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The djong, jong, or jung (also called junk in English) is a type of ancient sailing ship originating from
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
that was widely used by Javanese,
Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
, and later
Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...
sailors. The word was and is spelled ''jong'' in its languages of origin, the "djong" spelling being the colonial Dutch romanization. Djongs are used mainly as seagoing passenger and cargo vessels. They traveled as far as the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
in the medieval era.Carta IX, 1 April 1512. In Pato, Raymundo Antonio de Bulhão; Mendonça, Henrique Lopes de (1884).
Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque, Seguidas de Documentos que as Elucidam tomo I
' (pp. 29–65). Lisboa: Typographia da Academia Real das Sciencas.
Their tonnage ranged from 40 to 2000
deadweight tons Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provis ...
,The tonnage used in this page (unless stated otherwise) is DWT or deadweight tonnage, a measure of how much cargo a ship can carry, including the weight of passenger and supplies. with an average deadweight of 1200–1400 tons during the Majapahit era. Javanese kingdoms such as
Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
,
Demak Sultanate The Demak Sultanate (کسلطانن دمق) was a Javanese Muslim state located on Java's north coast in Indonesia, at the site of the present-day city of Demak. A port fief to the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit kingdom thought to have been founded in ...
, and Kalinyamat Sultanate used these vessels as warships, but still predominantly as transport vessels.
Mataram Sultanate The Sultanate of Mataram () was the last major independent Javanese kingdom on the island of Java before it was colonised by the Dutch. It was the dominant political force radiating from the interior of Central Java from the late 16th centu ...
primarily used jong as a merchant ship rather than a warship. For their war fleet, the Malays prefer to use shallow draught, oared longships similar to the galley, such as
lancaran ''Colotomy'' is an Indonesian description of the rhythmic and metric patterns of gamelan music. It refers to the use of specific instruments to mark off nested time intervals, or the process of dividing rhythmic time into such nested cycles. I ...
,
ghurab Ghurab or gurab is a type of merchant and warship from the Nusantara archipelago. The ship was a result of Mediterranean influences in the region, particularly introduced by the Arabs, Persians, and Ottomans. For their war fleet, the Malays prefe ...
, and ghali. This is very different from the Javanese who prefer long-range, deep-draught round ships such as jong and
malangbang Malangbang or melambang is a type of medieval sailing ship from Indonesia. It is mentioned mainly in the History of Banjar. The name "malangbang" is considered to originate from the Old Javanese language, ''malabong'' (''malaboṅ'') which refer ...
. The reason for this difference is that the Malays operated their ships in riverine water, sheltered straits zone, and archipelagic environment, while the Javanese are often active in the open and high sea.


Etymology

Views diverge on whether the origin of the word is from a dialect of Chinese, or a Javanese word. The word ''jong'', ''jung'', or '' junk'' may derive from the
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
word ''chuán'' (, "boat; ship"). However, Paul Pelliot and Waruno Mahdi reject the Chinese origin of the name. Instead, it may be derived from "jong" (transcripted as joṅ) in
Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...
which means ship. The first record of Old Javanese ''jong'' comes from an inscription in Bali dating to the 11th century CE. It was first recorded in the
Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...
and Chinese languages by the 15th century, when a Chinese word list identified it as a Malay term for ship, thus practically excludes the Chinese origin of the word. The late 15th century ''
Undang-Undang Laut Melaka Undang-Undang Laut Melaka (Malay for 'Maritime laws of Melaka', Jawi: ) was a legal code of Melaka Sultanate (1400–1511) that deals specifically on matters related to maritime laws and regulations, as well as nautical procedures concerning seaf ...
'', a maritime code composed by Javanese shipowners in Melaka, uses jong frequently as the word for freight ships. European writings from 1345 through 1609 use a variety of related terms, including ''jonque'' ( French), ''ioncque'', ''ionct'', ''giunchi'', ''zonchi'' (
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
), ''iuncque'', ''joanga'', ''juanga'' (
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
), ''junco'' (
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
), and ''ionco'', ''djonk'', ''jonk'' (
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
). The origin of the word "junk" in the
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
language, can be traced to the Portuguese word ''junco'', which is rendered from the Arabic word j-n-k (جنك). This word comes from the fact that Arabic script cannot represent the digraph "ng". The word used to denote both the Javanese ship (''jong'') and the Chinese ship (''chuán''), even though the two were markedly different vessels. After the disappearance of jong in the 17th century, the meaning of "junk" (and other similar words in European languages), which until then was used as a transcription of the word "jong" in Malay and Javanese, changed its meaning to exclusively refer to the Chinese ship. People from the
Indonesian Archipelago The islands of Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Archipelago ( id, Kepulauan Indonesia) or Nusantara, may refer either to the islands comprising the country of Indonesia or to the geographical groups which include its islands. History ...
usually refer to large Chinese ships as "wangkang", while small ones are called "top". There are also terms in the Malay language, "cunea", "cunia", and "cunya" that originate from the Amoy Chinese dialect 船 仔 (tsûn-á), which refers to Chinese vessels 10–20 m in length. The "djong" spelling is of colonial Dutch origin, rendering the j sound as "dj", though both traditional British and current
Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...
orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...
romanizes it as ''jong''.


