Palari is a type of Indonesian sailing vessel from South Sulawesi. It was mainly used by the people of Ara and Lemo Lemo, for transporting goods and people. This vessel is rigged with pinisi rig, which often makes it better known as "Pinisi" instead of its name. In Singapore, palari is known as "Makassartrader". [1] : 110
The name of this boat comes from Bugis word lari meaning "to run" or "running". The word pa is a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupation or labor, equivalent to English -or/-er, so the meaning of palari would be "runner". This refers to the fact that this vessel is nimbler and faster than its predecessor, the padewakang. [2] [3] : 22–23
Palari is about 50–70 feet (15.24–21.34 m) in length overall, with light laden waterline of 34–43 feet (10.36–13.1 m). The sails are built using light canvas, while the topsails are linen cloth. The crew is about 7–8 men. It is steered using double quarter rudders. Under favorable conditions, they may reach 9–10 knots (16.7–18.5 km/h) in speed. A vessel with 30 ft waterline could carry nearly 400 pikul (22.7–25 tons). [1] : 112–113
In 1920–1930's palari, the crew sleep in narrow shelf hung by rope under the deck. Traditionally, the captain owns a small stern cabin 2 m in length and 1 m in height, under the deck planking. Certain passengers own temporary cabins built on the deck. Cooking is done in clay cooking hearth in a movable hearth about 1–2 m high. They sometimes had a woman aboard as the cook, occasionally she's the wife of the captain. The toilet is located at the back, hanging atop the stern. Water is stored in jerrycans, drums, and pots and the crew lives primarily by rice. [4]
The palari hull is built from type of hull from Sulawesi, namely the pajala. Pajala is an undecked coasting boat which usually has a tripod mast carrying a single large tanja sail. It is carvel-built, and like other malay boat, it is a double ender (the bow and stern of the boat is sharp i.e having stem and sternpost). Palari hull, is built by adding more planks upwards the pajala hull about 2–3 feet (61–91 cm), adding an overhanging stern deck (called ambeng in Malay language), plus the construction of decking. [1] : 113–114
In the 18th century, Bugis people sailed a type of perahu similar with patorani. The hull is from pajala type, the rig is using a canted triangular sail in a tripod mast, with weight less than 50 tons. Many of them can bee seen in Australian beach collecting teripang between 1800–1840. [5] In 1880, a boat dubbed "Bugis prahu" seems to have been the prototype of palari hull. It was a midway development to palari, with western-styled deck but with traditional (indigenous) stern (the ambeng stern). A bowsprit and jibsail has been added, but it's still using a tanja sail on a single tripod mast. There was no cabin at the stern. [6]
Pajala hull then undergoes modification, by adding additional planking thus making the hull higher and increasing cargo capacity. A "step" is made at the bow and "overhanging stern deck" (ambeng) also added. [7]
The first Sulawesian "true" pinisi (i.e the palari hull using pinisi rig) was thought to has been first built in 1906 by the shipuilders of Ara and Lemo-Lemo, they built the first penisiq [sic] for a Bira skipper. [8] A one masted variant is called palari jengki (they are also called one-masted pinisi). [7] The one masted boats have a much simpler sail plan. They are rigged with nade sail (gunter rig), occasionally with loose-footed cutter rig (without pekaki, or lower spar). [1] : 116
What pushed Sulawesi sailors to abandon the sombala tanja that has been used from the past for pinisi rig which is more European in nature according to Haji Daeng Pale is the ease of its usage. When the wind rises, the person on the boat using the sails has to roll the big sail onto the boom below, a heavy and dangerous job. The pinisi sail can be reduced section by section starting with closing the topsail and the headsail. If the wind increases again, it is rather easy to reduce the large sail by pulling it towards the mast, so that the boat using the sail is closed halfway and one or more of the headsails is still functioning sufficiently and the steering power is not lost. Besides this, there is also a difference in sailing ability, the pinisi sail can sail closer to the wind. The most important thing is that the boat can turn around more easily when beating to windward. [2] [3] : 26
The fleet of palari-pinisi at the end of the 1930s became the archipelago's greatest trading fleet, competing with Madurese leti-leti, plied as far as Singapore to trade. But this changed when the World War II broke out. During the war, it was not profitable for them to sail further west than Surabaya and Semarang. Salemo island is a small trading centre that has been a home to about 100 trading pinisi. A villager from the island said that at the east shore of the island (which is about 650 m long): [9] : 218–219
"The pinisi would form an uninterrupted line, as they anchor side by side, along the shore. One may go on board a pinisi from one end; walk over the decks of the vessels and get off at the other end; so that one may move from the south to the north of the island without stepping on the soil between"
