THE PULAU BRANI JONG

Author(s): ERIC R ALFRED

Source: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 59, No. 2 (251)
(1986), pp. 133-138
Published by: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41493052 .
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THE PULAU BRANI JONG

by
ERICR ALFRED

from
canoesformodelcanoeracinghasbeendescribed
The use of modeloutrigger
knownas
severalareasin theIndo-Pacific
region(Hornell,1936:434; 1946). Collectively
Johore
jong in Malaysiaand Singapore,thebestknownis the racingjong&f Singapore,
1939:
and Rhio (Awang,1967; FitzGerald,
Gibson-Hill,
1950a; Polunin,1952:340-341,
usedas toys,have
2pls; Streeter,1978:91, 2pls). Two otherformsof jong reportedly
been describedfromSarawak(Haddon,1920: 116,fig.32)1 whileanotherformhasbeen
reportedin passingfromPulau BraniinSingapore(Gibson-Hill,
1951:128-129).Through
residentof PulauBrani,3 examplesof
thekindnessof MrAhamadbin Osman,a former
thePulauBranijongwereacquired(fg.1). Theyarenowdescribed.
and is shapedand hollowedfroma singlepieceofwood.
The hullis double-ended
floorand fullroundbilgewithslightly
The midsectionshowsa slightly
risingstraight
entrance
and
run
are
The
s.
equallyshortandsharp.Thereis no keelamidflaring
topside
The stemis curvedat the
line
and
is
cambered
fore-and-aft.
the
bottom
slightly,
ships
forefoot and straightand raked above, while the heel is angled and the
and rakedmoresteeplythanthe stem.The headsof the stemandstern
sternis straight
fromthe hulland fittedon. The sheeris marked.Washstrakes
are
are carvedseparately
fittedalong the centralhalf of the hull. Thereis a broadthwartamidshipsand the
ofthehullis decked.
fourth
anterior
The modelcarriesa bowspritscrewedon to the deckand stepstwomaststhatare
thethwartand deckrespectively.
Each mastcarriesa triangular
fore-and-aft
set through
sailwiththepeakraisedby a sparlyingparallelto themastandextending
byondthetop
in additioncarriesa jib.
of themast.The mainsailis thelargerof the two.The foremast
is tiedto metalstaplesattachedto thethwart,
deckandgunwales.
The running
rigging
on thethwart,
one on eachsideandconverTwo stripsofwood attacheddiagonally
areeachfittedwitha pairof largemetalstaplesintowhich
gingin frontof themainmast,
boomand floatis screwed
boomis slotted.The L-shapedpinforconnecting
theoutrigger
on to theboom.The floatis detachable.
The following
are measurements
82.5(in cm): overalllength(including
bowsprit)
92.0, maximumlengthof hullbetweenendsof stemand sternpost72.5-81.0,maximum
widthof hull at its mid-point13.0-15.5,heightof hull at midpoint7.0-8.5;lengthof
boom 84.5-91.0, lengthof float 3.5-3.3, maximumwidthof float4.0-5.0,
outrigger
abovedeck24.0-28.0,heightof
heightof floatat midpoint7.0-7.5;heightof foremast
foresailabove deck 45.0-46.5, heightof mainmastabove thwart31.0-35.0,heightof
54.0-57.5.
mainsailabovethwart
are finished
withenamelpaintwhiletherest
The sidesof the hulland washstrakes
ofthehullandtheotherwoodenpartsarevarnished.
Accordingto Mr Ahamad,the modelswere made fromany availablescrapsof
timberforwhichthemainsourcewas beach debris.For the 3 modelsin hand,thehull
the deck,thwartand headsof thestemand sternwerecarvedfromPulaiwood
including
Alstonia
theremaining
(
scholaris).A varietyof otherwoodswereusedforconstructing
133

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JMBRAS
VOL.59

PulauBranijongfrom
Plate 1. A fully-rigged
the collectionof the MaritimeMuseum,
Singapore.