Sailor and navigation

The Nusantara archipelago was known for the production of large junks. When Portuguese sailors reached the waters of
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
in the early 1500s they found this area dominated by Javanese junk ships, operating on the vital spice route, between
Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...
,
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
, and Malacca. The port city of Malacca at that time practically became a Javanese city. Many Javanese merchants and ship captains settled and at the same time controlled international trade. Many skilled Javanese carpenters are building ships in the dockyards of the largest port city in Southeast Asia. For seafaring, the Austronesian people invented the balance lugsail (
tanja sail Tanja sail (Malay language, Malay: ''layar tanjak'') or tanja rig is a type of sail commonly used by the Austronesian peoples, Austronesian people, particularly in Maritime Southeast Asia. It is also known as the tilted square sail, canted rectan ...
), probably developed from the fixed mast version of the
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 some time around 1500 BC. It is used in many traditional Austronesian cultures in Islan ...
. The junk rig commonly used on Chinese ships may have been developed from the tanja sail.Needham, Joseph (1971). ''Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part III: Civil Engineering and Nautics''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. During the
Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
era, almost all of the commodities from Asia were found in Java. This is because of extensive shipping by the Majapahit empire using various types of ships, particularly the jong, for trading to faraway places.
Ma Huan Ma Huan (, Xiao'erjing: ) (c. 1380–1460), courtesy name Zongdao (), pen name Mountain-woodcutter (會稽山樵), was a Chinese voyager and translator who accompanied Admiral Zheng He on three of his seven expeditions to the Western Oceans. Ma ...
(
Zheng He Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...
's translator) who visited Java in 1413, stated that ports in Java were trading goods and offered services that were more numerous and more complete than other ports in Southeast Asia. It was also during the Majapahit era that Nusantaran exploration reached its greatest accomplishment.
Ludovico di Varthema Ludovico di Varthema, also known as Barthema and Vertomannus (c. 1470 – 1517), was an Italian traveller, diarist and aristocrat known for being one of the first non-Muslim Europeans to enter Mecca as a pilgrim. Nearly everything that is known ...
(1470–1517), in his book ''Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese'' stated that the Southern Javanese people sailed to "far Southern lands" up to the point they arrived at an island where a day only lasted four hours long and was "colder than in any part of the world". Modern studies have determined that such a place is located at least 900 nautical miles (1666 km) south of the southernmost point of
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
. The Austronesian people used a solid navigation system: Orientation at sea is carried out using a variety of different natural signs, and by using a very distinctive
astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
technique called " star path navigation". The navigators determine the bow of the ship to the islands that are recognized by using the position of rising and setting of certain stars above the horizon. In the Majapahit era,
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...
es and
magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...
s were used, and
cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
(mapping science) was developed. In 1293 AD
Raden Wijaya Raden Wijaya or Raden Vijaya (also known as Nararya Sangramawijaya, regnal name Kertarajasa Jayawardhana) (reigned 1293–1309) was a Javanese emperor, and the founder and first monarch of the Majapahit Empire.Slamet Muljana, 2005, ''Runtuhny ...
presented a map and census record to the Yuan Mongol invader, suggesting that mapmaking has been a formal part of governmental affairs in Java. The use of maps full of longitudinal and transverse lines, rhumb lines, and direct route lines traveled by ships were recorded by Europeans, to the point that the Portuguese considered the Javanese maps were the best map in the early 1500s. When
Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...
conquered Malacca, the Portuguese recovered a chart from a Javanese
maritime pilot A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who maneuvers ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Maritime pilots are regarded as skilled professionals ...
, which already included part of the
Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...
. Regarding the chart Albuquerque said:
...a large map of a Javanese pilot, containing the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
, Portugal and the land of
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, the
Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
and the Sea of Persia, the Clove Islands, the navigation of the Chinese and the Gom, with their rhumbs and direct routes followed by the ships, and the hinterland, and how the kingdoms border on each other. It seems to me. Sir, that this was the best thing I have ever seen, and Your Highness will be very pleased to see it; it had the names in Javanese writing, but I had with me a Javanese who could read and write. I send this piece to Your Highness, which Francisco Rodrigues traced from the other, in which Your Highness can truly see where the
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
and Gores come from, and the course your ships must take to the Clove Islands, and where the gold mines lie, and the islands of Java and Banda.
— Letter of Albuquerque to King
Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, a ...
, 1 April 1512.
A Portuguese account described how the Javanese people already had advanced seafaring skills and had communicated with
Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
in 1645:Couto, Diogo do (1645). ''Da Ásia: Década Quarta''. Lisbon: Regia Officina Typografica, 1778-1788. Reprint, Lisbon, 1974. ''Década IV, part iii'', p. 169.'
The Javanese are all men very experienced in the art of navigation, to the point that they claim to be the most ancient of all, although many others give this honor to the Chinese, and affirm that this art was handed on from them to the Javanese. But it is certain that they formerly navigated to the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
and were in communication with the east coast of the island of São Lourenço (San Laurenzo —
Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
), where there are many brown and Javanese-like natives who say they are descended from them.
Diogo do Couto Diogo do Couto (Lisbon, c. 1542 – Goa, 10 December 1616) was a Portuguese historian. Biography He was born in Lisbon in 1542 to Gaspar do Couto and Isabel Serrão Calvos. He studied Latin and Rhetoric at the College of Saint Anthony the Great ...
, ''Decada Quarta da Asia''
Research in 2016 showed that the
Malagasy people The Malagasy (french: Malgache) are an Austronesian-speaking African ethnic group native to the island country of Madagascar. Traditionally, the population have been divided by subgroups (tribes or ethnicities). Examples include "Highlander" ...
have genetic links to various Maritime Southeast Asian ethnic groups, particularly from southern Borneo. Parts of the
Malagasy language Malagasy (; ) is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Malagasy is the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, brought to Madagascar by the settlement of Austronesian peoples from the Sunda islands around the 5th ce ...
are sourced from the
Ma'anyan language Ma'anyan or Ma'anjan or Maanyak Dayak is an Austronesian language belonging to the East Barito languages. It is spoken by about 150,000 Ma'anyan people (subgroup of Dayak people) living in the province of Central Kalimantan and South Kalimant ...
with loan words from
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, with all the local linguistic modifications via Javanese or Malay language. The Ma'anyan and
Dayak people The Dayak (; older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are one of the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each ...
are not a sailor and were dry-rice cultivators while some Malagasy are wet rice farmers, so it is likely that they are carried by the Javanese and Malay people in their trading fleets, as labor or slaves.Kumar, Ann (2012). 'Dominion Over Palm and Pine: Early Indonesia’s Maritime Reach', in Geoff Wade (ed.), ''Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past'' (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), 101–122. Javanese trading and slaving activities in Africa caused a strong influence on boat-building on Madagascar and the East African coast. This is indicated by the existence of
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 ...
and ''oculi'' (eye ornament) on African boats.


