An orembai with apinisi rig in Elpaputih Bay,Seram Island. October 1940.
Orembai orArombai is a type of plank boat from theMaluku Islands ofEasternIndonesia. It is mainly used for fishing and transport. This vessel is used as far asBatavia, where in the 17th century it became popular to go out "orembaaien" on an evening rowing on the river or city canals.[1]
The nameorembai orarumbai probably comes from the adaptedMalay wordrembaya, which means state ship, withPortuguese prefix 'o'.[2] In other variants of language they are also calledorembaai,arambaai,arobail,arubai,arubaillo,arumbai,arumbae,oranbai,oranbaik, orang-bays, andcorambay.[3][4][5] Martin says that the nameorembai is a contraction fororang baik ("good man") and comes from the era of the Hongi voyages, i.e. these boats are the opposite ofHongitochtkora kora, which is a war vessel.[6]
It is characterized by being equal-ended, with the prow and the stern both rising up abruptly into a sharp point about 1.26 m (4.1 ft) from the ground, giving it a crescent shape. It is widest at the middle, tapering gradually towards both ends. It usually has threestrakes attached to a narrow keel which in turn is joined to a stem-post at each end.[7][8] The stempost is broader and lower than the sternpost. Traditional orembai uses thetanja orlete sail, but more modern orembai adopted European-style rigging, such aspinisi rig andschooner rig.[4] Orembai is built using planks, joined withlashed-lug construction.[9]
^VOC-Glossarium: Verklaringen van Termen, Verzameld Uit de Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Die Betrekking Hebben op de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie. The Hague: Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis. 2000.
^Lohanda, Mona (2018).VOC Glossary Indonesia. Jakarta: Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia and The Corts Foundation. p. 12.
^Friederici, G. "Beitrage zur Volker und Sprachenkunde von Deutsch-Neuguinea."Mitteil. aus den Deutsch. Schutzgeb., Erganzungsheft Nr. 5, 1912.
^abHaddon, Alfred Cort (1920).The Outriggers of Indonesian Canoes. London: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
^Mahdi, Waruno (2007).Malay Words and Malay Things: Lexical Souvenirs from an Exotic Archipelago in German Publications Before 1700. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN9783447054928.
^Martin, K. (1903).Reisen in den Molukken. Leiden: Geologische Theil.
^abHornell, James (September 1936). "200. Boat Construction in Scandinavia and Oceania; Another Parallel in Botel Tobago".Man.36:145–147.doi:10.2307/2791098.JSTOR2791098.
^Horridge, G. Adrian (1982).The Lashed-lug Boat of the Eastern Archipelagoes, the Alcina MS and the Lomblem Whaling Boats (Maritime monographs and reports). Trustees of the National Maritime Museum.ISBN978-0905555614.