Plate2. A fully-rigged
Racingjongfromthe
collection of the Maritime Museum,
Singapore.

metres
Q-

-^===52(a)

(b) ^

(Figure3)
Profilesof full-size
(a) Kolek sauhand
from
Sekochi
in Malaysia
localities
(b)
bow
to
the
drawn
with
left).
(both

(Figure2)
The two formsof toyjong used by
Malanauand Malaychildrenin Sarawak
fromHaddon,1920: fig.32).
(reproduced

134

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PART2 1986

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135

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PART2 1986
is cottonstring.
parts.The sailsareofwhitecottonclothandtherigging
the
twoformsofSarawakjong are
of
and
Haddon'sillustration
description
(fig.2)
with
the
Pulau
Branijong. His description
made
to
be
detailed
for
a
too vague
comparison
me
two
sketches
of
"A.E.
reads
(Fig. 32), drawnfrom
Lawrence, Sarawak,kindlygave
Malanau
and
sailed
of
Malay childrenalongthe
by
memory, toy "schooners",jong,
with
two
one
a
both
have
Sarawakcoast,
booms,whiletheother
straight
singleoutrigger,
intoholesinthesideofthe
has onlya singleboom; in both casestheboomsareinserted
are howeverapparent:bothSarawakforms
differences
." The following
float,pelempong
are withoutmastand sailswhilethePulau Branijong stepstwo mastsand fore-and-aft
sails;thebow and sternofbotharelesssteeplyrakedthanthePulauBranijong;one form
has two outrigger
booms as againsta singleboom whilein both formstheboomsare
slottedintothesidesas againstthetop ofthefloat.
The racingjong has been well documentedand, besides,the MaritimeMuseum,
to be made(Plates
Singaporehas 5 examplesin its collectionfora detailedcomparison
the
the
in
main
differences
and
The
are
structureof the
following
shape
1-4).
hull:the forefootandheelareroundedandthestemand sternpostsaremarkedly
curved
is roundedwiththeheel
in theracing
jong whilein thePulauBranijong onlytheforefoot
and relatively
is angledand the heads of the stemand sternpostsare straight
shorter;
in theracing
thereis no sheerandthebottomlineis straight
jongwhilein thePulauBrani
theracing
jong
jong thereis a markedsheerandthebottomlineis camberedfore-and-aft;
andthehullis shaped
has a keelwhilein thePulau Branijong thereis no keelamidships
deckedandthereareno washstrakes
thehullis entirely
to forma keel onlyfore-and-aft;
deckedwitha thwart
in theracingjong whilein thePulau Branijong thehullis partially
amidships and washstrakes are present. The differencebetween the two
is thatthe racingjong stepsa singlemastwitha sprit-sail
formsin themastand rigging
and a jib whilethePulau Branijong stepstwo mastseach witha jibheadedsail and the
in bothformsis almostsimilar
themethodof
foremast
has a jib. Althoughthe outrigger
in the racingjong it is slottedthrough
to thehulldiffers;
twostripsofwood
attachment
on eithersideofthedeckwhileinthePulauBranijong theboomis slottedthrough
metal
staples fittedon two stripsof wood attacheddiagonallyon thethwart.Thereis also a
of thehull: the 5 racingjong havea greatersize
in measurements
difference
significant
rangeand are largerwithan overalllengthof 123.0-254.0cm and maximumlengthof
hullbetweenendsof stemand sternpostsof 86.0-224.0cmas against82.5-92.0cmand
in the 3 Pulau Branijong; .the hull of the formeris also
72.5-81.0cm respectively
withthemaximumwidthof the hull contained8.2-9.4timesinthemaximum
narrower
lengthof hull betweenends of stemand sternpostswhilein thePulauBranijong the
widthis 5.2-5.6 inthatlength.
maximum
The originsof the racingjong maybe tracedto the full-size
boat of local provenance knownas theKolek sauh (Gibson-Hill1950b:145). Not onlyis theshapeandform
of the hull and the rigidenticalwiththe hull(fig.3a) and the racingrigof theKolek
the east coastof Johore,Singasauh, the geographical
rangesof both coincidethrough
partoftheRhioArchipelago.
poreandtheislandsinthenorthern
Gibson-Hill
(195 1: 128-129)firstreportedthePulauBranijong as followsinhisdeof
the
of
SampanRhio: "The Pulau Branipeoplecalltheirratherolderversion
scription
thatis ferrying
but
thisboat "SampanPenambang",
make
boat,
interestingly
enoughthey
use of the samehull linesfortheirmodeljongs,and thenapplytheterm"Nadeh"to
136

