Model ship identification

[sianmarie83]

Hello,

I was wondering if someone might be be able to help identify what kind of ship this is? It is from Borneo and is around 100 years old. The deck is covered in Pandanas leaf and Bamboo. I'm afraid I know very little about ships, the label that was found inside says it's a two masted Schooner but I have since been told it may not be. Any help at all would be great! Thanks.

Sian

 

[alahol2]

I'm sure there must be opinions on here...
Yet another lost new user.

 

[Spuddy]

Seems unlikely to be what us westerners would understand as a two-masted schooner as origin is Borneo. Maybe the National Maritime Museum could help.

 

[sarabande]

there are illustrations of similar craft in Tony Marchaj's Sail Performance book, in the section under crab claw and other boats.

It might help to see the sails unfurled and the yards.

 

[seadog30]

Rig ?

Sian

It would help if you could post a photo of the sails and spars spread out. The shape and number of the sails would help a lot.

Good luck

 

[neil_s]

The positions of the mast steps would tend to agree with schooner rig. The mast steps seem to be tabernackles, allowing the masts to fold down. There are two sweep oars attached to the bulwark rail on both sides, although one rail has become detached. There seems to be a fiddled topmast and top, indicating topsails, too. I wondered whether this was a local representation of a western schooner at first, but the carving on the rudder and quarters looks rather oriental to me. Maybe local traders adopted the small western trading ship in the late 19th and early 20th century in preference to the native prau - as they did in India. A working, floating model boat for a child? Maybe - but perhaps the intricate detail of the model says it is for the builder's amusement and display only.

Neil

 

[thalassa]

Hello,

I was wondering if someone might be be able to help identify what kind of ship this is? It is from Borneo and is around 100 years old. The deck is covered in Pandanas leaf and Bamboo. I'm afraid I know very little about ships, the label that was found inside says it's a two masted Schooner but I have since been told it may not be. Any help at all would be great! Thanks.

Sian

Not exactly Borneo, but it looks much like a ship from the Strait of Malacca. Most were traders from Aceh. Till the early 20th century, there was a variant with two small cannon (lantaka) on the bow, on each side of the bowsprit. Those were used to persuade passing ships to pay safe passage. Anyway, the Western influence can be explained too by the fact that already in the early 16th century, a fleet from Ottoman Turkey did visit Aceh, at that time wealthy region.

Edit: looked it up at home, a model boat like yours should be in the 'Carnbee' collection at the ethnographical museum ('Volkenkunde') at Leiden, the Netherlands. They did get the collection of about 60 ships from the Indonesian Archipelago after a local model boat museum shut down.