and they would not describe it the way a panrita lopi would describe it, according to previous research conducted by Horst Liebner.
Following this system, the construction sequence started with the keel, stem and stern posts, followed by the planking, the frames, the stringers, the beams, and then finally decks, mast, and the cabin (Fig. 14). The pattern arrangement of planking, frames, and dowels relied on a set of measurements marked on the above-mentioned baton from split bamboo called panatta’ (measuring device) at the moment of the contract agreement (Fig. 15).
The Nur Al-Marege at the different stages of construction, in sequence: A the planking; B the frames; C the stringers; D the decks. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia/Ridwan Muhammad)
The agreement among the head boatbuilder Haji Usman and the owner Shaykh Wesam Charkawi of the Abu Hanifa Institute in Sydney in the presence of the other boatbuilders and of the late master shipwright (panrita lopi) Haji Muhammad Jafar. The panatta measuring device is visible on the floor
As we could observe on the construction of the Nur Al-Marege, the panatta’ was used as a projection of the length of the central keel piece and was marked with seven units as described above (tambugu and ruang) (Fig. 13A and B). As a result, these marks, first of all, defined the position of the planks in the pattern. They also dictated the position of the frames (in the middle of each tambugu and ruang) and dowels positions interchanging for each new strake, and in this way dowels do not collide inside the plank (Fig. 13C).
The Keel, Stem, and Stern Posts
The keel (kalabiseang) was the first element to be put in place, followed by the posts and planking. This process was supervised by the old boatbuilders and it was accompanied by a number of rituals (Collins 1936: 40f) (Fig. 16A, B).
The keel ceremony. A The boatbuilder burnt incense in the groove and tongue joint of the keel. B Preparation of the lunch on the keel (Ridwan Muhammad)
The keel measures 7.6 m in overall length, is trapezoidal in shape (rectangular with chamfered upper corners) 9–10 cm sided and 12 cm in molded. It is composed of 3 pieces measuring from bow to stern, respectively, cameasuring. 2.6, 2.49 and 2.47 m, butt-joined together and to the posts (sotting) by a fixed, small, squared tongue in a single groove and glued using epoxy resin (Fig. 17A, B).
A A worker shaping the mortise to join to pieces of keel. B The keel joint is caulked with painting and then the bark (barru’). (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
The upper face is carved with a sequence of tambugu and ruang transferred from the panatta’ which, as described above, provided a reference for the positioning of planking, dowels, and frames.
Overall there are 10 tambugu and 11 ruang. The central ruang measures ca. 42 cm while the other tambugu and ruang measure ca. 34 cm, the last tambugu and ruang before the stem and the stern posts measure ca. 45 cm (fore) and 55 cm (aft).
The Planking
The hull planking arrangement is based on a sort of tripartite conception in which the central plank of each strake is put in place at first and it is joined to the other planks with stopped S-scarfs looking aft and with stopped scarfs looking aft at with stopped scarfs looking forward. Planks arranged forward show stopped scarfs looking aft at both ends, while the aft planks show stopped scarfs looking forward at both ends. An exception is the garboard strake which includes a central rectangular shaped plank called pangepe’, butt-joint to two knife-shaped planks called sangahili pinruang, each pointing, respectively, toward the stem and the stern and stretching over two strakes (Figs. 5 and 12).
All the planks are put in place aligning their ends according to tambugu and ruang. Usually, a hull built to such a building pattern consists of seven to eight strakes of short planks, plus two to three topside strakes made from longer timbers (Fig. 5).
The hull of the Nur Al-Marege is composed of up to 14 strakes on each side and three strakes topping the sheer; 14 strakes of ‘hard’ planks (papang terassa’) and 3 ‘soft’ planks (papang lamma). The 1st strake is composed by a garboard which is a drop strake, joint to knife-shaped planks composing also the 2nd strake together with a middle plank. The 3rd stake includes three planks; the 4th and the 5th with four strakes; five for the 6th; and six for the 7th and 8th. Then the 9th has six, the 10th has seven, the 11th with six, the 12th with five, and the 13th has four. The three wash strakes include only three planks (papang lamma, the ‘soft planks’) and the last one only two.
Planks measure below the waterline at 2–3.15 m in length (except the garboard which measures 5.6 m), over 10 m in the upper hull and slightly over a meter at the bow and stern (tungku tungkulu). Planks in the middle measure 20–27 cm in width, while 17–18 cm in width for the lower and upper planking with the plank thickness a maximum of 4.5 cm.
