Perahu Mayang or simply mayang is a type of fishing boat from Java, Indonesia. This type of boat is used mainly for fishing and trading. Historically, this indigenous vessel is also favored by European skippers and private merchants for trading in East Indies: 50% of them were using mayang and pencalang. It is mostly used in northern coast of Java. The major production site is in Rembang, Central Java.
Etymology
The name mayang comes from payang used by local fishermen. Thus the name can be translated as "using payang".
Description
Major portion of mayang hull is built using teak wood. The hull shape is broad, flat-bottomed with pronounced bow and stern. It is deckless, but may have covered "house" in the middle of the boat. Mayang also built with watertight bulkhead. In 18th century, Mayang is described as having a crew of 6, 9,15 to 12,2 meter long; with 7,24 metric tons burthen. A boat from 1850 had a beam of 3 m, a length of 12 m, and a depth of 1 m. There were at least 9 compartments for storing fish, three of them in front of the mast separated from each other by bulkheads. The planks are all fixed by treenails into the bulkheads. Mayang has 1 mast with 1 sail of tanja, lateen, or crab claw type, with the tanja being the most common. It is steered using 1 axial rudder or 2 quarter rudders. For defense, mayang has no cannon, but has 1 swivel gun and 2 snaphaunces. Modern mayang is also equipped with engine, and some of them also had keel. Modern mayang is about 10-15 m long, 2-3 m breadth, with 0.5-0.9 m high hull. Mast height is 8-9 m, with sail area about 14x16 m. Linggi is about 2.1 m high, about 1.2 m in width and adorned with traditional motifs like flower, horse head, wayangfigure and writings in bright colors. Its striking feature is the high mast with very long pembawon. To furl the sail, the lower spar/boom called penggiling is used. Mayang has shallow draft which makes it suitable to go to shore and rivers. The large sail propel the boat with relatively high speed, when the wind is unavailable row or paddle can be used instead. The shape of the boat is varied in each location. In Madura, mayang is an introduced boat. It is quite similar in construction technique to perahu jaring but beamier and having a horn-like pole which carried beyond the sides of the boat to the stern to support the net. Mayang from madura has small bow, while the ones from East Java has large brightly colored flat bow. Madurese mayang used the Madurese lete sail. East Javan mayang adopted the Madurese sail, but tall mast, sail supporting ropes, and the remains of other mayang rigging is maintained. In western coast of Java, mayang's bow is tend to be smaller. In Rembang the boat has 2 vertical poles behind the stempost and is dubbed as a konting.