Description

Duarte Barbosa Duarte Barbosa (c. 14801 May 1521) was a Portuguese writer and officer from Portuguese India (between 1500 and 1516). He was a Christian pastor and scrivener in a '' feitoria'' in Kochi, and an interpreter of the local language, Malayalam. Barbo ...
reported that the great ships from Java, called ''junco'', which have four masts, are very different from Portuguese ships. A Javanese ship is made of very thick wood, and as it gets old, the Javanese fix it with new planks, this way they have 3–4 planks, one above the other. The rope and the sail are made with woven
rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...
. The Javanese junks were made using ''jati'' wood (
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 (panicl ...
) at the time of his report (1515), at that time Chinese junks were still using softwood as their main material. The Javanese ship's hull is formed by joining planks and keel with wooden
dowels A dowel is a cylindrical rod, usually made of wood, plastic, or metal. In its original manufactured form, a dowel is called a ''dowel rod''. Dowel rods are often cut into short lengths called dowel pins. Dowels are commonly used as structural ...
and treenails, without using iron bolts or nails. The frame would be built later, after the planking (the "shell first" construction). The planks are perforated by an auger and inserted with dowels, which remain inside the fastened planks, not seen from the outside.Manguin, Pierre-Yves. 2012. “Asian ship-building traditions in the Indian Ocean at the dawn of European expansion”, in: Om Prakash and D. P. Chattopadhyaya (eds), ''History of science, philosophy, and culture in Indian Civilization'', Volume III, part 7: The trading world of the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800, pp. 597-629. Delhi, Chennai, Chandigarh: Pearson. The hull was pointed at both ends, they carried two rudders and used tanja sail, but it may also use junk sail, a sail of Indonesian origin. On top of the mast there is a ''
top A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few ...
'' or ''
gávea Gávea is an affluent residential neighborhood located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It borders São Conrado, Leblon, Lagoa and Jardim Botânico neighborhoods and is famous for its high concentration of artists. PU ...
'', which is used for observation and fighting. They were very different from the Chinese ships, whose hulls were joined by iron nails and strakes to a frame and bulkheads. The Chinese vessel had a single rudder, and (except in
Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
and
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
) they had flat bottoms without keels. Historical engravings also depict the usage of
bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays. The word ''bowsprit'' is thought to originate from the Middle L ...
s and bowsprit sails, with a deckhouse above the upper deck, and the appearance of stemposts and
sternpost A sternpost is the upright structural member or post at the stern of a (generally wooden) ship or a boat, to which are attached the transoms and the rearmost left corner part of the stern. The sternpost may either be completely vertical or may ...
s. The deckhouse is extending from the front to the back, where people are protected from the heat of the sun, rain, and dew. At the stern, there is a cabin for the ship's captain. This cabin, is square in shape and protruding ("hanging") above the sharp waterline stern (the sternpost), overhung above the water like a farmer's
outhouse An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry toilet, dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may als ...
. The bow also has a square platform that protrudes above the stempost, for bowsprit and forward-facing gun shield/gun mount (''
apilan Apilan and kota mara are two Malay nautical terms which refers to the structure on a vessel where the cannon is installed. This term is used especially on Malay ships and boats. Apilan Apilan (or ampilan) is the wooden gunshield found in Ma ...
'' or ''ampilan'' in the Malay language). A jong could carry up to 100 ''berço'' (breech-loading artillery—likely refers to local cetbang cannon). Like other Austronesian ships, jong is steered using 2 quarter rudders. According to father Nicolau Perreira, the jong has 3 rudders, one on each side and one in the middle. This may refer to hybrid jong, with the middle rudder being like those on Chinese vessels (hanging axial rudder) or western axial rudder (
pintle and gudgeon A gudgeon is a socket-like, cylindrical (i.e., ''female'') fitting attached to one component to enable a pivoting or hinging connection to a second component. The second component carries a pintle fitting, the male counterpart to the gudgeon, ...
rudder). Alternatively, it may have been a long sweep to aid in harbor maneuvers.Liebner, Horst H. (2016). ''Beberapa Catatan Akan Sejarah Pembuatan Perahu dan Pelayaran Nusantara''. Prosiding Konferensi Nasional Sejarah X Jilid II Subtema II. Jakarta, 7–10 November 2016. 1–83. A jong has about 1:3 to 1:4 beam-to-length ratio, which makes it fall into the category of "round ship". Barbosa also reported various goods carried by these ships, which include rice, meat of cows, sheep, pigs, and deer, dried and salted, many chickens, garlic, and onions. Traded weapons include lances, dagger, and swords, worked in inlaid metal and very good steel. Also brought with them
cubebs ''Piper cubeba'', cubeb or tailed pepper is a plant in genus ''Piper'', cultivated for its fruit and essential oil. It is mostly grown in Java and Sumatra, hence sometimes called Java pepper. The fruits are gathered before they are ripe, and ca ...
and yellow die called cazumba (''kasumba'') and gold which is produced in Java. Barbosa mention places and route in which these ships visited, which include
Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...
, Timor, Banda, Sumatra, Malacca, China, Tenasserim, Pegu (
Bago Bago may refer to: Places Myanmar * Bago, Myanmar, a city and the capital of the Bago Region * Bago District, a district of the Bago Region * Bago Region an administrative region * Bago River, a river * Bago Yoma or Pegu Range, a mountain rang ...
),
Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
,
Pulicat Pulicat or Pazhaverkadu is a historic seashore town in Chennai Metropolitan Area at Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is about north of Chennai and from Elavur, on the southern periphery of the Pulicat Lake. Pulicat lake i ...
, Coromandel,
Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...
, Cambay (
Khambat Khambhat (, ), also known as Cambay, is a city and the surrounding urban agglomeration in Anand district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was once an important trading center, but its harbour gradually silted up, and the maritime trade moved ...
), and Aden. From the notes of other authors, it is known that there were also those who went to the Maldives, Calicut (
Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...
), Oman, Aden, and the Red Sea. The passenger brought their wives and children, even some of them never leave the ship to go on shore, nor have any other dwelling, for they are born and die in the ship. It is known that ships made with teak could last for 200 years. The size and construction of the jong required expertise and materials that were not necessarily available in many places, therefore the Javanese junks were mainly constructed in two major shipbuilding centers around Java: north coastal Java, especially around
Rembang Rembang Regency ( id, Kabupaten Rembang) is a regency ( id, kabupaten) on the extreme northeast coast of Central Java Province, on the island of Java (bordering on the Java Sea) in Indonesia. The regency covers an area of 1,035.70 km2 on Java ...
Demak Demak is on the north coast of Central Java province, on the island of Java, Indonesia. * Demak, Demak, modern-day large town * Demak Sultanate, sixteenth century sultanate * Demak Regency Demak ( jv, ꦢꦼꦩꦏ꧀) is a regency located in t ...
(along the
Muria strait Muria Strait was a strait that once existed and connected Java and Muria Island. This strait was once a bustling trading area, with trading cities such as Demak, Demak, Demak, Jepara, Pati, Pati, Pati, and Juwana. In around 1657, river deposits th ...
) and
Cirebon Cirebon (, formerly rendered Cheribon or Chirebon in English) is a port city on the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is the only coastal city of West Java, located about 40 km west of the provincial border with Central Java ...
; and the south coast of Borneo (
Banjarmasin ) , translit_lang1 = Other , translit_lang1_type1 = Jawi , translit_lang1_info1 = بنجر ماسين , settlement_type = City , motto = ''Kayuh Baimbai'' ( Banjare ...
) and adjacent islands. These places have teak forests, whose wood is resistant to
shipworm The shipworms are marine bivalve molluscs in the family Teredinidae: a group of saltwater clams with long, soft, naked bodies. They are notorious for boring into (and commonly eventually destroying) wood that is immersed in sea water, including ...
. Southern Borneo's supply of teak would have come from north Java, whereas Borneo itself would supply
ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in E ...
.
Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...
, which is a large shipbuilding port in the 16th century, also produced jong, built by Javanese who resided there.