The plank seam is designed using the tulu bassi’ (or bacci’) (Fig. 18) and, according to the adjacent plank, using the sinkgolo’ (see also further) (Fig. 19). Planks are cut and adjusted using saws, axes and adzes and chisels, as well as electric tools such as chainsaws, electric drills and planes.
The boatbuilder drawing a line on a timber using the tulu bacci’ or bassi’ (a ball of string soaked in the carbon taken from used batteries). (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
A worker using the sinkgolo, a tool used to draw the curvature of the plank edge. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Planks are joined end to end by means of scarf joints and fixed rectangular tongues and grooves (Fig. 20). They are joined side-by-side using dowels inserted into the seam according to the position of the ruang and tambugu, using the mark made with the banana stalk on the keel, and a bamboo stick as a measuring device only for long top planks. The holes for the dowels to join a plank to the other, are driven in the lower plank few centimeters next to the dowels already in place (Fig. 21). For sheerstrakes and washstrakes a generic bamboo panatta’ is used to mark the position of the holes for the dowels in the plank’s seams (Fig. 22).
Details of the end-to-end joint of two planks through flat scarf joints and fixed rectangular tongue inserted in single groove. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Details of the alternating pattern of the dowels in the plank seam. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Use of a bamboo measuring device to mark the position of the dowels in the plank seam. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
A plank inserted into the dowels using a big hammer (in this case the barru’ and painting have been spread over the seam). (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Once the upper plank is put in place, using a large hammer (Fig. 23), the emerging part of the dowels from the upper seam, are cut on the side and wedged with the reaming piece of the dowels, in order to fix them more tightly (Fig. 24).
Dowels are cut on the side and wedged (nihunga). (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
‘Soft’ planks are put in place, bent and twisted using bolts, clamps and wedges. Metal bolts are temporarily inserted into the seams, usually at the extremities of the plank, before inserting the dowels (Fig. 25). Bending is applied using clamps and an additional timber (Fig. 25), while torsion is applied by using clamps (Fig. 26) and inserting wedges between the additional timber and the plank (Fig. 25).
Temporary bolts are inserted into the plank seam to bend the plank, while a metal clamp and a timber are used to bend the plank and a wedge is inserted into it for the torsion. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Wooden clamp used with a wedge for the torsion of the plank. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Planks closer to the stem and sternpost, called tungku-tungkulu, are considered by the boatbuilders the most difficult piece to shape since they do not have straight surfaces, but angled and rounded. This is achieved only by carving and removing excess wood with the adze, without any bending. It is not always easy to predict what needs to be done and, as every little cut could affect any other surface (Fig. 27).
The preparation of the tungku tungkulu. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Planks below the waterline are caulked with the bark (barru’, see also further). Boatbuilders spread paint on the plank seam before the bark is added to improve adhesion (Fig. 23). Bark is also inserted from the seam (Fig. 28). Planks above the waterline are caulked only with bark.
A worker inserting the barru’ in the plank seam for caulking. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
The Framing
The framing comprises a roughly regularly spaced alternation of 20 floor timbers (kelu, pangka for the smaller v-shaped frames toward fore and aft) and 20 half frames (soloro’), together with futtocks (panyambung kelu/soloro’). Their position is dictated by the above-mentioned notches and lugs (ruang and tambugu) on the inner face of the keel: the floor timbers are positioned at the center of each tambugu, while the half frames are set at the center of each ruang (Fig. 29). All other frames aligned to the stem and stern and not the keel, are placed opportunistically in between the dowels that hold the planks together.
The alternated floor timbers (kelu) and half frames (soloro’). (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
The curvature is obtained using an iron wire (pana-pana) as a mold (Fig. 30). The wire is then traced onto the selected timber and cut using an electric saw and/or the ax (Fig. 31). Once the frame is put in place, if the molded lower face is not properly adjacent to the hull, the curvature can be adjusted using the singkolo’.
A The wire used to determine the curvature of the frames B A worker drawing the wire curvature on the frame. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Frames are cut using ax, electric saws or chisels. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
The frames are rectangular in cross section. They are 9–15 cm molded. 9–12 cm sided and are spaced 27–35 cm center to center (at the distance dictated by ruang and tambugu). Floor timbers present two triangular cuts at the base for the passage of the water (limber holes). Frames are joined to the planking with dowels inserted from the inside and outside and spaced from a few centimeters up to 39 cm. The dowels’ holes are drilled from the inside through the planking (Fig. 32A), and afterward the dowels are inserted from the outside (Fig. 32B), and excess wood is trimmed from the inside.
A A worker drilling holes for the dowels B A worker hammering the treenails from the outside to inside. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
The Stringers
After the planking and the frames are put in place, stringers (lepe) are applied inside the boat, intended to counteract the torsion of the hull and as base for the deck beams. The Nur Al-Marege comprises single planks, 6 for each side, made of coconut wood, and are over 10 m long and 14–17.3 cm wide (Figs. 4 and 14C). The stringers are assembled starting from the lowest and continuing upward and are spaced approximately 20–30 cm apart. They are positioned into recesses on the frames and pre-assembled to the frames using 4–5 bolts placed at regular distance. Once the stringers are put in place, they are then joined to the frames with dowels, the bolts are subsequently removed, and dowels are driven into the temporary bolt holes. Bolts are used to keep the stringers in place while wooden and metal clamps and wedges are employed to bend the stringers, pressing them as close as possible to the frames (Fig. 33).
Wooden clamps and wedges used to bend the stringers. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
After that, an additional dowel is inserted from the outer planking into each frame, in accord with the position of the stringers.
The Beams
Beams (tumbala’ or kalang) were fitted into the stringers and adjacent to a futtock, with their dimension being variable: ca. 9–12 cm in thickness and 10–17 cm in width.
Each beam is set into a recess cut into the stringers at the first sheer strake, while rudder beams are fit into planking recesses (Fig. 34). The beams are joined to the stringers, planking and/or frames using transversal dowels. They also support three distinct decks in the case of the Nur Al-Marege.
A A beam accommodated into a stringer recess B A worker carving a recess for the beam. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
The small mast is located against the second beam from the stern and the main mast against the fourth beam (Fig. 10). These crossbeams are made especially for the bangkeng salara’, the mast tabernacles, and come in pairs with a little less distance between them as the bangkeng salara’ will be wide, keeping it held tightly between the beams.
Decks and Cabins
While for the construction of the hull, the builders followed the sequence and the approach applied for local fishing boats. For the decks, cabins, and other upperworks design, the team relied mainly on images of old padewakang and on instructions found in the documentation. For this reason, design details on these parts are described more in detail in the previous chapter.
Below follows a summary of the patterns and main dimensions.
Nur Al-Marege has three main decks and a low foredeck (Fig. 10). The stern cabin measures 2.4 m in width and 2 m in length, with the height being 1.3 m. The hatch of the central deck is equal to the perimeter of the hut and it measure 2.1 m in width, 400 cm in length and 1.5 m in height. The railing measures 50 cm in width, 4.1 m in length and it is 43 cm high. Deck planks measure ca. 18–20 cm in width and 5–7 cm in thickness.
Fastenings
The main fastening system on the Nur Al-Marege is seen in the use of dowels. At least two different dimensions of dowels were noticed, according to their use.
For the framing a type of dowels called paso’ buku, which has different diameters at the two ends, is used. Frame dowels are usually driven from the outer to the inner hull into the frames. From their larger diameter (ca. 17–18 mm), they measure ca. 26 cm in length.
The plank dowels (paso’ kalli) have the same diameter for both ends, ca. 14–15 mm.
According to the boatbuilders the paso’ tambo, of smaller diameter, for testing the plank to fit, was used in the past before the introduction of the bolts, this type of dowel was not used in the construction of the Nur Al-Marege.
Dowels are also used to fill random holes in the planks together with epoxy resin and/or sawdust.
These are obtained by cutting small blocks of kayu kandole wood, smoothing and finishing them using a knife and/or using dowel matrixes of different diameters (15 and 18 mm) (Fig. 35).
The two types of dowel matrixes (pemuku paso’). (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Tools
Tools in use on the Nur Al-Marege boatyard were: the adze (bingkung), used for removing the bark from plank edges and to adjust or shape plank faces and edges (Fig. 36A); the axe (pangkuluˈ), used for cutting timbers and the bark off the timbers (Fig. 36B); the saw (garagaji), used for fine cutting of the timbers; the knife (parang), used for cutting the dowels and for other fine works (Fig. 36C); the chisel (pa’), used to adjust timbers and to cut and trim off the dowels (Fig. 36D); hammers (palu-palu) of different sizes according to their use, are mainly used to drive dowels and planks into dowels (Fig. 37). Power tools were also used. The workers would switch from one to the other according to the different types of work. Usually, but not always, they would prefer traditional tools for more refined work.
A adze, B chisel, C knife, D ax
Hammers. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
To draw straight lines, the workers used the tulu’ bassi’, which consists of a ball of string soaked in the carbon battery (Fig. 38). The string is unrolled and stretched with one hand and held by the foot along a ship’s timber, for the desired length, then with the other hand the builder picks the string which releases the black color on the timber drawing the line.
The tulu bassi’/bacci’, a ball of string soaked in the carbon of a motorbike battery used to draw straight lines. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
The sinkgolo’ is a marking gauge, a tool used to draw the curvature of the plank edge to match the upper plank to the plank below, to join closely other elements of the boat, and to mark the position of the frames, for their addition to the hull. Two different types of singkolo’ were recorded: one comprises a single, small, metal plate with two-pointed fix ends (Fig. 39A); the other comprises two-pointed metal adjustable elements joined together with a pin (Fig. 39B). The first type, the older version, is not adjustable but it can be found in various distance measures among the two points. The second type is adjustable according to its use. The curvatures are obtained by marking, for example, the plank’s outer face with the upper point, while the lower point follows the upper edge of the plank below to which the new plank has to be joined (Fig. 19). As already mentioned, the tool first used to establish the curvature of the hull to accommodate the frames is a simple iron wire (pana-pana) that is bent to the hull in the place where the frame is to be positioned (Fig. 27).
A The fixed and B the adjustable singkolo’ used to draw curvatures. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Two types of wooden clamps are used to hold planks and stringers in place: one composed of two pieces of wood joined together with a bolt (Fig. 26) and the other composed of a single timber in which two bolts are inserted joining it to the planks during assembly (Fig. 25). Both exert pressure by the insertion of wedges in the space between them and the plank; the first exercises a vertical pressure, while the second exercises it horizontally. According to the workers, these are interchangeable. Pressure is exercised also by using metal clamps (cato’) for the planking, frames, and beams (Figs. 25, 26, 33). Metal clamps were seen especially in the last days of construction as the upper planking was put in place. Pressure while putting stringers in place, can be exercised by using a single timber combined with a wedge, lashed to bolts inserted transversally, into the frames or fixed with clamps (Fig. 33).
Meanwhile, the use of an electric drill is a relatively recent innovation, in the Nur Al-Marege construction and was used systematically to drill all the dowels holes in planks and frames.
Timber
In the last decades, many changes occurred in the availability and cost of wood for the boatbuilding industry in Tana Beru. These affected the construction of the boats we see today, but they will not be discussed in this paper.
The following wood species were mentioned to us by the workers in the boatyard for various uses: kadieng (kusum tree, Ceylon oak or lac tree, Schleichera oleosa) was for the keel, bitti or na’nassa’ (new Guinea teak, Vitex cofassus) for the stem and sternpost, kayu besi (Bornean iron wood, bulian, or ulin, Eusideroxylon zwagerii) for the garboards, bitti, jati (teak, Tectona grandis) and kandole (Diploknema oligomera) for the planking; for the frames jati and bitti; kayu besi for the sangkilang and sanjata (the transversal plank for the rudder); kandole for the dowels; bitti for the deck; and coconut wood for the stringers.Caulking.
Today various materials are used for the caulking in the Tana Beru boatyards and, in certain cases, even the use of synthetic foam has been observed between plank seams. Therefore, the main material used for caulking is the barru’, which is a general term to refer to the bark of various trees with each boatyard using that which best served their purpose. Barru’ may also consist of the fibers of the lower part of the leaves of an unidentified species of palm, similar to coarsely spun wool when finished, while barru’ gallang specifically refers to the bark.
According to our informants the barru’ employed in the Nur Al-Marege came from the kayu putih tree (cajuput or white samet, Melaleuca cajuputi) (Fig. 40). This is inserted into the plank seams by one of two methods: pulling it with the fingers, once the plank has been put in place, from outside or from inside (Fig. 28) or spreading it on the seam before setting in place the other plank (Fig. 23). In planking below the waterline, a blue paint is spread on the seams before inserting the barru’.
The barru’ employed in the Nur Al-Marege construction. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
Repairs
Cracks and knots on the planks’ faces are filled with a mixture of sawdust and epoxy resin (Fig. 41) with this mixture being used alongside dowels to fill deep holes.
