Free Download: British Naval Intelligence Guide to Watercraft of Burma, Malaya and Siam

Leg-paddling a dugout canoe on Lake Inle, Burma (i.e., Myanmar) (source: Fishing and Trading Craft of Burma, Malaya and Siam, 1944, fig. 42).

Toward the end of the Second World War, the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty published a series of guidebooks to the native craft of southeast Asia and western Pacific islands. A friend of this blog who wishes to remain anonymous has painstakingly scanned these documents and made them available to us, to share for free with our readers. The first one we are presenting is B.R.1050A: Fishing and Trading Craft of Burma, Malaya and Siam, published in 1944.

The prahu payang, a Malayan boat of about 34' (~10.4m) used for sein-fishing (source: Fishing and Trading Craft of Burma, Malaya and Siam, 1944, fig. 95)

Although Allied naval forces had an obvious interest in recognizing various forms of native craft, the book is much more than an indentification guide (although it is that). It also describes boatbuilding and fishing practices, including fishing methods that were not conducted from boats, such as shore seining and fish traps. It covers dozens of ocean-going, harbor, and inland vessels, their uses, the locations of construction and use, and includes a wealth of maritime-ethnographic data that would be difficult to find elsewhere. A great many photos and line drawings are included, showing the boats and their uses, various construction details, and fishing methods.

Download Fishing and Trading Craft of Burma, Malaya and Siam.

Stay tuned: future posts will provide links to more volumes in the series.

Models in the Madrid Naval Museum, Part III

This final series of photos from a recent visit to the Museo Naval de Madrid looks at models from the Pacific region other than China and the Philippines, which we covered in the two previous installments. (Also included here are a couple of full-size canoes, not from the Pacific.) As before, the captions are rough translations of the Spanish exhibit cards, followed by my own comments (if any) in parentheses. Click any photo to enlarge. 

This photo and the next two: Parao (19th C.), Mayalan warship

(Interesting slanted shields fore and aft to protect the gunners and helmsmen. I wonder if they were sheet iron.)

Parao (19th C.), Malayan merchant vessel. (The term "parao," which also applies to both the previous and the following models, evidently doesn't describe a particular hull type or the usage of the vessel.)

Parao (19th C.), Moluccan warship model made from cloves

Piragua (19th C.), Pacific Ocean; fishing and passenger carriage on rivers and bays

Tambil (19th C.), Singaporean pleasure boat

Piragua with outrigger (19th C.), Hawaiian fishing canoe. ("Piragua" is another ambiguous term, apparently referring to boats with narrow, canoe-like hulls that may nevertheless be very different from one another.) 

(unknown. I failed to record the exhibit card. Chinese sampan?)

Canoe from the forest of Betancu, Rio Sinu Province of Colombia (1862): 15M LOA, 1.13M beam. Presented to Queen Isabel II of Spain. (A 49' 2" dugout -- that requires some big tree!)

(Unknown. I could not find an exhibit card for this large dugout canoe. Note the difference between the bow of this canoe and the previous one.)

(Same canoe as previous photo.)