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Indonesia’s traditional boat builders reach into the past
TANA BERU, Indonesia, July 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Under the blazing tropical
sun, Indonesia’s traditional ship builders hammer, drill and carve timber
from nearby forests into intricate two-mast vessels that have plied the
archipelago’s waters for centuries.
Sulawesi island is the heart of the country’s industry creating the iconic
schooners, known as Pinisi.
It has earned a reputation as home to master craftsmen and some of the best
sailors around.
Their tools may have changed over the years, but builders still reach into
the past by performing rituals and prayers key to the building process which
takes place on Sulawesi’s palm-fringed beaches.
Once the vessel is ready to be pushed into the water, a goat or cow is
slaughtered in a final purification ceremony.
“The process to build a Pinisi boat could take months or even years
depending on its size,” boat builder Muhammad Bahri Jafar told AFP at his
workshop in Tana Beru, about 175 kilometres from Makassar, capital of South
Sulawesi.
Builders carry long pieces of wood over their shoulders as they weave a
hull from a criss cross of timber that looks like a whale’s rib cage.
The ships — which can weigh upwards of 200 tons — once transported
lucrative spices and other cargo around Indonesia’s vast archipelago and
beyond.
Today, they still carry timber, cement, house tiles, rice, cigarettes and
even motorcycles around the vast Southeast Asian country’s 17,000 islands.
Many have also been outfitted with sleeping cabins, kitchens and toilets
for liveaboard diving trips.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1200 hrs