Cracks filled with a mixture of water, sawdust and epoxy resin. (Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and Universitas Indonesia)
The End of the Construction
The end of the construction process of the Nur Al-Marege was marked by a series of rituals and ceremonies which involved a large part of the community in Tana Beru.
A tuft of ijuk, palm fiber (Arenga pinnata), was inserted in the mast head, likely to prevent St Elmo’s fire from lighting up on the mast top, as was common use in the past on many European wooden ships (Fig. 42). When the Nur Al-Marege was completed, a goat was slaughtered, its blood was spread on the keel and the legs were hung on the stem (Fig. 43).
Ijuk fibres on the mast head. (Ridwan Muhammad)
Rituals at the end of the construction process. (Ridwan Muhammad)
The launch ceremony involved many people from the community that were invited to participate to the event and to haul the boat into the water (Fig. 44).
Launching of the Nur Al-Marege. (Ridwan Muhammad)
Conclusion
This paper described the reconstruction of a padewakang, a now vanished historical vessel, whose hull construction principles are still recalled by elder shipwrights as they are reflected in contemporary pajala and patorani fishing vessels.
The construction of Nur Al-Marege followed the tatta’ tallu, a boat conception scheme deeply embedded in the industry’s ritual and socioeconomic settings. A thorough command of these procedures is the benchmark of a panrita lopi, the ‘master shipwright.’ The paragon for this inter-dependence of knowledge, technology, economic decisions, rituals, and beliefs is the panatta’, the measuring device that marks the initiation of a shipbuilding contract.
This process of boat conception is not applied anymore, therefore the role of the panrita lopi has diminished and, as a consequence, much of the social fabric of performing ceremonies together is gone, replaced by empty folklore and, most importantly, the placement of inter-strake dowels is no longer congruent with the frames and the rest of the construction.
The commission of the Nur Al-Marege was a rare opportunity to engage the community of Tana Beru in the construction of an historical boat following the procedures and knowledge possessed by the panrita lopi. The experimental reconstruction was also an opportunity to closely observe the challenges that boatbuilding knowledge is facing with the numerous changes occurring nowadays in the boat construction industry in Tana Beru, such as the lack of traditional knowledge transmission, availability of certain wood species, the use of electric tools, and the actual demands of the market. These aspects will be the object of further discussion.
Glossary
This glossary comprises, in alphabetical order, a limited number of nautical terms related to the construction of the Padewakang and mentioned in the paper.
The terms are mostly in the Konjo language [KON; ISO 639-3] spoken by the boatbuilders in the boatyards of Lemo-Lemo, Ara, and Tana Beru. Some terms are globally known in South Sulawesi as Bugis words, others are typically Malay/Indonesian words while some have a common origin being used in Konjo, Makasar, Bugis and Mandar (see for instance guling ‘rudder’). More detailed etymologies of Konjo terms can be found in Liebner 1990, 1992 and 1993.
In this list the Malay/Indonesian, Bugis, and Makasar words are, respectively, indicated by the initials M (Malay or Indonesian), BUG (Bugis), MAK (Makasar) all the other non-indicated words are Konjo words and expressions. The writing system is the one commonly used in Indonesia where vowels and consonants are phonetically pronounced, the glottal stop is marked with an apostrophe (’), the letter /c/ corresponds to the English sound [ch] (like in chair), and the double consonants produce an intense, geminated sound. Follow the main orthographic conventions used for the Makasar language in Jukes (2020: xviv):
'is a glottal stop [ʔ].
ng is a velar nasal [ŋ].
ny is a palatal nasal [ɲ].
c is a voiceless palatal stop [c].
j is a voiced palatal stop [ɟ].