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JMBRAS
VOL.59
them.It seemsthatformerly
thistermwas also employedforthe full-size
boats,and is
stillso used by the committee
for
the
responsible
Singaporeregatta".However,a comof
the
of
hull
the
Pulau
Brani
jctngagainstthe MaritimeMuseum'sfull-size
parison
Rhio
No.
PC
which
has an identicalprofileto thatgiven
Sampan
(Cat.
027)
incidentally,
:
Gibson-Hill
shows
that
rakeof
by
(1951 126, fig.b),
althoughtheyagreein therelative
the stemand sternand the heel is angledin both,the SampanRhio has the forefoot
theheadsofthestemand
angledwhilein thePulau Branifongit is curved.Furthermore
sternpostsfinishflushwiththegunwalesin theSampanRhio whilein thePulau Brani
madewitha photograph
ofSampan
jong theyrisewellabovethegunwales.A comparison
Penambangtaken by WilliamMaxwellBlake in 1928 and depositedat the Science
in the bow profile:it is not straight
like the
Museum,London, revealsa difference
SampanRhioor thePulauBranijo/igbutit is curvedforwards.
In discussing
the usageof theterm"Nadeh" or "Nadir"as appliedto otherboats
Gibson-Hill
to thefourmodelsso labelledintheSkeatcollec(195 1: 129) drawsattention
tionat Cambridge
and states,"The generalshapeofthehullis fairlysimilar
to thatofthe
Skochinow foundon theeastcoastofMalaya. . ". The Maritime
Museumposessestwo
full-size
Sekochi(Cat. No. PC. 006, PC. 007) whichwereacquiredfromMarang,Trengganu.The hullsof theSekochiandthePulauBranijong arealmostidenticalin shapeand
form(fig.3b). The Sekochiis essentially
a boat oftheeastcoastofPeninsular
Malaysia2
rangingas far south as Kuala Sedili, Johorebut since its formerrangeextendedto
1950b:150) it is conceivable
thatitwas sufficiently
commonhere
Singapore
(Gibson-Hill,
at one timeto be well knownto thePulau Branipeople so as to be copiedintheirjong
models.
Judging
by the presenceof thetwo mastsand the bowspritthePulau Branijcing
appearsto representa boat that is largerthanthe maximumrecordedlengthof the
Sekochiwhichis 9-10 metres.The writerhas howeverobservedlargerhullslaid up at
Beserah,Pahangin 1975 thatmeasuredup to about 14-16metresin overalllength.The
Pulau Branijong is not a scale modelbut givenan estimatedscale of 1:20 it would
a full-size
boat of about 16 metresin length,
whichis themaximum
sizeofthe
represent
is
largestboats. The gunterrigof thePulau Branijong and thepresenceof washstrakes
howeveraliento theSekochiwhichstepsa singlemastwitha large,rectangular
lug-sail.
The gunterrigis howevernot newto Singapore.Amongthevarioustypesof Indonesian
boatsreachingSingaporeare the Nade andLambo (Horridge,
trading
1981:66-71,fig.30,
pl.N) thatsportrigs,whicharealmostidenticalto thaton thePulauBranijong exceptfor
thepresenceof a boom on thejib. The larger
Afa/esteptwomastsandhavewashstrakes
fittedon. As it is well knownthatPulauBraniwas oncea stopping
placefortheIndonesianbartertradersit is conceivablethatthePulau Branipeople adaptedthe rigfortheir
thegunterrigmayhavebeenmorewidespread
inthepastandit
jong hulls.Alternatively,
SekochithatcouldhavevisitedSingapore.
mayhavebeenusedon thelargerMalaysian
Mr.Ahamad(who is 55 yearsof age) datesbackthePulauBranijong to at leastthe
late 1930s. The jongswereneversailedor racedand theyweremadeentirely
forsaleas
ornaments
and
togetherwithotheritemslike seashells,sea fans,hardcoral,driftwood
modelsof SampanPenambangBy thetimethewriterfirstvisitedPulau Braniin 1974
therewas onlytheone kampongon theislandat TelokSaga andthepeopletherewereno
longerengagedin peddlingtheseitems.

137

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PART2 1986
The presenceof outrigger
attachments
on the variousformsof Malaysianand
is
also
of
considerable
interest.
Singaporejongs
Citingthe racingjotngas an example,
Hornell(1946:106) has statedthatthe distribution
of modeloutrigger
canoesfurnishes
of
the
former
evidence
use
of
on
full-size
boats
in areaswhere
presumtive
outriggers
full-sizeoutrigger
canoes are not knownat present.Full-sizesingle-outrigger
canoesare
unknownin Malaysiaand Singaporeandthepresentrecordcouldlendfurther
supportto
Hornell'
s theory.
Acknowledgements
Thanksare due to Mr.AhamadbinOsman,former
Imam,MesjidJamek,
Kampong
Telok Saga, Pulau Braniforinformation
on the Pulau Branijong, and MrLucas Chin,
SarawakMuseumfordetailsoftheBaujong.
Director,
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