Warships and their story

by R. A. Fletcher

By permission of C. M. Woodford, Esq., F.R.G.S., and the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

HEAD-HUNTING CANOE FROM YSABEL (DETAIL OF BOW).

By permission of C. M. Woodford, Esq., F.R.G.S., and the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Malay dug-outs intended for piracy or war were broader than those intended for other purposes. A writer in 1848[12] described them as built of timber in the lower part, with the upper part of rattan, bamboo, and dried palm leaves, this lighter part being added to prevent the sea washing in over the low sides. “Outside the bends,” he continues, “about a foot from the water line, runs a strong gallery in which the rowers sit cross-legged.” Apparently the gallery was on or outside the gunwale, an arrangement which would help to steady the long, narrow hull. Then, as now, a cabin was placed in the after part for the accommodation of the chief in command of the boat, but an interesting feature of the proa he describes was an unrailed flat roof extending from the cabin roof almost the length of the ship and serving a double purpose of providing a fighting deck for the warriors and affording shelter for the crew. The weapons were the kris and spear, which “to be used with effect require elbow room.” As the Malays were energetic fighters, they were seldom long in obtaining all the elbow room necessary. A brass gun in the prow, under the flying deck, was the only firearm.

The modern Malay proa is a more ambitious affair. It is built to be light, fast under sail or oar, and very shallow in hull. The last was very necessary in vessels which usually sought safety by fleeing into waters too shallow to permit of serious pursuit. A convenient length was 64 feet, or 72 feet over all; the breadth would be 14 feet and the depth only 4 feet 6 inches. Some were longer and broader, but the Malays were usually careful to increase the draft as little as possible. The accompanying photograph is of a model of a proa having these dimensions, and recently added to the South Kensington Museum. The boat is a combination of Chinese and Malayan design. It will be noticed that the vessel has very fine lines forward, almost identical with those of the Arab dhows of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, a sharp run aft and shallow floors, and should be very fast. Instead of the fighting deck overhead, already described, she has a deck extending the whole length and breadth of the vessel and slightly below the level of the gunwale, an arrangement which would enable a large number of men to lie concealed behind the bulwarks and ready for instant attack. The deck has two covered hatchways. The roof of the cabin at the stern provides a platform for working the rudder and the guns, there being one brass muzzle-loader on each quarter. The projecting platforms or galleries at the bow and stern provide additional deck space and would facilitate the boarding of a prize. The boat has two pole masts, one set very far forward and the other rather forward of amidships, neither having stays. The sails of all vessels of this class were made of strips of palm leaves, except when the pirates appropriated the sails of captured ships, as they are said to have done at times, and altered them to suit their own vessels. The Chinese type of dropping rudder, which could be raised or lowered by means of a windlass, was a common feature in these Malay proas, the use of the steering paddle being chiefly confined to the smaller craft. The vessel represented is armed with one smoothbore gun carried on the bow platform, and two similar weapons carried aft; she also had six gingals or heavy muskets mounted on swivels, and there was a plentiful supply of arms for hand-to-hand fighting.

A very similar boat to the proa, but more heavily and substantially constructed, was that specially favoured by the Dyaks in their head-hunting expeditions. It was long and narrow, and could carry sixty to eighty men. The Borneo Dyaks adopted the flying deck as a fighting platform,[13] but carried the fantastically decorated stern-board to an extravagant height, which must have interfered seriously with the stability of the vessel. These stern-boards are said to have been intended as shields for the occupants of the boats, who turned them end-on to the enemy and were protected by the boards from the hostile arrows and spears.

THE FAMOUS OLD CHINESE JUNK, “WHANG HO.”

Photograph supplied by “Shipping Illustrated.”