Relief ship on the wall of Borobudur temple

Posted On: October 6, 2022

The Sea Expedition 2022 team managed to find evidence of Indonesia’s glory as a maritime nation.

JAKARTA, lightning.com- The Sea Expedition 2022 team managed to find evidence of Indonesia’s glory as a maritime nation. These finds were obtained during the exploration of the Borobudur temple, which contained 9 reliefs of ships in the walls around the temple.

In 2003, a lapal was built, inspired by the reliefs of the Borobudur temple. The ship is a replica of the original 9th century traditional Indonesian ship with the technological sophistication of its time which was not yet known to Europeans.

Remarkably, the ship took a route that would have been traveled by the ancestors of the Indonesian people to trade cinnamon to Africa. This is called the Cinnamon Road or the Cinnamon Road.

The journey of the ship Samuderaraksa, commanded at the time by Navy Captain (P) I Gusti Putu Ngurah Sedana (now Colonel) became a journey of traces of the spice route that began a historic journey through the Indian Ocean to Accra, the capital of Ghana, on the west coast of the African continent.

Marine Colonel (F) I Gusti Putu Ngurah Sedana, a former officer of the Indonesian Navy’s Military Sea Crossing Command (Kolinlamil), became the person in charge of commanding Samudraraksa, the official name of the Borobudur ship which was given by Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri to carry out cultural, tourist and peace missions.

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The total crew of the Ship’s Crew (ABK) who participated in the Samudraraksa voyage was 27 consisting of Expeditionary Leader Phillip Bill (ex-British Navy), Captain Sea Captain (P) IGPN Sedana, 3 traditional sailors (Bajo tribe), 6 millennial sailors who are young children, 16 foreign sailors (UK, South Africa, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, USA, Australia),

Colonel PGI. Sedana said the vessel Samudraraksa which had previously departed on August 15, 2003 arrived in Ghana on February 23, 2004, with a voyage of about 7 months and a mileage of 11,000 NM equal to 20,372 KM.

“While sailing, various activities i.e. determining positions with Astronomy Science of Star Navigation to determine positions which are reported daily to Indonesian Navy Command Center and Ministry of Tourism. Maintenance of naval buildings, maintenance of sails, maintenance of machinery that is always submerged in seawater during big waves,” said Colonel IGP Sedana, quoted Thursday (06/10/2022).

They learn from each other with sailors using traditional Javanese or Indonesian languages and foreign sailors teach English, and worship according to their respective religions, and prepare attractions when disembarking,” he continued. .

Besides Borobudur Temple, the marine expedition team also explored Samuderaraksa Ship Museum, visited the marine tourist destinations of Parangtritis Beach and Parangkusumo Sand Dunes.

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The expedition was attended by the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Sea (F) Antonious Widyoutomo, a historian, Prof. Sri Margana, Gian Ardy Foernama from Tempo and accompanied by staff from Lanal Yogyakarta.