The lorcha is a type of sailing vessel having a junk rig with a Cantonese or other Chinese-style
batten sails on a Portuguese or other European-style
hull. The hull structure made the lorcha faster and able to carry more cargo than the normal
junk. The advantage of the junk rig was in its ease of handling and resulting reduced crewing requirement, together with its relatively low cost of construction. Owing to its simplicity, it was also easier to repair. Lorchas were made locally of
camphor
Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel (''Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the kapu ...
or
teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...
and generally were of 30 to 150 tons
burthen.
History
This type of vessel was developed around 1550 in
Macau
Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...
, then a
Portuguese colony in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. This hybrid type of vessel sailed faster than traditional eastern ships. British merchants began to use lorchas in Chinese waters after the
First Opium War.
The
Vũng Tàu shipwreck is a lorcha that sunk near the
Côn Đảo Islands and has been dated to about 1690.
A type of lorcha sailing
lighter
A lighter is a portable device which uses mechanical or electrical means to create a controlled flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of flammable items, such as cigarettes, butane gas, fireworks, candles, or campfires. A lighter typic ...
was used formerly in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
to carry
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
out to ocean ships over the bar of the
Chao Phraya River
The Chao Phraya River is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand.
Etymology
Written evidence of the river being referred to by the ...
.
The book ''
The Sable Lorcha'' (1913) was written by
Horace Hazeltine.
It was adapted to film in 1915.
See also
*
Bedar (ship)
The term ''bedar'' (spelled "bedor" in Terengganu) is applied to a wide variety of boats of the east coast of Malaysia that carry one or two Junk rig, junk sails and lack the typical transom stern of the perahu ''pinas (ship), pinas''. These junk ( ...
*
Pinas (ship)
*
Junk (ship)
A junk () is a type of China, Chinese sailing ship characterized by a central rudder, an overhanging flat Transom (nautical), transom, watertight Bulkhead (partition), bulkheads, and a flat-bottomed design. They are also characteristically buil ...
Notes and references
External links
Complete list of Ship TypesLugger to Lorcha
{{Sailing Vessels and Rigs
Sailboat types
Ships of China
Ships of Thailand
Ships of Indonesia
Ships of Myanmar
Ships of Vietnam
Ships of Brunei
Ships of Malaysia
Tall ships
Pirate ships
Austronesian ships