Orembai

{{Short description|Type of boat from the Maluku Islands of Indonesia}}

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Orembai in de baai van Elpapoetih Zuid-Ceram TMnr 10010563.jpg rig in Elpaputih Bay, Seram Island. October 1940.]]

Orembai or Arombai is a type of plank boat from the Maluku Islands of Eastern Indonesia. 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.{{Cite book|title=VOC-Glossarium: Verklaringen van Termen, Verzameld Uit de Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Die Betrekking Hebben op de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie|last=Kooijmans, M., and J. Schooneveld-Oosterling|publisher=Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis|year=2000|location=The Hague}}

Etymology

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een zeilboot in de Orembaai ter hoogte van de bocht van Piroe genomen vanaf een ruïne op Ceram TMnr 10010877.jpg

The name orembai or arumbai probably comes from the adapted Malay word rembaya, which means state ship, with Portuguese prefix 'o'.{{Cite book|title=VOC Glossary Indonesia|last=Lohanda|first=Mona|publisher=Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia and The Corts Foundation|year=2018|location=Jakarta|pages=12}} In other variants of language they are also called orembaai, arambaai, arobail, arubai, arubaillo, arumbai, arumbae, oranbai, oranbaik, orang-bays, and corambay.Friederici, G. "Beitrage zur Volker und Sprachenkunde von Deutsch-Neuguinea." Mitteil. aus den Deutsch. Schutzgeb., Erganzungsheft Nr. 5, 1912.{{Cite book|title=The Outriggers of Indonesian Canoes|last=Haddon|first=Alfred Cort|publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|year=1920|location=London}}{{Cite book|title=Malay Words and Malay Things: Lexical Souvenirs from an Exotic Archipelago in German Publications Before 1700|last=Mahdi|first=Waruno|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|year=2007|isbn=9783447054928}} 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, which is a war vessel.{{Cite book|title=Reisen in den Molukken|last=Martin|first=K.|publisher=Geologische Theil|year=1903|location=Leiden}}

Description

It is characterized by being equal-ended, with the prow and the stern both rising up abruptly into a sharp point about {{convert|1.26|m|ft|abbr=on}} from the ground giving it a crescent shape. It is widest at the middle, tapering gradually towards both ends. It usually has three strakes attached to a narrow keel which in turn is joined to a stem-post at each end.{{cite journal |last1=Hornell |first1=James |title=200. Boat Construction in Scandinavia and Oceania; Another Parallel in Botel Tobago. |journal=Man |date=September 1936 |volume=36 |pages=145–147 |doi=10.2307/2791098|jstor=2791098 }}{{cite book |last1=Ellen |first1=R. F. |title=On the Edge of the Banda Zone: Past and Present in the Social Organization of a Moluccan Trading Network |date=2003 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824826765 |page=157 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZBqty18GK4C}} The stempost is broader and lower than the sternpost. Traditional orembai uses the tanja or lete sail, but more modern orembai adopted European-style rigging, such as pinisi rig and schooner rig. Orembai is built using planks, joined with lashed-lug construction.{{Cite book|title=The Lashed-lug Boat of the Eastern Archipelagoes, the Alcina MS and the Lomblem Whaling Boats (Maritime monographs and reports)|last=Horridge|first=G. Adrian|publisher=Trustees of the National Maritime Museum|year=1982|isbn=978-0905555614}}

The orembai is very similar to the mon of the North Solomons. It also resembles the kora kora, but differs in that, like most large Austronesian ships, the orembai does not have outriggers (likely due to their inherent stability).{{cite journal |last1=Skinner |first1=H.D. |title=Migrations of culture in South-East Asia and Indonesia |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |date=1957 |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=206–207 |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_66_1957/Volume_66%2C_No._2/Migrations_of_culture_in_South-east_Asia_and_Indonesia%2C_by_H._D._Skinner%2C__p_206-207/p1}}

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 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

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Austronesian ships}}

{{Indonesian traditional vessels}}

{{Fishing vessel topics}}

Category:Sailboat types

Category:Indonesian inventions

Category:Austronesian ships

Category:Boats of Indonesia