
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 ...
of
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 ''
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 ...
'', 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
See also
*
Lambo (boat)
The term lambo or lamba refer to two types of traditional boats from Indonesia.
Butonese lambo
Lambo is the Indonesian version of small western styled merchant boats with one mast from the end of the 19th century. It is directly developed as m ...
*
Padewakang
*
Pencalang
*
Karakoa
''Karakoa'' were large outrigger warships from the Philippines. They were used by native Filipinos, notably the Kapampangans and the Visayans, during seasonal sea raids. ''Karakoa'' were distinct from other traditional Philippine sailing vesse ...
*
Knabat bogolu
References
{{Fishing vessel topics
Sailboat types
Indonesian inventions
Austronesian ships
Boats of Indonesia