Pelang or pilang is a traditional boat from

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 ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It may refer to several different types of boats in the

Nusantara Nusantara most commonly refers to: *Nusantara (archipelago), an Old Javanese term which initially referred to the conquered territories of the Majapahit empire, corresponding to present-day Indonesia *Nusantara (planned city), the future capital ci ...

, but commonly they refer to an outrigger canoe. The function differs from where they were used, from transporting people, fishing, to trading. Pilang has been known from at least the 14th century.

Etymology

The name "pelang" can be traced from

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 ...

word ''pelang'' which means freight boat or a type of ancient merchant boat. The Great Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) explains it as a "trading boat". According to M. Rafiek, a pelang is a rather large boat used to sail through the Java sea. Pelang with outboard engine

In northern Sulawesi, it was originally a term for a ''mahera'' boat (''mahera'' means dugout—the base keel made from a whole piece of hollowed wood), but with the entry of

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

technology (see

vinta The vinta is a traditional outrigger boat from the Philippine island of Mindanao. The boats are made by Sama-Bajau, Tausug and Yakan peoples living in the Sulu Archipelago, Zamboanga peninsula, and southern Mindanao. Vinta are characteriz ...

), then a boat made of plywood can also be referred to as a pelang.

Description

In the western part of Nusantara, it refers to a large, flat-bottomed

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

-like boat with one mast, stepping a

lug sail The lug sail, or lugsail, is a fore-and-aft, four-cornered sail that is suspended from a spar, called a yard. When raised, the sail area overlaps the mast. For "standing lug" rigs, the sail may remain on the same side of the mast on both the port ...

made of cloth. Usually built of giam wood. H. Warington Smyth noted the dimensions of a pilang: About long, wide, 2 ft 3 in draught, with of

freeboard In sailing and boating, a vessel's freeboard is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship. In commercial vessels, the latter criterion measured relativ ...

. The capacity was 1 ''koyan'' (2.419 metric tons). The mast itself is about tall. In ''

Sejarah Melayu The ''Malay Annals'' ( Malay: ''Sejarah Melayu'', Jawi: سجاره ملايو), originally titled ''Sulalatus Salatin'' (''Genealogy of Kings''), is a literary work that gives a romanticised history of the origin, evolution and demise of the g ...

'', two pilang is mentioned with size, one is 8 ''depa'' (12.8–16 m) long, the other is 12 ''depa'' (19.2–24 m) long. In the eastern part of Nusantara, the name refers to a small, canoe-like outrigger boat. On the northern coast of Sulawesi, pelang refers to an outrigger fishing boat.

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Socc ...

an pelang is about 6–8 m in length, 1 m in width, and crewed by 4–6 men. This pelang has an operational range of . The ''Mahera'' (dugout base) is a flat keel with a slight curvature. As it does not have enough height, additional side planks were added to improve the seaworthiness. They are made of marine plywood reinforced with frame construction and side beams. Modern pelang of northern Sulawesi were equipped with outboard motors. The motor gradually replaced the sail in the 1970s. Pelang lamp boat

There are also pelang that are equipped with lamps and electric generators for light fishing. Lights were used to attract fish for improving the quantity of the catch. The raw material is marine plywood with a length of about 7 m.

References

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

Etymology

Description

See also

References