Ambeng | Raised poop |
Ambeng rua kali | Double poop deck |
Anjong | Bowsprit |
Bangkeng salara’ | Mast tabernacles |
Baradu | Gunwales |
Barru’ | General term used to refer to the material employed for caulking. It is, in general, the bark of various trees (e.g., kayu putih tree (cajuput or white samet, Melaleuca cajuputi) or an unidentified species of palm, similar to coarsely spun wool when finished |
Barru’ gallang | Caulking material obtained from the bark |
Bau | Upper spar/yard/gaff in tanja’/pinisi’ rigs. In the former, the rig is made of stout bamboo; the latter uses a wooden spar |
Bingkung | The adze, the tool used for removing the bark from plank edges and to adjust or shape plank faces and edges |
Bitti (BUG) | Kind of wood used for the stem and sternpost (new Guinea teak, Vitex cofassus) |
Bu’bukang | Halyard, lashed somewhat to fore ward of the yard’s midpoint |
Cato’ | Metal clamps used to exercise pressure for the planking, for frames and beams |
Cebeng | Low railing fastened onto frame heads projecting above the gunwales |
Galagang | Bamboo-gratings for removable floors and decks on both sea and land |
Garagaji (M/I) | The saw (or the chainsaw), the tool used for fine cutting of the timbers |
Guling | Lateral rudder |
Jangka | Post that connects vertically the upper (sanjata) beam and the lower (sangkilang) beam (Tana Beru and Lemo-Lemo term) |
Kadieng | Type of wood used for the keel (kusum tree, Ceylon oak, or lac tree, Schleichera oleosa) |
Kalang | Beam |
Kalebiseang | Literally, the ‘soul (kale) of the ship (biseang),’ used for both the overall keel and its central section. Biseang itself translates as ‘place for rowing’ (< bise, ‘paddle,’ plus the instrumental affix/-ang/) |
Kalewere’ | Jib in tanja’ rig |
Kalla’ | Sheet that controls the boom |
Katabang | Deck |
Kayu besi | Kind of wood used for the garboards (Bornean iron wood, bulianillion, or ulin, Eusideroxylon zwagerii) for the garboards |
Kayu jati | Type of teak wood, (Tectona grandis) |
Kayu kandole | Type of wood used for the planking, Diploknema oligomera |
Kayu putih (M/I) | Type of tree (cajuput or white samet, Melaleuca cajuputi) whose bark becomes the main material for caulking |
Kelu | Floor timber |
Konta | Notches for the rudder’s neck carved into rudder beams |
Koyang (M) | Historic unit of weight, here referring to its Batavian usage; = 28 pikul, or about 1.75 metric tons (Knaap 1996: 191; Nagel 2003: 842) |
Kurung | Gabled, tent-like attap-attap-roof covering midship opening |
Lapparaˈ | Low foredeck between stem and salompong bulwark |
Lari Turu’ | Downwind course |
Lehangang | lengthwise beam set atop the upper rudder beam |
Lemba-Lembarang | The third of a sequence of three planks of the salompong bulwark, from below to atop (patti-patti, lengu’-lengu’, lemba-lembarang) |
Lengu’-lengu’ | The second of a sequence of three planks of the salompong bulwark, from below to atop (patti-patti, lengu’-lengu’, lemba-lembarang) |
Lepe | Stringer |
Lolo’ | Heel line on a tanja’ sail’s fore peak |
Na’nassa’ | Kind of wood used for the stem and sternpost (New Guinea teak, Vitex cofassus) |
Pa’ | The chisel, the tool used to adjust timbers and to cut and trim the dowels |
Pa’teppo | Coamings of the attap-roof that could keep out water washing over the deck |
Padewakang | The largest kind of indigenous vessels that, since at least the early eighteenth century, were closely associated with South Sulawesi’s trader–sailors gaff-ketch-rigged vessels |
Pajala | A drift- or purse-seine net fishing vessel (< jala = net) |
Palang | Crossbeam |
Palari | > lari, ‘to run’: aA ‘runner,’ a fast vessel < lari, ‘to run.’; the hull of choice for the gaff-ketch pinisiˈ rig |
Pallayareng Pallajareng (BUG) | Vessel’s mast |
Palu-palu | Various sizes of hammers that are mainly used to drive dowels and planks into dowels |
Pana-pana | Iron wire used as mold |
Panapu tallu lalang | A ‘continuation [plank of] three-inside.’ |
Panatta’ | < tatta’ ‘to cut,’ here in the sense of ‘adjusting measurements.’ Panatta’ are any length of bamboo marked with measurements for, e.g., dowel placement or the length of planks, and specifically meaning the baton of bamboo that contains the basic measurements of that vessel build according to a tatta’ scheme |
Pangepe’ | Garboard strake |
Pangka | V-shaped floor timber |
Pangkulu’ | The axe, used for cutting timbers and the bark off the timbers |
Panrita lopi | The master shipwright, the person who possesses the knowledge, the technology, the rituals, and the beliefs for the construction of a vessel |
