Korakora

When the first Europeans arrived in the Spice Islands of the Moluccas in the sixteenth century, they noted a unique and impressive class of war vessel, known as korakora. Similar to ancient Mediterranean galleys, they were used only for warfare. Korakora were raiding machines. The korakora was a very long, narrow timber craft with outriggers–sometimes multiple–on either side upon which paddlers sat to propel the vessel. A raised central platform allowed for transport of additional warriors. Elaborate stem and stern curved up distinctively. The largest Korakora could accommodate up to 300 men–paddlers and warriors–according to contemporary reports. With so many paddles working, these craft could be very fast; able to catch virtually any vessel in a chase. And they operated in raiding fleets, up to several dozen strong. Their cruising grounds were north up to the southern Philippines, east to the wild New Guinea coasts, south to Ambon and Ceram, and west to Makassar. There was seldom room for cargo; in fact, even space for provisions was restricted by the narrow beam, which also limited their range. With a shallow draught however, they were easy to beach on isolated islands to allow replenishment. A tilted rectangular sail could be set from a tripod mast when the wind was favourable. Early reports (from Tome Pires) of the Spice Islands put the population of the most powerful sultanates, Ternate and Tidore, at around 2000 men each, so the terror struck in other regional settlements that saw a fleet of korakora approaching with hundreds of raiding warriors aboard can be imagined. Regional populations were small and widely scattered at the time, and inhabitants of such villages would have no chance to resist such a raid. All they could do, if they had any warning, would be to head for the hills, taking any valuables with them. By the time you could see the skulls of previous victims that adorned the high curved bow of the approaching vessels, it was probably too late to run.  

In Pires’ time, Ternate’s sultan had 100 korakora, Tidore’s 80 and Makian 130. The headman of each village on an island was required to maintain a number of korakora, manned, armed and ready to raid as part of their tribute to the sultan. By 1600, Tidore fielded thirty, armed with four small guns and manned by 40-60 rowers. The sultans also had their own ‘luxury’ korakora for displays of wealth and power. Design, size and operation of korakora varied over time and according to location. Related raiding vessels were used in the southern Philippines, around Sulawesi and around Ceram and Halmahera, but the Spice sultanates of Ternate and Tidore were the most famous operators. Unfortunately, the accounts of Portuguese like Pires (1515) and Galvao (1544) are the earliest mentions we have of this class of vessel; how long they had operated prior to that is unclear, but it seems logical that they were a development of earlier Austronesian long-distance exploration craft that ventured across the Pacific and Indian Oceans even before the Common Era. Their unusual construction methods also suggested a link with earlier Austronesian boatbuilding techniques. Their planking was carved from solid hardwood, and they were built shell first up from a keel, with dowels fixing each plank to its neighbour. Carved timber lugs at intervals on the interior of each plank were then lashed to ribs with rattan, holding the hull tightly together. Though it was a strong but flexible construction, the great length of the hull and lack of freeboard was vulnerable to any swells, particularly from the beam, and they were unseaworthy in other than calm seas. Contemporary reports often note them breaking apart in less-than-ideal conditions.  

Overall size seems to have declined over time. In the heyday of the sultanates of Ternate and Tidore, the largest korakora may have had four banks of fifty men per side, plus more warriors inboard. English geographer Alfred Wallace noted later korakora–near the end of their reign in 1869– that they were much smaller: The boat was one of the kind called ‘Kora-Kora,’ quite open, very low, and about four tons burthen. It had outriggers of bamboo about five feet off each side, which supported a bamboo platform extending the whole length of the vessel. On the extreme outside of this sit twenty rowers, while within was a convenient passage fore and aft. The middle portion of the boat was covered with a thatch-house, in which the baggage and passengers are stowed; the gunwale was not more than a foot above water, and from the great top and side weight, and general clumsiness, these boats are not infrequently lost.  

Prior to the Portuguese arrival in the Spice Islands, firearms were not common in the area– though they were more widely used in India, Java and the Malacca Strait–and early korakora warriors were armed with swords, blowpipes, bows and spears. Later, versions were armed with smaller cannon–reports mention several one or two pounders, as well as ‘swords, muskets, pikes, spears and daggers.’ It was only the arrival of broadside-armed Portuguese carracks that knocked the korakora from their prime perch. They were extremely vulnerable to even swivel gun fire–of which large carracks carried dozens. Nevertheless, as Portuguese influence gave way to Dutch colonisation during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the VOC recognised the worth of korakoras, and formed them into large cruising squadrons to maintain control and punish the recalcitrant. These formations were known as the hongi (or ‘duty’) fleets, and operated under Dutch direction to clear out pirates and destroy unsanctioned spice plantations. They ran in various forms from 1625 until well into the nineteenth century. Other entities–notably the Tidore Sultanate–continued to use such fleets to cajole, raid and punish as late as 1890. A fleet dispatched from Tidore in 1844 to subdue piracy off New Guinea–and likely to be tempted to indulge in a little themselves–consisted of 13 korakora carrying 429 men, each vessel armed with a small cannon. An 1890 fleet totalled 55 korakora with over 1500 crew. Such fleets must have been a magnificent sight, as contemporary renderings show.

In the end, steamships dealt the final blow to korakora. The first Dutch steamers arrived in the Indies in the late eighteenth century, and when in military guise, they could easily catch even the fastest korakora and overwhelm them with long range gunfire. The difficulty of manning such labour-intensive craft was also a problem. Today, for a look at a korakora derivative, check out Banda harbour when a cruise ship comes in and the locals come out to welcome them in. They are nothing like the real korakora of the old sultanates, and certainly not adorned with skulls. But you can see the flash of the paddles and hear the beat of the drums as they slice through the tropical water, and, with a lot of imagination, you can maybe feel the fear as you realised a raid was coming in, straight at you.