At the turn of the 20th century, boat builders on the Tami and Siassi Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago produced large outrigger boats fit for the high seas. These island groups are located in the strait between the islands of New Guinea and New Britain.
Especially on the smaller, low-lying coral islands, where agriculture is not very prosperous, trade with other islands is of great importance. The boats are therefore used for coastal trade with New Guinea and the offshore islands as far as New Britain. The goods traded include pottery, wooden bowls, obsidian, pigs, dog teeth, and net bags.
Boat builders and boat painters need more than three months to complete a large outrigger boat. The price for a large boat with room for six people is up to five pigs.
Certain symbols among the decorative motifs indicate the family that owns the boat. This makes it possible to recognise from afar to whom it belongs.
Object data
Event:
On 23 January 1909, the members of the Hamburg South Sea Expedition came across the outrigger boat on the island of Mandok, which was still under construction at the time, and acquired it for the Museum für Völkerkunde. After its completion, it was collected from the nearby island of Tuam on 8 May 1909 and prepared for direct transport to Hamburg.
Origin:
Mandok, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea
Material:
wood, pandanus, bast rope, pigments
Creator:
not documented
Size:
L (boat hull): 11,58 m; L (attachment): 9,70m; H: 92 cm; W: (box): 50 cm
Inventory Id:
8741 I
For the manufacturing process, the boat builders use a particular type of wood from the nearby island of Umboi, which is very durable despite the contact with water. The sail is made from woven pandanus leaves.
From Mandok to Hamburg: The voyage of a Siassi outrigger boat
On 23 January 1909, a large white steamship named Peiho reached Mandok Island in the Bismarck Archipelago. On board were the participants of the Hamburg South Sea Expedition. The expedition was organised by the then director of the Hamburg Museum für Völkerkunde, Georg Thilenius, with the aim of researching the German colonies in the Pacific.
During the first year of the expedition from 1908 to 1909, the participants stayed in what is now Papua New Guinea and sent more than 6,000 objects back to Germany - objects that they partly acquired in exchange and partly appropriated in violent contexts or in the absence of their owners.
The boat Peiho in the harbour of Matupi, MARKK Inv. No. 9.2446. Photo: Hans Vogel.
One of these objects was the large outrigger boat from the island of Mandok, which is part of the Siassi islands. When the expedition members arrived on Mandok, the boat was already under construction. In the published diary of Franz Emil Hellwig, the following is written about this day: ‘On the return journey [from Umboi], Mandok was visited. A large canoe was purchased here, which is currently under construction and will be picked up by the expedition in 2-3 months’ (1927: 108). For the boat, they negotiated with a payment of a large pig, two to three axes, a large knife and as prepayment a pocketknife. After its completion on 8 May 1909, the boat was handed over to the expedition members on the island of Tuam.
Inspection of the boat under construction on Mandok Island, MARKK Inv. No. 9.2180. Photo: Hans Vogel.
This type of boat was primarily built by the inhabitants of the Siassi islands of Aramot and Mandok as well as the inhabitants of the Tami islands. A special characteristic of Siassi boats is that they are particularly robust and fit for the high seas. Traders from the islands of Tuam and Malai bought the boats, as they did not have access to the wood they needed to build them. Such commissioned work may therefore have been a common procedure for the boat builders of Mandok Island. The price of a boat ranged from two to five pigs, depending on the size of the boat and the quality of the wood.
Boat building workshop on Mandok, with the boat already under construction, MARKK Inv. No. 9.2182. Photo: Hans Vogel.
On 8 May, the steamer Peiho eventually headed for Tuam Island to pick up the completed outrigger boat. Next to the payment for the boat, the expedition members made additional payments to the guards, Dwalau and Suaku, as well as the girls responsible for boat bailing and the assistants. The expedition records, however, do not indicate whether the value of the given goods was considered appropriate in view of the many hours of labour. Neither were the names of the people involved in building the boat mentioned. Does anyone know their names or the exact place where the boat was built? And for whom was the boat originally intended before the expedition came across the unfinished work? Many questions remain unanswered. Could you tell us more?
Boat builder and painter on Tami, MARKK Inv. No. 9.2153. Photo: Hans Vogel.
For the purpose of transportation, the large boat had to be dismantled into individual parts. The painter and photographer Hans Vogel made drawings so that it could be reassembled correctly in Hamburg. He also documented the significance of the decorations and motifs on the sides of the boat. The boat now resides in the MARKK boat hall.
The Siassi boat in the boat hall of the MARKK. Photo: Paul Schimweg.
Feist, Werner (2003) Die Boote der Tami-Inseln, Papua-Neuguinea. Natur und Mensch -Jahresmitteilungen der naturhistorischen Gesellschaft Nürnberg e.V.: 175-207.
Hellwig, Franz E. (1927) Tagebuch der Expedition. In: Georg Thilenius (Hg.), Ergebnisse der Südsee-Expedition 1908–1910. Hamburg: Friedrichsen.
ter Keurs, Pieter (1985) An Island of Wood Carvers. Mandok, Papua New Guinea. Leiden.
Vogel, Hans (1911) Eine Forschungsreise im Bismarck-Archipel. Hamburg: L. Friedrichsen & Co.
MARKK Nachlassarchiv, SÜD 1.2 Tagebuchabschrift 2, Fülleborn, Friedrich.
MARKK Nachlassarchiv, SÜD 6.1.7 Tagebuch-Abschrift 1, Müller, Wilhelm.