History


Early eras

In the first millennium AD, the ship called ''kolandiaphonta'' was recorded in
Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
'
Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
(ca. 150 AD). It is referred to by the Chinese as ''K'un-lun po''. The characteristics of this ship are that it is large (more than 50–60 m long), the hull is made of multiple plankings, has no
outrigger 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 ...
, mounted with many masts and sails, the sail is in the form of a tanja sail, and has a plank fastening technique in the form of stitching with plant fibers.
Faxian Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...
(Fa-Hsien) in his return journey to China from India (413–414) embarked a ship carrying 200 passengers and sailors from ''K'un-lun'' which towed a smaller ship. A cyclone struck and forced the passengers to move into the smaller ship. The crew of the smaller ship feared that the ship would be overloaded, therefore they cut the rope and separated from the big ship. Luckily the bigger ship survived, the passengers were stranded in ''Ye-po-ti'' (
Yawadwipa Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's most ...
—Java). After 5 months, the crew and the passengers embarked on another ship comparable in size to sail back to China. In 1178, the
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
customs officer Zhou Qufei, wrote in ''
Lingwai Daida ''Lingwai Daida'' (), variously translated as ''Representative Answers from the Region beyond the Mountains'', ''Notes Answering urious Questionsfrom the land beyond the Pass'' or other similar titles, is a 12th-century geographical treatise wri ...
'' about the ships of the Southern country:
The ships which sail the southern sea and south of it are like giant houses. When their sails are spread they are like great clouds in the sky. Their
rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...
s are several tens of feet long. A single ship carries several hundred men, and has in the stores a year's supply of grain. Pigs are fed and wine
fermented Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...
on board.Grape wine is not found in Nusantara. The possibility that is meant here is
palm wine Palm wine, known by several #Names, local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the Borassus, palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and i ...
.
There is no account of dead or living, no going back to the mainland when once the people have set forth upon the cerulean sea. At daybreak, when the gong sounds aboard the ship, the animals can drink their fill, and crew and passengers alike forget all dangers. To those on board everything is hidden and lost in space, mountains, landmarks, and the countries of foreigners. The shipmaster may say "To make such and such a country, with a favourable wind, in so many days, we should sight such and such a mountain, (then) the ship must steer in such and such a direction". But suddenly the wind may fall, and may not be strong enough to allow of the sighting of the mountain on the given day; in such a case, bearings may have to be changed. And the ship (on the other hand) may be carried far beyond (the landmark) and may lose its bearings. A
gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).Needham, Joseph (1971).
Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part III: Civil Engineering and Nautics
'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 464.
The word "jong" itself was first recorded in the
Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...
language from a Balinese inscription from the 11th century AD. The Sembiran A IV inscription (1065 AD) stated that merchants came to Manasa in Bali using jong and bahitra. The first record of jong in literature comes from ''Kakawin Bhomantaka'', dated late 12th century AD.


Majapahit era

File:Jong (Javanese junk), Java island, and other Indonesian islands in Catalan atlas.jpg, A portion of Catalan atlas depicting Indonesian archipelago. At the left a five-masted ''inchi'' (copying error of ''jũchi'', or junk, from Javanese jong). At the center is ''illa iana'' (error of ''illa iaua'', the island of Java), which is ruled by a queen (probably Tribhuwana, reigning from 1328 to 1350). To the right are other Indonesian islands. A junk or jong in the Arabian Sea, from Catalan Atlas.jpg, A portion of Catalan atlas depicting a five-masted Javanese jong in the Arabian sea, 1375. In 1322 friar
Odoric of Pordenone Odoric of Pordenone, OFM (1286–1331), also known as Odorico Mattiussi/Mattiuzzi, Odoricus of Friuli or Orderic of Pordenone, was an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer. He traveled through India, the Greater Sunda Is ...
recorded that during his voyage from India to China he boarded a vessel of the ''zuncum'' type which carried at least 700 people, either sailors or merchants. ''Kidung'' ''Panji Wijayakrama-Rangga Lawe'' (compiled as early as 1334 AD) mentioned a nine-decked jong (''jong sasangawangunan'') during the war with the Mongols (1293 AD). It looked like a volcano because of its sparkling and flickering thundercloud decorations, its sails were painted red. It carried 1000 people equipped with ''gandiwa'' (bow), '' bedil'', shields, ''towok'' (javelin), ''
kantar A kantar is the official Egyptian weight unit for measuring cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Ma ...
'' (long shield), and ''baju rantai'' (chainmail). The
Majapahit Empire Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was based on the island of Java (in modern-day Indonesia ...
used jongs as its main source of naval power. It is unknown how many exactly the total number of jongs were used by
Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
, but the largest number of jongs deployed in an expedition is about 400 jongs accompanied by uncountable
malangbang Malangbang or melambang is a type of medieval sailing ship from Indonesia. It is mentioned mainly in the History of Banjar. The name "malangbang" is considered to originate from the Old Javanese language, ''malabong'' (''malaboṅ'') which refer ...
and
kelulus Kelulus or kalulus is a type of rowing boat used in Indonesia. It is typically small in size and propelled using oar or paddle. However, for long-distance voyages, this boat can be equipped with sails. It is not the same as ''prahu kalulis'' of th ...
when Majapahit attacked
Pasai The Samudera Pasai Sultanate (), also known as Samudera or Pasai or Samudera Darussalam or Pacem, was a Muslim harbour kingdom on the north coast of Sumatra from the 13th to the 16th centuries CE. The kingdom was believed to have been founded ...
. In the second largest military expedition, the invasion of
Singapura Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
in 1398, Majapahit deployed 300 jongs with no less than 200,000 men (more than 600 men in each jong).Nugroho (2011), p. 271, 399–400, quoting ''Sejarah Melayu'', 10.4: 77: "... ''maka bagindapun segera menyuruh berlengkap tiga ratus buah jung, lain dari pada itu kelulus, pelang, jongkong, tiada terbilang lagi''." (then His Majesty immediately ordered to equip three hundred jong, other than that kelulus, pelang, jongkong in uncountable numbers.) Indonesian writer