Panumbu | The mast’s foreleg |
Panyambung (M/I) | Extension, connection |
Panyambung kalebiseang | The fore (ri olo) and aft (ri boko) keel extensions |
Panyambung kelu/soloro’ | Futtock extension |
Papang | Plank |
Papang appa’ | A ‘four[-count] plank |
Papang lamma | The ‘soft (lamma) planks,’ wash strakes atop the hard planks |
Papang terassa’ | The ‘hard (terassa’) planks’ in the lower strakes of a hull made with a tatta’ scheme |
Parang | The knife, the tool used for cutting the dowels and for other fine works |
Paso’ | Dowel |
Paso’ buku | A type of dowel used for framing. It measures ca. 26 cm in length and has different diameters at the two ends (ca. 17–18 mm). Frame dowels are usually driven from the outer to the inner hull into the frames |
Paso’ kalli | Plank dowels that have the same diameter for both ends, ca. 14–15 mm |
Paso’ tambo | Plank dowels of smaller diameter, for testing the plank to fit |
Patorani | Kind of vessel used for harvesting flying fish caviar (< torani, ‘flying fish’) |
Patti-patti | The first of a sequence of three planks of the salompong bulwark, from below to atop (patti-patti, lengu’-lengu’, lemba-lembarang) |
Pattuppuang anjong | Bitt post, betting |
Pelokang | Boom in a tanja’ rig, onto which the sail is rolled (pelo’ > ammelo’ ‘rolling up’) |
Pincorang | Scupper holes |
Poko’ | Tack of a tanja’ sail, tied onto the fore end of the boom |
Possi’ | The ‘navel’ of the ship and pivot of its proportions |
Punggawa | The main boatbuilder |
Ri boko | Aft (in the back) |
Ri olo | Fore (in front) |
Ruang | Measurement unit: the distances between tambugu in the keel |
Salompong | Low foreship of ‘extended hulls’ built with tattaˈ scheme |
Sambila (MAK) | Rudder lever |
Sangahili pinruang | Butt-joint to two knife-shaped planks, each pointing, respectively, toward the stem and the stern and stretching over two strakes |
Sangkilang | Lower rudder beam |
Sanjata | Upper rudder beam |
Sanrerang | Timber inboard of a rudder that prevents a leeward rudder from being forced out of its notch and pressed onto the hull’s planking |
Singkolo’ | Marking gauge, a tool used to draw the curvature of the plank edge to accommodate the upper plank to the plank below, to join closely other elements of the boat, and to mark the position of the frames, for their accommodation into the hull. These are obtained by marking, for example, the plank’s outer face with the upper point, while the lower point follows the upper edge of the plank below to which the new plank has to be joined |
Soloro’ | Half frame |
Sombala’ | Sail |
Sombala’ bakka’ | ‘Big’ (bakka’) sail, in both tanja’ and pinisi’ rigs set on the foremost mast |
Sombala’ caddi | Mizzen, the ‘small’ (caddi) sail |
Sombala’ ri boko | The aft sail (ri boko, ‘behind’) |
Sotting ri olo/ri boko | Fore/aft stempost |
Sukke-sukke | Rudder lever |
Surempa’ | Light crossed beams under the bowsprit |
Susung kappara’ | The lengthening of the last tambugu unit to fore and aft in order to create balance among all the units. This is done if the extensions prove to be longer than necessary for an equal division into these units, so the last tambugu are lengthened accordingly |
Taju’ | Frame heads |
Tambera | A number of shrouds and backstays used to sail the vessel. Most of these tambera have to be detached before and set on the new windward side after changing tack |
Tambugu | (i)Measurement units marked on the keel; (ii) Historically referring to the lugs left on the inside of planks that hold the framing in hulls built in the Western Austronesian lashed-lug tradition; (iii) Small lugs left on the inside of dugouts, used for attaching outrigger beams or frames holding wash strakes (iv) [For the concept of these lugs, see Liebner 2014: 234ff and the sources there mentioned] |
Tanja’ | Tilted rectangular sails |
Tari-taripang | Measurement units consisting of one tambugu unit and the following ruang unit that are ‘counted’ to fore and aft ward up to the keel’s extremities |
Tatta’ appa’ | appa’ = four tatta’ appa’ refers to a traditional conception scheme associated with the boatbuilders of Ara and based on a ‘four(-times) cut,’ that allows to build ships of 20–70 t cargo capacity |
Tatta’ tallu | tatta’ tallu (= three) refers to a traditional conception scheme associated with the boatbuilders of Lemo-Lemo and based on a ‘three (-times) cut,’ that generates small- to medium-sized vessels of up to 25 metric ton [t] burthen |
