Tanja sail

A kora-kora from Halmahera, Maluku Islands (c. 1920) with a tanja sail

Tanja sail (Malay: layar tanja) or tanja rig is a type of sail commonly used by the Malay people and other Austronesians, particularly in the Indonesian, Malaysian, and Philippine archipelago. It is also known as the tilted square sail, canted rectangular sail, or balance lug sail in English.[1][2][3] In historical sources, tanja sail sometimes incorrectly referred as lateen sail or simply square sail.[4]

Origins

Illustration of the Tartar, a garay from Sulu commissioned by Thomas Forrest in his 1774 expedition to New Guinea

Also called tanjaq, tanjak, tanja', tanjong, or tanjung sail. The Mandar people call it sombal tanjaq. It is called so because when the wind blows the lower part of the sail (peloang) would "mattanjaq" (lit. "kicking").[1][5] In colonial British records, it is sometimes written as "lyre tanjong", a misspelling of layar tanjong (layar means "sail" in Malay).[6][1]

Characteristics

1863 illustration of padewakang ships in Sulawesi with furled and unfurled tanja sails

Tanja sail can be distinguished by its canted/oblique design. The sail face is asymmetrical in shape and most of the area is elongated to the sides, rather than upward like those of lug sail.

The 3rd century book "Strange Things of the South" (南州異物志) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes large ships which originates from K'un-lun (Southern country, either Java or Sumatra). The ships called K'un-lun po (or K'un-lun bo). He explains the ship's sail design as follows:

The four sails do not face directly forward, but are set obliquely, and so arranged that they can all be fixed in the same direction, to receive the wind and to spill it. Those sails which are behind the most windward one receiving the pressure of the wind, throw it from one to the other, so that they all profit from its force. If it is violent, (the sailors) diminish or augment the surface of the sails according to the conditions. This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts. Thus these ships sail without avoiding strong winds and dashing waves, by the aid of which they can make great speed.

— Wan Chen, [7]

The invention of this type of sail made sailing around western coast of Africa possible, because its ability to sail against the wind. As noted by Hourani:

"The Malays were also the first to use balance-lug sail, an invention of global significance. Balance-lugs are square sails set fore and aft and tilted down at the end. They can be pivoted sideways, which makes it possible to sail into the oncoming wind at an angle to tack against the wind – to sail at an angle first one way and then the other, in a zigzag pattern, so as to go in the direction from which the wind is blowing. Because of the way the sides of the sail were tilted, from a distance it looked somewhat triangular.... It is thus quite likely that the Malay balance-lug was the inspiration for the triangular lateen sail, which was developed by sailors living on either side of the Malays, the Polynesians to their east and the Arabs to their west.

Precisely when the Polynesians and the Arabs began using the lateen sail remains unknown, but it would seem to have been in the last centuries B.C.E. It is known that the Arabs in the vicinity of the Indian Ocean were accomplished sailors by the first century C.E. and both they and the Polynesians apparently had the lateen sail by then"[3]

Usage

Borobudur ship carving

Most Southeast Asian and Austronesian vessels used the tanja sail. This type of sail brought Malay sailors as far as Ghana, and there is probability these sailor reached the New World as early as 1420 A.D. using Javanese junks.[8][9] These are vessels that use tanja sail:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hawkins, Clifford W. (1982). Praus of Indonesia. Nautical Books. p. 47.
  2. ↑ Liebner, Horst (November 1992). "Remarks on the terminology of boatbuilding and seamanship in some languages of Southern Sulawesi". Indonesia Circle. School of Oriental & African Studies. Newsletter. 21 (59–60): 18–44. doi:10.1080/03062849208729790.
  3. 1 2 Hourani, 1951: p. 102
  4. ↑ Reid, Anthony (2000). Charting the Course of Early Modern Southeast Asia. Silkworm Books. ISBN 9747551063.
  5. ↑ Haryadi, Rohmat (13 November 2017). "Padewakang the Spice Ship of Nusantara". Gatra. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  6. ↑ Folkard, H.C. (1863). The Sailing Boat: A Treatise on English and Foreign Boats. Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts. pp. 216, 221, 222.
  7. ↑ "Strange Things of the South", Wan Chen, from Robert Temple
  8. ↑ Text from Fra Mauro map, 10-A13, original Italian: "Circa hi ani del Signor 1420 una naue ouer çoncho de india discorse per una trauersa per el mar de india a la uia de le isole de hi homeni e de le done de fuora dal cauo de diab e tra le isole uerde e le oscuritade a la uia de ponente e de garbin per 40 çornade, non trouando mai altro che aiere e aqua, e per suo arbitrio iscorse 2000 mia e declinata la fortuna i fece suo retorno in çorni 70 fina al sopradito cauo de diab. E acostandose la naue a le riue per suo bisogno, i marinari uedeno uno ouo de uno oselo nominato chrocho, el qual ouo era de la grandeça de una bota d'anfora."
  9. ↑ Cartas de Afonso de Albuquerque, Volume 1, p. 64, April 1, 1512
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