Pramoedya Ananta Toer Pramoedya Ananta Toer ( EYD: Pramudya Ananta Tur) (6 February 1925 – 30 April 2006) was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemics and histories of his homeland and its people. His works span the colonial period under Dutc ...
argued that the largest Majapahit ships could carry 800–1000 men and were 50 ''depa'' (about 80–100 m) long. Modern calculation determined that the average jong used by Majapahit would be about 76.18–79.81 m
LOA ( ), also called loa or loi, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deities venerat ...
(69.26–72.55 m in deck length), carrying 600–700 men, with 1200–1400 tons deadweight and a displacement of 3333–3889 tons. The largest ones, carrying 1000 men, would be about 88.56 m LOA (80.51 m in deck length), with a deadweight of 2000 tons and a displacement of 5556 tons. A Balinese jong used by Bujangga Manik to travel from
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
to
Blambangan The Blambangan Kingdom was the last Javanese Hindu kingdom that flourished between the 13th and 18th centuries, based in the eastern corner of Java. The capital was at Banyuwangi. It had a long history of its own, developing contemporaneously ...
was 8 ''depa'' (12.8–16 m) in width and 25 ''depa'' (40–50 m) in length. Among the smallest jong recorded, used by
Chen Yanxiang Chen Yanxiang ( zh, 陳彥祥 , 1394–1412) was a merchant of Chinese origin, probably based on the Indonesian island of Java, who visited Joseon Korea and Muromachi Japan between 1394 and 1412. The only source for his life is the Korean '' ...
to visit
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, was 33-meter-long with an estimated capacity of 220
deadweight tons Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provis ...
, with a crew of 121 people. Prior to the
Battle of Bubat The Battle of Bubat also known as Pasunda Bubat is the battle between the Sundanese royal family and Majapahit army that took place in Bubat square on the northern part of Trowulan (Majapahit capital city) in 1279 Saka or 1357 CE. Historical acc ...
in 1357, the
Sunda Sunda may refer to: Europe * Sunda, Faroe Islands India * Sunda (asura), an asura brother of Upasunda * Sunda (clan), a clan (gotra) of Jats in Haryana and Rajasthan, India Southeast Asia * Sundanese (disambiguation) ** Sundanese people ...
king and the royal family arrived in Majapahit after sailing across the
Java Sea The Java Sea ( id, Laut Jawa, jv, Segara Jawa) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its nort ...
in a fleet of 200 large ships and 2000 smaller vessels. The royal family boarded a nine-decked hybrid Sino-Southeast Asian junk (Old Javanese: ''Jong sasanga wangunan'' ''ring Tatarnagari tiniru''). This hybrid junk incorporated Chinese techniques, such as using iron nails alongside wooden dowels, the construction of watertight bulkheads, and the addition of a central rudder.Lombard, Denys (2005)''
Nusa Jawa: Silang Budaya, Bagian 2: Jaringan Asia
'. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama. An Indonesian translation of Lombard, Denys (1990). ''Le carrefour javanais. Essai d'histoire globale (The Javanese Crossroads: Towards a Global History) vol. 2''. Paris: Éditions de l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
There is an allusion in
Nagarakretagama The ''Nagarakretagama'' or ''Nagarakṛtāgama'', also known as ''Desawarnana'' or ''Deśavarṇana'', is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a ''kakawin'' by Mpu Prapan ...
that ships and boats of Majapahit are painted red and black.
Wang Dayuan Wang Dayuan (, fl. 1311–1350), courtesy name Huanzhang (), was a Chinese traveller of the Yuan dynasty from Quanzhou in the 14th century. He is known for his two major ship voyages. Wang Dayuan was born around 1311 at Hongzhou (present-day Nan ...
's 1349 composition '' Daoyi Zhilüe Guangzheng Xia'' ("Description of the Barbarian of the Isles") described the so-called "horse boats" at a place called Gan-mai-li in Southeast Asia. These ships were bigger than normal trading ships, with the sides constructed from multiple planks. They use neither nails nor mortar to join them, instead, they are using coconut fiber. They have two or three decks, with a deckhouse over the upper deck. In the lower hold, they carried pressed-down
frankincense Frankincense (also known as olibanum) is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus ''Boswellia'' in the family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality incense'). There are several species o ...
, above them several hundred horses are carried. Wang made special mention of these ships because pepper, which is also transported by them, was carried to faraway places in large quantities. The normal trading ships carried less than 1/10 of their cargo. Usually, the main vessel towed behind a smaller "tender" for landing. Data from
Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
records made it possible to calculate that the largest ships may have had a burden tonnage of 500–800 tons, about the same as Chinese vessels used to trade in the 19th century. The tender itself may have been able to carry about 70 tons. Marco Polo also noted that they may have 2 or 3 of these tenders, and may have about 10 small boats for helping the main vessel, such as for laying out anchors, catching fish, and bringing supplies aboard. When sailing, the small boats were slung to the ship's sides.
Niccolò da Conti Niccolò is an Italian male given name, derived from the Greek Nikolaos meaning "Victor of people" or "People's champion". There are several male variations of the name: Nicolò, Niccolò, Nicolas, and Nicola. The female equivalent is Nicole. The fe ...
, in relating his travels in Asia between 1419 and 1444, describes ships much larger than European ships, capable of reaching 2,000 tons in size,While Needham mentioned the size as 2000 tons, Major give the size as a 2000 butts (Major, R. H., ed. (1857),
The travels of Niccolo Conti
, India in the Fifteenth Century, Hakluyt Society, p. 27), which would be around a 1000 tons, a butt being half a ton. See the definition of butt in https://gizmodo.com/butt-is-an-actual-unit-of-measurement-1622427091. Until the 17th century, ton referred to both the unit of weight and the unit of volume — see https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ton . A tun is 252 gallons, which weighs 2092 lbs, which is around a ton.
with five sails and as many masts. The lower part is constructed with three planks, to withstand the force of the tempests to which they are much exposed. Some of the ships are built in compartments so that if one part is punctured, the other portion remains intact to accomplish the voyage.
Fra Mauro Fra Mauro, O.S.B. Cam., (c.1400–1464) was a Venetian cartographer who lived in the Republic of Venice. He created the most detailed and accurate map of the world up until that time, the Fra Mauro map. Mauro was a monk of the Camaldolese ...
in his
map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...
explained that one junk rounded the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
and traveled far into the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
, in 1420:


European age of discovery

Florentine merchant Giovanni da Empoli (1483–1517), one of the first Italian agents to join a Portuguese armada to India in 1503–1504, said that in the land of Java, a junk is no different in its strength than a castle, because it had three and four boards, one above the other, which cannot be harmed with artillery. They sail with their women, children, and family, and everyone has a room for themselves. Passing by ''Pacem'' (Samudera Pasai Sultanate) the Portuguese came across two junks, one is from
Coromandel Coromandel may refer to: Places India *Coromandel Coast, India **Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements ** Dutch Coromandel *Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India New Zealand *Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula *Coro ...
, which is captured immediately, and the other is from Java which weighed about 600 tons, near ''Polvoreira'' (likely '' Pulau Berhala'', 160 miles from Malacca, between
Belawan Belawan ( zh, t=勿老灣, s=, poj=mài lau ôan) is a harbor in Medan, North Sumatra. Located on the northeast coast of Sumatra, Belawan is Indonesia's busiest seaport outside of Java. It constitutes the most northerly of the city of Medan's ...
,
Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...
and Lumut,
Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...
). The junk carried 300 Javanese "
Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...
" (Muslims) on board. The Portuguese sent out small boats to approach it, ordered it to halt but it promptly opened fire on the fleet, its crew hurling down spears, arrows, stones, gunpowder pots, and flammable materials.
Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...
approached it with his entire fleet. The Portuguese began firing on the junk, but the cannonball bounced off the hull, then the junk sailed away. The Portuguese ships then fired on the junk's masts causing them to fall. Near dawn,
Flor de la Mar ''Flor do Mar'' or ''Flor de la Mar'' (Flower of the Sea), spelled ''Frol de la Mar'' in all Portuguese chronicles of the 16th century, was a Portuguese ''nau'' (carrack) of 400 tons, which over nine years participated in decisive events in the ...
(the highest Portuguese carrack) caught up and rammed the junk, while firing artilleries which killed 40 of the junk's crew. The junk was so tall that Flor de la Mar's rear castle could barely reach its bridge,The bridge is the opening on the side of the ship for loading cargo, located lower than the
upper deck The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK), founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United State ...
(Nugroho, 2011: 304). A more accurate terms for this are "gangplank", "brow", or "gangway".
and the Portuguese does not dare to board it. Their
bombard __NOTOC__ Bombard may refer to the act of carrying out a bombardment. It may also refer to: Individuals *Alain Bombard (1924–2005), French biologist, physician and politician; known for crossing the Atlantic on a small boat with no water or food ...
shots did not damage it because it has 4 layers of board, while the largest Portuguese cannon could only penetrate no more than 2 layers. When the Portuguese tried to grapple it and attack in close combat, the crew set fire to their junk,The Javanese people have a custom of setting fire their own ship when they perceive that they were overpowered and their ship would be captured. See Birch, 1875: p. 63. forcing the Portuguese to pull away. During the escape, the junk's crew tried to put out the fire with great difficulty.The fire was created by burning ''olio da terra''
n oil from the earth N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
found in great quantities near Pedir, where it flows forth from a fountain. The Muslims call this oil “Naptha” and doctors consider it remarkable and an excellent remedy for some illnesses. The Portuguese obtained some and found it very useful for treating ''coisas de frialdade e compressão dos nervios'' (low temperatures and nervous tension). See Dion, 1970: p. 139.
After two days and two nights of fighting, Albuquerque decided to break the two rudders at the side of the vessel, causing it to surrender. Once aboard, the Portuguese found the king of Pasai, whom Albuquerque hoped he could be made a vassal for trading. They also gained such an admiration for the junk and its crew and nicknamed it ''O Bravo'' (lit. "The Brave"). The Portuguese crew pleaded with Fernão Pires to convince Albuquerque that the crew should be spared and viewed vassals of Portugal who were simply unaware of who they were actually fighting. Albuquerque eventually agreed to this.Dion, Mark. ''"Sumatra through Portuguese Eyes: Excerpts from
João de Barros João de Barros () (1496 – 20 October 1570), called the ''Portuguese Livy'', is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his ''Décadas da Ásia'' ("Decades of Asia"), a history of the Portuguese in India, Asia, and southea ...
' 'Decadas da Asia',"''. ''Indonesia'' (Volume 9, 1970): 128–162.
Transcript from Gaspar Correia: "Because the ''junco'' started the attack, the Governor approached him with his entire fleet. The Portuguese ships began firing on the ''junco'', but it had no effect at all. Then the ''junco'' sailed away .... The Portuguese ships then fired on the ''junco'' masts .... and the sails are falling. Because it's so tall, our people dare not board it, and our shots did not spoil it one bit because the ''junco'' has four layers of board. Our largest cannon was only able to penetrate no more than two layers ... Seeing that, the Governor ordered his ''nau '' (carrack) to move to the side of ''junco''. This ship is Flor de la Mar, the highest Portuguese ship. And while trying to climb the ''junco'', the rear of the ship could barely reach its bridge. The ''junco''’s crew defended themselves so well that the Portuguese ships were forced to sail away from the ship again. (After two days and two nights of fighting) the Governor decides to break the two rudders at the side of the vessel. Only then did the ''junco'' surrender." In late 1512 – January 1513 Pati Unus of
Demak Sultanate The Demak Sultanate (کسلطانن دمق) was a Javanese Muslim state located on Java's north coast in Indonesia, at the site of the present-day city of Demak. A port fief to the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit kingdom thought to have been founded in ...
tried to surprise
Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
with 100 vessels with 5,000 Javanese from
Jepara Jepara is a town in the province of Central Java, Indonesia. Jepara is on the north coast of Java, north-east of Semarang, not far from Mount Muria, with a population of 92,967 in mid 2019. It is also the main town of Jepara Regency, which has a p ...
and
Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. Palembang ...
. About 30 of those were junks weighing about 350–600 tons (except for Pati Unus' flagship), the rest being smaller boats of
pangajava Penjajap, also pangajava and pangayaw, were native outrigger warships used by several Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic groups in maritime Southeast Asia. They were typically very long and narrow, and were very fast. They are mentioned as be ...
,
lancaran ''Colotomy'' is an Indonesian description of the rhythmic and metric patterns of gamelan music. It refers to the use of specific instruments to mark off nested time intervals, or the process of dividing rhythmic time into such nested cycles. I ...
, and kelulus types. The expedition may have carried up to 12,000 men. These vessels carried much Javanese
artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
.According to Horst H. Liebner, most of the cannons were
swivel gun The term swivel gun (or simply swivel) usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun wi ...
, most likely of cetbang or
rentaka The ''Lantaka'' (Baybayin: pre virama: ''ᜎᜆᜃ'': post virama: ''ᜎᜈ᜔ᜆᜃ'') also known as ''rentaka'' (In Malay) was a type of bronze portable cannon or swivel gun, sometimes mounted on merchant vessels and warships in Maritime So ...
type, a type of small and medium sized cannon mounted on
gunwale The gunwale () is the top edge of the hull of a ship or boat. Originally the structure was the "gun wale" on a sailing warship, a horizontal reinforcing band added at and above the level of a gun deck to offset the stresses created by firing ...
. Larger fixed cannon of Malay ships usually mounted on the forward facing ''apilan'' (gunshield).
Although defeated, Pati Unus sailed home and beached his
armored Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...
war junk as a monument of a fight against men he called the bravest in the world, his exploit winning him a few years later the throne of
Demak Demak is on the north coast of Central Java province, on the island of Java, Indonesia. * Demak, Demak, modern-day large town * Demak Sultanate, sixteenth century sultanate * Demak Regency Demak ( jv, ꦢꦼꦩꦏ꧀) is a regency located in t ...
. In a letter to Afonso de Albuquerque, from Cannanore, 22 February 1513,
Fernão Pires de Andrade Captain Fernão Pires de Andrade (also spelled as Fernão Peres de Andrade; in contemporary sources, Fernam (Fernã) Perez Dandrade) (died 1552) was a Portuguese merchant, pharmacist, and official diplomat under the explorer and Portuguese Malacc ...
, the captain of the fleet that routed Pati Unus, says:
The junk of Pati Unus is the largest seen by men of these parts so far. It carried a thousand fighting men on board, and your Lordship can believe me . . . that it was an amazing thing to see, because the Anunciada near it did not look like a ship at all. We attacked it with bombards, but even the shots of the largest did not pierce it below the water-line, and (the shots of) the ''esfera'' (Portuguese large cannon)The ''espera'' or ''esfera'' is a large Portuguese muzzle-loading cannon. It has a length of 2–5 meters with a weight of up to 1800 kg, usually used on caravels. The ''espera'' fires a 12–20 pound (5.44–9.1 kg) cannonball. See Earle, T. F. (1990). ''Albuquerque: Caesar of the East: Selected texts by Alfonso de Albuquerque and his son''. Oxford University Press. p. 287. I had in my ship went in but did not pass through; it had three sheathings, all of which were over a ''cruzado'' thick.A kind of Portuguese coin with a diameter of 3.8 cm (Liebner, 2016: 45). And it certainly was so monstrous that no man had ever seen the like. It took three years to build, as your Lordship may have heard tell in Malacca concerning this Pati Unus, who made this armada to become king of Malacca.
