Philippines: Philippine Boats & Navigation

This page serves as a bibliography.  Below are sources on traditional Philippine boats, boat-building, navigation as well as indigenous maritime cultures.  These sources are either available at Hamilton Library or on the internet.  If an item is available at Hamilton Library, click on the link to access the item's bibliographic record.  For items not available online or at Hamilton Library, please contact the Interlibrary Loan office.  

General Information

Types of Boats

“The World of Amaya” by Patricia Calzo Vega; GMA News, June 1, 2011.  This is an article about the karakoa built for the "Amaya" TV series, a Philippine historical fiction and period drama series set in the Visayas.

“Chika Minute: Amaya, ‘dilang basta seryeng pantelebisyon;” GMA 7, May, 25, 2011.   A two-minute clip which includes an interview of Dr. Neil Santillan of the University of the Philippines-Diliman History Department who briefly describes the similarities/differences between Southeast Asian and Polynesian canoes, among other things in the “Amaya” TV series.  In Tagalog.

For those interested in watching the "Amaya" TV series, it is available in DVD from the Sinclair Library Wong AV Center.  Click here for the bibliographic record. 

“The Double Outrigger Sailing Canoe of Zamboanga and the Sulu Archipelago, Southern Philippines” by Alexander Spoehr in Occassional Papers of Bernice P. Bishop Museum vol. 24 no. 7 (March 26, 1971): 115-126.

“Wa, Vinta, and Trimaran” by Edwin Doran, Jr. in The Journal of the Polynesian Society vol. 81 no. 2 (1972): 144-159.

“Boat-Building and Seamanship in Classic Philippine Society” by William Henry Scott in Philippine Studies, vol. 30, no. 3 (1982): 335-376.

“The Ingenious Filipino Boat” by FR. Gabriel S. Casal, Eusebio Z. Dizon, Wilfredo P. Ronquillio and Cecilio G. Salcedo in Kasaysayan Vol. 2: The Earliest Filipinos. (Article available via Google Search).

“Traditional Island Southeast Asian Watercraft in Philippine Archaeological Sites” by Ligaya S.P. Lacsina from The MUA Collection. (Article available via Google Search)

Soul boats are part of a pre-colonial burial ritual in which the soul of the departed is sent across the ocean on a boat to the afterlife.

“The Soul Boat and the Boat-Soul: An Inquiry into the Indigenous ‘Soul’” by Maria Bernadette L. Abrera.

The Songs of Salanda: And Other Stories of Sulu by Harry Nimmo (1994).  [Asia PS3564.I47 S6 1994]

The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898.The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State by James Francis Warren (2007).  [Asia HF3818.S95 W37 2007]

Iranun and Balangingi: Globalization, Maritime Raiding, and the Birth of Ethnicity by James Francis Warren (2002).  [Asia DS688.S9 W377 2002]

The Sama, or Bajao are an indigenous ethnic group who live as maritime nomads in small, wooden sailing vessels.  They are from the Sulu archipelago, coastal areas of Mindanao and northern Borneo.

"Bajau  Laut Boat-Building in Semporna" by Clifford Sather in Techniques and Culture, vol. 35-36 (2001): 177-198.

“Boat Building: Keeping a Sama Tradition Alive” by Ma. Bernadette L. Abrera in Philippine Daily Inquirer (June 6, 2009). * The library has copies of this journal [Microfilm 91041].

“The Boats of the Tawi-Tawi Bajau, Sulu Archipelago, Philippines” by Arlo H. Nimmo in Asian Perspectives, vol. 29, no. 1 (1990): 51-88.

"Religious Beliefs of the Tawi-Tawi Bajau" by H. Arlo Nimmo in Philippine Studies vol. 38 (1990): 3-27.

“Sea Gypsies Losing Out – Philippines” uploaded on YouTube by Journeyman Pictures on May 4, 2011.