During World War II the Japanese forced Biran pinisi to load the necessities of modern warfare and many were sunk by Allied planes and warships. [10] The situation is the same on Salemo island, just before the Indonesian independence day, Salemo island was targeted by Allies' air strike. Many of the pinisi were apprehended or bombed at sea. Surviving pinisi owner fled to Jakarta and Surabaya. [9] : 218–219 After World War II during Indonesian national revolution, many Biran vessels were engaged in smuggling weapons from Singapore to Java for the new Indonesian National Army. When peace was restored, sailing ships were the only means of transport which could function without expensive spare parts which had to be imported from abroad and Biran trading revived rapidly. [10] Because of the economy situation, new merchants could only afford to build lambo, smaller in size than the pinisi. [9] : 219 Nevertheless, while before the war the biggest ships could load only about 40 tons, in the 1950s Biran sailors started to order ships of 100 tons and more and from 1960 on increasingly transported consigned cargoes owned by Chinese and Indonesian traders instead of bartering with commodities in East Indonesia. [10] In 1960–1970 palari-pinisi became the world largest sailboat trading fleet, numbering 800–1000 units, [11] still competing with leti-leti, which has about the same number. [12] Starting from 1970s motorization of traditional vessels started, and it will be revealed that the traditional palari hull couldn't accommodate engine effectively unlike the lambo's hull. A new ship, the lambo-pinisi, took over the role of palari-pinisi, and then evolve to PLM (Perahu Layar Motor — motorized sailboat), which can load up to 300 ton. [13]
A jukung or kano, also known as cadik is a small wooden Indonesian outrigger canoe. It is a traditional fishing boat, but newer uses include "Jukung Dives", using the boat as a vehicle for small groups of SCUBA divers.
Literally, the word pinisi refers to a type of rigging of Indonesian sailing vessels. A pinisi carries seven to eight sails on two masts, arranged like a gaff-ketch with what is called 'standing gaffs' — i.e., unlike most Western ships using such a rig, the two main sails are not opened by raising the spars they are attached to, but the sails are 'pulled out' like curtains along the gaffs which are fixed at around the centre of the masts.
The term lambo or lamba refer to two types of traditional boats from Indonesia.
The pinas, sometimes called "pinis" as well, is a type of schooner of the east coast of the Malay peninsula, built in the Terengganu area. This kind of vessel was built of Chengal wood by the Malays since the 19th century and roamed the South China Sea and adjacent oceans as one of the two types of traditional sailing vessels the late Malay maritime culture has developed: The bedar and the pinas.
A Sandeq is a type of outrigger sailboat or trimaran used by the Mandarese people for fishing and as a means of transportation between islands. The size of Sandeq varies, with hulls ranging from 5 to 15 metres long and 0.5 to 1.5 metres wide. Its carrying capacity ranges from a few hundred kilograms to over 2 tons. The sleek shape of the Sandeq makes it more agile and faster than other sailboats. The name of the vessel comes from a word in the Mandar language that means pointy, referring to the bow's shape.
Tanja sail or tanja rig is a type of sail commonly used by the Austronesian people, particularly in Maritime Southeast Asia. It is also known as the tilted square sail, canted rectangular sail, rectangular balance lug, or balance lug sail in English. In historical sources, tanja sail is sometimes incorrectly referred to as lateen sail or simply square sail.
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A chialoup was a type of sloop used in the East Indies, a combination of western (Dutch) and Nusantaran (Indonesian) technologies and techniques. Many of these "boat-ships" were produced by VOC shipwrights in Rembang and Juwana, where the majority of the workers were local Javanese. Chialoups were used by the Dutch East India Company and private merchant-sailors of western and Nusantaran origin.
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Leti leti is a type of traditional transport vessel from East Madura, Indonesia, especially from the administrative district of Sumenep. The leti leti is a recent development, the hull form and sail were developed in the 19th century. In 1979 sailing leti leti was numbered about 1000, but this was reduced in the next decades when more modern, motorized vessel appeared.
Lis-alis is a type of traditional boat of Madura, Indonesia. Lis-alis usually present in canals that provide salt evaporation service in southern part of Madura and around Surabaya. Until the present, lis-alis remained overwhelmingly popular as a fishing craft in Bangkalan and Sukolilo, while a larger version, the kroman, has been used in this area for at least a century for inshore transport work.
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Pajala is a type of traditional perahu from western South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is used mainly for fishing, but in the present it's a Bugis/Makassar name for small to medium-sized boat hull.
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Bagan or bagang is a fishing instrument that uses nets and lights so that it can be used for light fishing, originating from Indonesia. Bagan is floated out to the sea to catch fishes, squids, and shrimps, and remain in the sea for several days or even months. The catch would be transported to land using other boats.