— Fernão Pires de Andrade
Fernão Lopes de Castanheda Fernão Lopes de Castanheda (Santarém, c. 1500 – 1559 in Coimbra) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese historian in the early Renaissance. His "History of the discovery and conquest of India", full of geographic and ethnographic objective i ...
noted that Pati Unus' junk is built with 7 layers of planking, called ''lapis'' in Javanese and Malay, between each layer was put a coating consisting a mixture of
bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
,
lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...
, and oil. Pati Unus was using it as floating fortress for blockading the area around Malacca. The Portuguese remarked that such large, unwieldy ships were weaknesses. The Portuguese succeeded in repelling the attack using smaller but more maneuverable ships, using boarding tactics and setting fire to the junks. They did not specify the exact size of Pati Unus' junk. Irawan Djoko Nugroho suggested that it has a length of 4–5 times the Flor do Mar (a nau). This would make its size about 144–180 m, with the tonnage between 1600 and 2000 tons.In his book, Nugroho thought that Flor do Mar was about 78.3 m long, which would have made Pati Unus' junk gigantic as 313.2–391.5 m long. In this case he used the length of Adler von Lübeck (1566) for Flor do Mar's length. The length figure represented before the citation is calculated using the size of Flor do Mar replica's in Malacca Maritime museum, that is 36 m long. Pierre-Yves Manguin put it as low as 1000 tons. Muhammad Averoes calculated the size by determining its
displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
first, and obtained that the Pati Unus' junk have a displacement tonnage of 5556 tons and deadweight of 2000 tons, with an LOA of 88.56 m and LOD of 80.51 m. Impressed by the Javanese's skill in shipbuilding, Albuquerque hired 60 Javanese carpenters and shipbuilders from the Malacca shipyard and sent them to India, with the hope that these craftsmen will be able to repair Portuguese ships in India. But they never arrived in India, they rebelled and took the Portuguese ship they boarded to Pasai, where they were welcomed extraordinarily. The Portuguese employed junks in big numbers for their trade in Asia. At least 1 jong was sailed to Portugal, to be deployed as coast guard ship at Sacavem under the instruction of King John III,From a letter from king João III to Conde da Castanheira, dated 22 August 1536: "''Pareceo me bem mandardes a Sacavem pelo galleam Trimdade e pelo junco''" (It seems to me that you did right in ordering the deployment of the galleon Trimdade and the jong, which were at Sacavem). and as a warship in the
Gibraltar Strait The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medit ...
Fleet, the ''Esquadra do Estreito''.
Tomé Pires Tomé Pires (1465?–1524 or 1540)Madureira, 150–151. was a Portuguese apothecary from Lisbon who spent 1512 to 1515 in Malacca immediately after the Portuguese conquest, at a time when Europeans were only first arriving in Southeast As ...
in 1515 wrote that the authorities of Canton (Guangzhou) made a law that obliged foreign ships to anchor at an island off-shore. He said that the Chinese made this law about banning ships from Canton for fear of the Javanese and Malays, for it was believed that one of their junks would rout 20 Chinese junks. China had more than a thousand junks, but one ship of 400 tons could depopulate Canton, and this depopulation would bring great loss to China. The Chinese feared that the city would be taken from them, because Canton was one of China's wealthiest city. File:Miller Atlas Malay jong Indian Ocean.png, Cropped portion of Indian Ocean in the Miller Atlas, showing 2 jongs, one is a 6-masted ship viewed from aft, the other is a 7-masted ship. The ships are probably drawn as a reference to Pati Unus' flagship, owing to the number of sails and crescent moon symbol which represent Islam. File:Javanese or Sundanese jong in China Sea, from Miller Atlas of 1519.png, Cropped portion of China Sea, showing six and three-masted jong. It is probably referencing to large Majapahit jong of the 14–15th centuries or the single Pati Unus junk of 1512–1513. The lack of crescent moon symbol indicated that these jongs must be hailed from the non-muslim area in Java, probably owned by the kingdom of Majapahit or Sunda. File:Javanese jong in China sea, from Miller Atlas of 1519.png, Also showing a portion of the China Sea, this one is a 5-masted jong, probably from Demak Sultanate in Central Java. In 1574, queen Kalinyamat of Jepara Sultanate attacked the
Portuguese Malacca Portuguese control of Malacca, a city on the Malay Peninsula, refers to the 130 year period (1511–1641) when it was a possession of the Portuguese East Indies. It was conquered from the Malacca Sultanate as part of Portuguese attempts to ...
with 300 vessels under the command of Kyai Demang, which included 80 jong weighing up to 400 tons burthen and 220 kelulus, although with very little artillery and firearms. As the supplies were dwindling and the air corrupted by disease, Tristão Vaz da Veiga decided to arm a small fleet of a galley and four half-galleys and about 100 soldiers and head out to the River of Malaios, in the middle of the night. Once there, the Portuguese fleet entered the river undetected by the Javanese crews, and resorting to hand-thrown fire bombs set fire to about 30 junks and other crafts, catching the enemy fleet entirely by surprise, and capturing ample supplies amidst the panicking Javanese. After 3-month siege, the Javanese retreated. Recounting his 10 years in the East Indies (1601–1611), François Pyrard of Raval (ca. 1578–1623) mentioned about a wreck of a
Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
junk in Guradu, south
Malé Atoll Kaafu Atoll is an administrative atoll in the Republic of Maldives. It consists of two separate atolls: North Malé Atoll and South Malé Atoll. Together with smaller geographic atolls of Kaashidhoo Island and Gaafaru, the group forms the admini ...
,
Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...
. The ship was carrying all kind of spices and other merchandise from China and Sunda. On board was about 500 men, women, and children, and only 100 was saved during its sinking. The king of Maldives asserted that it was the richest ship conceivable. Pyrard thought it was the largest ship he has ever seen, with the mast being taller and thicker than those of Portuguese carracks, and the
top A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few ...
was much larger than those of Portugal. The Sundanese queen's parents were the owner of the junk, both were drowned in the sinking. The queen, which was only a child during the sinking, survived. The Dutch in the late 16th and early 17th centuries found that the Javanese jongs sailing in Southeast Asia were smaller than in previous centuries. Willem Lodewycksz noted that Bantenese junk had a capacity of not more than 20 ''last'' (40 tons). Willem Lodewycksz's report on one of the jong he saw in Banten in 1596 reads:
(Seated at the stern) were two men steering: Because (the ship) had two rudders, one on each side, and a pole in the middle which is tied to the ship with ropes under the stern (...). (These jongs) are their ships which they use to navigate the open seas to Maluku, Banda, Borneo, Sumatra, and Malacca. They have a bowsprit on the front, and near it a front mast, (and there is also) a mainmast and a
mizzenmast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation lig ...
, and from front to the back there is a structure like a house, on which they sit protected from the heat of the sun, rain, and dew. At the stern there is a room which is only for the ship captain, they have no
square sail Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called ''yards'' and ...
except for the bowsprit sail, under it (inside the hull) is divided into small spaces where they store the cargo. They enter through the openings on either side of the ship and this is where their fireplace/chimney located.
The first jong encountered by the Dutch in Banten was only 16 ''last'' (32 tons) in size. The jong of Banten is mostly made in Banjarmasin, Borneo. But it's certain that Lodewycksz never saw the leviathans of Central Java, such as those from Semarang and Jepara. In December 1664, Wouter Schouten described the great jong of Java:
They build large ships commonly called ''joncken'' (jong), which by the Javanese are used more for commerce than for warfare, some are so large that they could carry 200–300 last (400–600 tons). These are equipped with a bowsprit, foresail mast, large mast, and mizzen; but they don't have topmasts, no ''mars'' (
top A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few ...
)Correia mentioned ''gauea'' (''gávea'') while Pyrard mentioned "top". Schouten was probably describing the large top like those of Dutch ships, which is used for structural connection between the upper and lower mast. Witsen says: "As for the tops (''mars'') they are to hold the masts steady, for which the shrouds are fastened to it at either side; and also to provide room for the seamen, on which to stand, when they have something to do up there". See Hoving, A.J. (2012). ''Nicolaes Witsen and Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age''. Texas A&M University Press. p. 145. nor upper sails like ours but large square lower sails made of straw or coconut bark. The upper deck of these jongs stays unusually high when the cargo is placed under the body storage. The shipmates are divided over multiple small rooms and chambers; the stern hangs like a farmer's outhouse miraculously sticking out very far over the water; you can also find a cabin for the captain there or the sea-master who is responsible for the handling of business. Because the Chinese and the Javanese depart on journeys with these jong and other types of ships for some weeks or months they usually take their wives and children with them. This means they learn the discomfort of a sailor's life from a young age.