Bugis Navigation by Gene Ammarell (1999).  [Asia DS632.B85A45 1999]

Canoes of Oceania by Alfred C. Haddon and James Hornell, 2 vols (1936 and 1975).  [VM353.H33 1975]

The Prahu: Traditional Sailing Boat of Indonesia  by Adrian Horridge, (1985).  [Asia VM371.H67]

Sailing Craft of Indonesia by Adrian Horridge (1986).  [Asia VM351.H674 1986]

Seafaring in the Contemporary Pacific Islands: Studies in Continuity and Change edited by Richard Feinberg (1995).[GN662.S43 1995]

"Shipshape Societies: Boat Symbolism and Political Systems in Insular Southeast Asia" by Pierre-Yves Manguin in Southeast Asia in the 9th and 14th Centuries edited by David G. Marr and A.C. Milner. (1986). Singapore : Institute ofSoutheast Asian Studies ; Canberra, Australia : Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. [Asia DS 526.3 .S68 1986]

Small Boat Design: Proceedings of the ICLARM Conference on Small Boat Design, Noumea, New Caledonia, October 27-28, 1975 ed. by Johanna M. Reinhart. Manila, Philippines: International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management.

"Trading Ships of the South China Sea: Shipbuilding Techniques and their Role in the History of the Development of Asian Trade Networks" by Pierre-Yves Manguin in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient vol. 36, no. 3 (1993): 253-280.

Wangka: Austronesian Canoe Origins by Edwin B. Doran (1981).  [GN635.I75 D67]

Andy Smith Boatworks is a franchised yard company in Bohol, Philippines that customizes Wharram Catamarans.  It has a close relationship with James Wharram Designs, which specializes in self-build boat designs, including "traditional ethnic" models.

Bangka Journey.  A project by a group of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans as well as mixed heritage Native American/Filipino in the San Francisco Bay Area to reawaken traditional Philippine boat building and sailing as a means to connect people (across the Filipino Diaspora and with indigenous groups) as well as demonstrate sustainable living on the waterways.

Indigenous Boats: Small Craft Outside the Western Tradition.  This is the blog by Bob Holtzman of Rockport, Maine who holds a master's of Marine Affairs degree and has been involved with boats, including writing and editing materials about the subject.  The blog is about the various water vessels from different traditions, including Hawaiian, Native American, Chinese and Indonesian.  This is the blog page for posts about Philippine boats. 

Voyage of the Balangay.  This Kaya ng Pinoy Inc. project was to build a replica balangay (Batuan boat) and navigate through the Southeast Asian islands, rekindling the traditional Philippine maritime practice.

In Search of the Philippines' Ancient Maritime Past in Taiwan!

Related Literature:

Boat-Building and Seamanship in Classic Philippine Society

On November 28, 2019, I fulfilled one of my dreams - to trace the origin of the Austronesian's maritime tradition in Taiwan, the birthplace of the great migration of the Austronesian-speaking people from Asia to the Pacific. Austronesians are people from island Southeast Asia such as the Philippines and Indonesia, Oceania, Madagascar, and the indigenous people of Taiwan.

My own journey to Taiwan began three years ago when Professor Jesse Liu, the driving force behind the revival of the ancient bamboo raft in Taiwan and Indigenous Taiwanese land rights activist, found me at the UH Hamilton Library reference desk. I might have talked his ear off about canoes in the Philippines. Since then, he never stopped reminding me of the importance of the Philippines in the Austronesian migration.

Speaking about the maritime culture of the Philippines at his International Symposium on the Migration and Voyaging Culture of the Austronesian people in Taitung, Taiwan, was amazing! It was such an honor to be among some of the best seafarers in the Austronesian region.

Fayang, bamboo raft with woven pandanus leaves sail created by the Amis people of Taiwan, at Flowing Lake, Taitung, Taiwan. It recreates a 30,000 - year old seafaring technology. Dr. Jesse Liu of National Taitung University asserts that these rafts may have been the founder canoes of the Austronesian-speaking people.

Fayang with a sail using modern materials. Flowing Lake, Taitung, Taiwan (2019).