COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Orembai in de baai van Elpapoetih Zuid-Ceram TMnr 10010563

Orembai or Arombai is a type of plank boat from the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. It is mainly used for fishing and transport. This vessel is used as far as Batavia, where in the 17th century it became popular to go out "''orembaaien''" on an evening rowing on the river or city canals.

Etymology

The name ''orembai'' or ''arumbai'' probably comes from the adapted Malay word ''rembaya'', which means state ship, with Portuguese prefix 'o'. In other variants of language they are also called ''orembaai'', ''arambaai'', ''arobail'', ''arubai'', ''arubaillo'', ''arumbai'', ''arumbae'', ''oranbai'', ''oranbaik, orang-bays,'' and ''corambay''. Martin says that the name ''orembai'' is a contraction for ''orang baik'' ("good man") and comes from the era of the Hongi voyages, i.e. these boats are the opposite of ''Hongitocht''

kora kora A kora-kora or kora kora or coracora is a traditional canoe from the Maluku (Moluccas) Islands, Indonesia. They are naval boat for carrying men on raids for plunder or for slaves. In Maritime Southeast Asia, raiding for slaves was an honourable w ...

, which is a war vessel.

Description

It is characterized by being equal-ended, with the prow and the stern both rising up abruptly into a sharp point about from the ground, giving it a crescent shape. It is widest at the middle, tapering gradually towards both ends. It usually has three

strake On a vessel's Hull (watercraft), hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of Plank (wood), planking or Plate (metal), plating which runs from the boat's stem (ship), stempost (at the Bow (ship), bows) to the stern, sternpost or transom (nautica ...

s attached to a narrow keel which in turn is joined to a stem-post at each end. The stempost is broader and lower than the sternpost. Traditional orembai uses the

tanja Tanja () is a feminine given name. It may refer to: Mononyms *''Tanja'' (born 1983), Russian-Estonian singer, also known as Tanja Mihhailova Given name *Tanja Andrejeva (born 1978), Macedonian handball player *Tanja Bogosavljević (born 1989), ...

or lete sail, but more modern orembai adopted European-style rigging, such as

pinisi Literally, the word pinisi refers to a type of rigging (the configuration of masts, sails and ropes ('lines')) of Indonesian Sailing ship, sailing vessels. A pinisi carries seven to eight sails on two masts, arranged like a gaff-ketch with what ...

rig and

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

rig. Orembai is built using planks, joined with

lashed-lug Lashed-lug boats are ancient boat-building techniques of the Austronesian peoples. It is characterized by the use of raised lugs (also called "cleats") on the inner face of hull planks. These lugs have holes drilled in them so that other hull com ...

construction. The orembai is very similar to the ''

mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

'' of the North Solomons. It also resembles the ''

'', but differs in that, like most large

Austronesian ships Austronesian vessels are the traditional seafaring vessels of the Austronesian peoples of Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar. They also include indigenous ethnic minorities ...

, the orembai does not have

outriggers An outrigger is a projecting structure on a boat, with specific meaning depending on types of vessel. Outriggers may also refer to legs on a wheeled vehicle that are folded out when it needs stabilization, for example on a crane that lifts he ...

(likely due to their inherent stability).

Gallery

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Het zeilschip Helena Anna aan de mond van de Riou-Apa in de Orembaai West-Ceram Molukken TMnr 10010876.jpg, A "modern" orembai, West Seram, Moluccas. Before 1923. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM S.S. Camphuys aan de steiger op de rede in de Orembaai van Ternate TMnr 10010599.jpg, A traditional orembai with lowered sail (either a tanja or lete/crab claw sail), Ternate. Between 1910 and 1930 File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Ceram orembai met bemanning bij Roemahkai TMnr 10010582.jpg, A small orembai with a

crab claw sail The crab claw sail is a fore-and-aft triangular sail with spars along upper and lower edges. The crab claw sail was first developed by the Austronesian peoples by at least 2000 BCE. It is sometimes known as the Oceanic lateen or the Oceanic ...

in Rumahkay, Seram Island File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Zeilschip waarmee de bestuursambtenaar zijn reizen maakt in de Orembaai in Ceram Molukken TMnr 10010873.jpg, Dutch-owned orembai, Seram, Moluccas, ca. 1925

References

{{Fishing vessel topics Sailboat types Indonesian inventions Austronesian ships Boats of Indonesia

Etymology

Description

Gallery

See also

References