Timoang | A relatively small hatch on the clear planked main deck |
Tinra’ | Post that connects vertically the upper (sanjata) beam and the lower (sangkilang) beam (Ara and Bira term) |
Tulu bacci/bassi | Tool used by the boatbuilder to draw a line on a timber. It is a ball of string soaked in carbon taken from used batteries. The string is unrolled and stretched with one hand and held by the foot along a ship’s timber, for the desired length, then with the other hand the builder picks the string which releases the black color on the timber drawing the line |
Tumbala’ | Beam |
Tunggeng Biluˈ | Tacking (changing course into the direction of the wind). tunggeng = turn, going about biluˈ = veer, turn |
Tunggeng turu’ | Gybing (changing course into the direction of the wind). tunggeng = turn, going about turu’ = follow |
Tungku-tungkulu’ | The ‘braces’ short bow- and stern planks, that are taken from the upper ends of the planks meeting the stems at two strakes below |
Tuntung | Vang fastened to a tanja’ sail’s aft peak |
Data Availability
All data are stored and available at the Università di Napoli “L’Orientale” and at Universitas Indonesia.
Code Availability
Metashape Pro.
Notes
Other currently active wooden boatbuilding yards in the Indian Ocean are at Guran, Qeshm Island, Iran (five ships seen on Google Earth, October 2020); at Duyung, Terengganu, Malaysia (ca. two-three seen on Google Earth, October 2020); or at Mandvi, Kutch, Gujerat (ca. ten seen on Google Earth, October 2020). The largest conglomerations of wooden ships under construction, however, are found in Indonesia: e.g., Bagan Siapi-api, Sumatra (around 2° 9′35"N 100°46′40"E, several dozen ships under construction seen on Google Earth, July 2021); Batang, Central Java (around 6°53′22"S 109°44′52"E, at least 100 ships); and, somewhat more scattered, at Balongan, Rembang, Central Java (around 6°43′24.00"S 111°39′14.00"E; several dozen). It, however, is of note that in contrast to Tana Beru, the ships constructed in Java and Sumatra are mainly built frames-first (Wibisono, pers. comm. / observation, Rembang; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fMlJtUjEVU; https://jateng.tribunnews.com/2019/11/23/pemkab-batang-wacanakan-bangun-eduwisata-bahari-kelas-internasional-di-galangan-kapal-kayu; websites last accessed 2021/07/01).
The UNIOR team included Antonia Soriente, Chiara Zazzaro, Maurizio Borriello and Giuseppe Ferraioli.
The UI team included Ahmad Ginanjar Purnawibawa Nazarudin Nazarudin.
Information about the film project can be found at https://www.before1770.com/part2 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdxCSnJvu94 (all last accessed 2020-08-11).
Other publications use /q/ for the Glottal Stop /ʔ.
Other publications use /q/ for the Glottal Stop /ʔ/, a distinct phoneme in Konjo.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the late Haji Jafar, the primary supervisor for the construction of the Nur Al-Marege, Haji Usman boatbuilder and head builder, Darwis, assistant builder, Saibo, Albar, Asan, Harli and Mawar, and all other workers for their collaboration in documenting and recording the process of construction. The authors thank Shaykh Wesam Charkawi of the Abu Hanifa Institute for sponsoring the construction of the Nur Al-Marege and coordinating the team in recording the process of construction. Thank you also to the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, the Ministero Italiano per gli Affari Esteri e la Cooperazione Internazionale and Universitas Indonesia for their financial support for the research.
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The research was supported by the Abu Hanifa Institute in Sydney, by the University of Napoli “L’Orientale” and by the Ministero Italiano per gli Affari Esteri e la Cooperazione Internazionale, and by Universitas Indonesia.
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HL and CZ contributed to the study concept and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by all authors. The manuscript was mainly written by HL and CZ. AS contributed to the collection of ethnographic and linguistic data and to the compilation of the glossary. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zazzaro, C., Liebner, H., Soriente, A. et al. The Construction of an Historical Boat in South Sulawesi (Indonesia): The Padewakang. J Mari Arch 17, 507–557 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-022-09332-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-022-09332-5