SAMPAN TANKA
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 8:36 pm
The “sampan tanka” you can find in China/Hongkong/Macau.
General-purpose harbour boat worked by Tanka boat people, especially to transport passengers from off-lying vessels.
Vary somewhat with the locale, but generally a shallow oval craft with a spoon-shaped bottom. Decked, at least at the bow and stern; 1-2 arched mat and bamboo houses; family lives aboard; separate area for passengers.
Rowed and sculled principally by the women of the family; a single oar, attached by a grommet to a tholepin, used at the bow; a long sculling oar, on a pivot, at the stern. Some employ a rudder with the tiller worked by the sculler’s foot.
Reported lengths 2.4 – 10m.
Macau 1951 1p sg447, scott?
From: Aak to Zumbra, a Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft.
General-purpose harbour boat worked by Tanka boat people, especially to transport passengers from off-lying vessels.
Vary somewhat with the locale, but generally a shallow oval craft with a spoon-shaped bottom. Decked, at least at the bow and stern; 1-2 arched mat and bamboo houses; family lives aboard; separate area for passengers.
Rowed and sculled principally by the women of the family; a single oar, attached by a grommet to a tholepin, used at the bow; a long sculling oar, on a pivot, at the stern. Some employ a rudder with the tiller worked by the sculler’s foot.
Reported lengths 2.4 – 10m.
Macau 1951 1p sg447, scott?
From: Aak to Zumbra, a Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft.