Janggolan

Lore & Background

The Madurese janggolan comes from the western half of the south coast of Madura, from Kamal to Sampang. It is the largest in the family of boats with double stempost, like lis-alis. The word janggolan means transportation, and it is also called parao janggol by the Madurese. Like the alisalis, janggolan were regarded as female boats, with ornamental motifs connected with the feminine. They can be identified by a flat decorated face between the double stempost and two supporting poles above the stern. In the sea, they had the same rig as golekan but were larger. The carrying capacity ranged from 65 to 120 tons, and the rudder post could be 3 meters long. Wood carving patterns on the face came from various sources, including the Dutch royal emblem, and a janggolan in 1978 used the same pattern from an illustration more than 60 years before.

Reader's Guide

The Madurese janggolan was the main means of transportation in the 19th century, commonly used to transport eggs of milkfish caught offshore and sold to fish farm owners along the coast of north Java. From the late 1960s, it carried timber from Kalimantan, combining this with salt transport to Jakarta and other western archipelago ports since the early 20th century. There are indications that janggolan would be replaced entirely by leti-leti, but surviving ones carried cargo to small river estuaries and through muddy shallow waters in Madura Strait. The Balinese janggolan, a small western-influenced boat with sekoci hull, was used as a ferry. It had a central rudder, a small single sail placed high in a mast, and a stempost making a 70-degree angle against the straight keel. A Balinese janggolan observed by Adrian Horridge was 11 m long, 2.75 m wide, with a midhull draft of 76 cm. These vessels illustrate the diversity of Indonesian maritime technology and the blending of indigenous and western construction methods.

Did You Know?

• The Madurese janggolan is the largest boat in the family of boats with double stempost, like lis-alis.
• A janggolan in 1978 used the same wood carving pattern from an illustration more than 60 years before.
• The Balinese janggolan uses a sekoci hull, with the word sekoci likely coming from the Dutch word schuitje (small boat).