Decline

Anthony Reid argues that the failure of the jong in battles against smaller and more agile Western ships may have convinced the Javanese shipbuilders that the large but less agile jong faced too much risk against the European style of naval battle, so the ships they built later were smaller and faster. Since the mid-16th century the maritime forces of the archipelago began to use new types of agile naval vessels that could be equipped with larger cannons: In various attacks on Portuguese Malacca after the defeat of Pati Unus, they no longer used jong but used
lancaran ''Colotomy'' is an Indonesian description of the rhythmic and metric patterns of gamelan music. It refers to the use of specific instruments to mark off nested time intervals, or the process of dividing rhythmic time into such nested cycles. I ...
,
ghurab Ghurab or gurab is a type of merchant and warship from the Nusantara archipelago. The ship was a result of Mediterranean influences in the region, particularly introduced by the Arabs, Persians, and Ottomans. For their war fleet, the Malays prefe ...
, and ghali.Manguin, Pierre-Yves (1993). 'The Vanishing Jong: Insular Southeast Asian Fleets in Trade and War (Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries)', in Anthony Reid (ed.), ''Southeast Asia in the Early Modern Era'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 197–213. The jongs that plied the archipelago post-1600s were ranging from 20 to 200 tons deadweight, with a possible average of 100 tons, but there are still several of them that could load 200–300 ''lasts'' (about 360–400 to 540–600 metric tons)A ''last'' was originally unit of freight volume, subsequently a unit of weight, varying according to the nature of the freight, an equalling roughly to between 1.8 and 2 metric tons. in the early 1700s. Production of djongs ended in the 1700s, perhaps because of the decision of
Amangkurat I Amangkurat I (Amangkurat Agung; 1619–1677) was the ''susuhunan'' of the Mataram Sultanate from 1646 to 1677. He was the son of Sultan Agung of Mataram. He experienced many rebellions during his reign. He died in exile in 1677, and buried in T ...
of Mataram Sultanate to destroy ships in coastal cities and close ports to prevent them from rebelling, in 1655. By 1677, the Batavia ''Daghregister'' reported that Mataram is lacking vessels on their own even for necessary use, and was very ignorant about the sea. After the 1700s, the role of the jong has been replaced by European types of ships, namely the bark and
brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older ...
, built at local shipyards of Rembang and Juwana (the former shipbuilding place for jong), such ships may reach 400–600 tons burthen, with the average of 92 ''lasts'' (165.6–184 metric tons). The Dutch also realized Javanese proficiency in shipbuilding: In the 18th century, shipbuilding yards in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
employed Javanese people as foremen. In 1856,
John Crawfurd John Crawfurd (13 August 1783 – 11 May 1868) was a Scottish physician, colonial administrator, diplomat, and author who served as the second and last Resident of Singapore. Early life He was born on Islay, in Argyll, Scotland, the son of S ...
noted that Javanese shipbuilding activity still existed on the north coast of Java, with the shipyards supervised by Europeans, but all of the workers were Javanese. The ships that were built in the 19th century had a maximum tonnage of 50 tons and were mainly used for river transport.


Replica

A small-sized replica is moored along the Marine March of
Resorts World Sentosa Resorts World Sentosa (abbreviation: RWS) is an integrated resort An integrated resort (IR) is a major resort property that includes a hotel with a casino, together with convention facilities, entertainment shows, theme parks, luxury r ...
,
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
.


In popular culture

Jong is an Indonesian unique unit in
Sid Meier's Civilization VI ''Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Firaxis Games, published by 2K Games, and distributed by Take-Two Interactive. The mobile port was published by Aspyr Media. The latest entry into the ''Civiliz ...
video game. However, the model used in-game more closely resembles a
Borobudur ship A Borobudur ship is the 8th to 9th-century wooden double outrigger sailing Marine vessel, vessel of Maritime Southeast Asia depicted in some bas reliefs of the Borobudur Buddhist monument in Central Java, Indonesia. It is a ship of Javanese peopl ...
than an actual jong.


See also

*
List of longest wooden ships This is a list of the world's longest wooden ships. The vessels are sorted by ship length including bowsprit, if known. Finding the world's longest wooden ship is not straightforward since there are several contenders, depending on which definiti ...
*
Ghurab Ghurab or gurab is a type of merchant and warship from the Nusantara archipelago. The ship was a result of Mediterranean influences in the region, particularly introduced by the Arabs, Persians, and Ottomans. For their war fleet, the Malays prefe ...
, another large trading ship of Nusantara * Chinese treasure ship *
Borobudur ship A Borobudur ship is the 8th to 9th-century wooden double outrigger sailing Marine vessel, vessel of Maritime Southeast Asia depicted in some bas reliefs of the Borobudur Buddhist monument in Central Java, Indonesia. It is a ship of Javanese peopl ...
* Geobukseon/turtle ship *
Atakebune or were large Japanese warships of the 16th and 17th century used during the internecine Japanese wars for political control and unity of all Japan. History Japan undertook major naval building efforts in the mid to late 16th century, during t ...


Notes


References


External links


Ancient Technology of Advanced Nations Indonesia

The Jung Ship, Sea Explorers from Sundaland
{{Authority control Sailboat types Ship types Ships of Indonesia Indonesian inventions Exploration ships 11th-century ships 14th-century ships 15th-century ships 16th-century ships 17th-century ships Two-masted ships Three-masted ships Four-masted ships Five-masted ships Six-masted ships Seven-masted ships Merchant ships Warships Naval ships Austronesian ships History of Indonesia Military history of Indonesia Maritime history of Indonesia Tall ships