Putri Jaya - Indonesian fishing perahu
Clerke atoll - Rowley Shoals - 2023
S17° 16.265' E119°21.577'
The Putri Jaya (Princess Triumphant) was a 13 metre Perahu(Prow) Indonesian fishing vessel that had sailed from the bay of Papela on the Island of Rote. The vessel looks to be a Perahu Leti leti design, which feature a heavy stem, wide beam but also a low freeboard and a counter stern. Central to the hull, and no longer on the wreck, would have been an enclosed deckhouse over the open section of the deck. The deckhouse would be a combined storage, engine space and living quarters for the crew. Aft of the deckhouse, protruding past the counter stern, would likely have been the structure of what is described as the "doghouse" or "dogbox". The doghouse is a small, sheltered room for cooking and preparing food and would also house the vessel’s head or toilet, seeing that was supported over the water past the stern of the vessel. At the forward extremity of the deckhouse is the short mast typical of a Leti vessel, the mast can be seen on the seafloor of the site model at the bottom of this page, this would have supported the large boom for the triangular crab claw type sail. The large sail boom can be seen laying supported on the starboard gunwale of the wreck. Rising through the main deck, of the aft deckhouse, is the rudder post, this is directly connected to the rudder to steer the ship. A tiller post would be attached to the rudder above deck, going towards the bow and steered by a helmsman facing aft from the deckhouse as is seen in the image of a Perahi at Browse Island.
It is unknown where the Putri Jaya was built but most vessels of this design are built outside of Roti and purchased by the fisherman of Papela Bay. Although Papela and Rote are the main port and support base for these traditional fishing fleets. the Island of Rote does not have the forests or timber supply for the construction of these larger ocean going vessels. Leti Leti designs are built traditionally by the Madurese of Madura Island in East Java to the north of Bali. They are built as coastal traders with small engines and repurposed for fishing. One record of the Putri Jaya states the vessel was built at 4 tons, this however seems unlikely, given the size of the vessel and Perahu Leti are usually in the range of 10 to 40 tons.
A typical Indonesian fishing Perahu almost identical to the Putri Jaya off Browse Island, Western Australia
The moonscape of Bedwell Island - a desolate sand cay of coral and shell grit - void of any shelter or vegetation
The Loss:
On 6th April 2023, the Putri Jaya left the Indonesian island of Rote with 10 crew in the company of three other fishing vessels. Their destination was Pulau Bawa Angin, the traditional Indonesian name for the Rowley Shoals. Typically, the trip would take three days to travel the 435 nautical miles from their home port of Papela, a busy fishing port and it’s supporting villages on the northeast side of Palau Roti, to the Rowley Shoals, located 160 nautical miles west of Broome. At the same time on the 6th of April on the west coast of New Guinea, 200 nautical miles northeast of Darwin a developing low-pressure system had formed and was named tropical low 23U by the Bureau of Meteorology with a predicted southwest track across northern Australia.
On the night of the 12th of April, the Putri Jaya, skippered by Arsad Saleh was battling high waves and intense wind from the north east, the wind direction being their first indication of a possible cyclone approaching as the Perahu beat into high seas searching for the shelter of Bedwell Island at Clerke Reef. Unknown to the Indonesian fishing fleet, only 12 hours earlier, Cyclone Isla had been named. In just 18 hours after its naming Ilsa had undergone a rapid intensification to be classified a Severe Tropic Cyclone and in only a few hours it would pass directly over the Rowley Shoals. At 4:31am on the 13th the Imperiuesse Reef weather station recorded the eye passing directly over the Rowley Shoals. At 7am a maximum wind gust of 235km an hour damaged the weather station rendering it unreliable. It was reported by the Putri Jaya’s sole survivor, that waves and high water entering the Perahu eventually stalled the motors leaving the fishermen at the mercy of Cyclone Isla. At approximately 3am on the 13th of April, after hours of battling the oncoming Cyclone Isla, Badco Said Jalating tied himself to a fuel can and jumped for his life as the Putri Jaya went under. He didn’t witness any of his crew mates escape the vessel and believed they were lost as the Putri Jaya went down. Badco Said held on for life to the floating fuel can, drifting in open ocean with unimaginable terror as the then category 4 Severe Tropical Cylone Ilsa passed over the Rowley Shoals.
30 hours after jumping from the foundering Putri Jaya and enduring monstrous seas and the full force of the cyclone, Badco Said drifted towards Bedwell Island, a desolate moonscape of an island, void of any vegetation or shelter and found 10 crew of another vessel, the "Dioskuri 1" marooned on the sand cay. The crew managed to desperately run the Dioskuri 1 ashore as they sought shelter from the approaching cyclone. Of the fleet of four fishing vessels that left Papela Bay on the 6th of April, the Dioskuri 1 was the only vessel to survive the cyclone. During the peak of the storm the crew could do nothing but dig holes and try lay as low as possible while being sand blasted by the coarse beach sand consisting of sand, dead coral and shell grit whipped up by 200 kilometre an hour winds for hours on end. Cyclone Isla set the Bureau of Meterology record for the highest sustained 10-minute wind gusts ever recorded when Ilsa reached Category 5 on the 13th of April. For six days the 11 stranded fisherman were marooned without food or water on an island with no resources, where nobody knew where they were and they had no communication or life saving equipment. They were suffering from exposure and extreme dehydration, they were reported to be resorting to drinking sea water when Australian Border Force aircraft spotted them during a surveillance flight on the 17th of April.
Amongst the nine lost fishermen of the Putri Jaya were a father and son and and also two brothers, the names of the lost sailors were Arsad Saleh (Captain), Salman Kawak Jalanting, Safarudin Jalating, Harno Acing, Muhammad Yamin, Puling, Rendi, Junias Laifoy and Juven Rissi. The two vessels accompanying the Jutri Jaya and Dioskuri 1 were the Cahaya Alor (Alor Light) and Tuan Muda (Young Master), both vessels remained unaccounted for during the Cyclone and never returned to their home port or families. At the time when the lost fishermen were discovered, Australian Journalists reached out to the home ports of the fishing vessels for information, sadly this was the first indication for the families and neighbours that their family members, friends and providers were lost at sea, never to return.
Cyclone Ilsa started as a tropical low U23 in the Timor Sea on the 6th of April 2023 and progressed to a Category 5 Severe Tropical Cyclone as it crossed the Pilbara coast east of Port Hedland. 23U tracked southwest slowly travelling west over the Timor Sea, north of the Kimberley coastline, until the 2pm on the 11th of April when it reached Tropical Cyclone category one strength and was officially named Cyclone Ilsa. Ilsa then reached more favourable conditions and underwent a rapid intensification. Only 18 hours after the Cyclones formation it had intensified to a category 3 Severe Tropical Cyclone at 8am on the 12th of April while 400 kilometres northwest of Broome. Ilsa further slowed and gained strength passing over the Rowley Shoals weather station at 430am on the 13th and damaging the anemometer instrument with gusts reaching 235 kms an hour. By 4pm on the 13th Cyclone Ilsa had officially reached Category 5 strength and started tracking south east towards the coast. As it passed directly over Bedout Island on the Pilbara coast, Ilsa broke the record for the longest sustained 10-minute wind speed at 219kms an hour; and a peak 285km gust, both the highest ever recorded by the Bureau of Meterology's own recording equipment. Ilsa crossed the mainland coast near Pardoo station in a sparsely populated area 180 kilometres east of Port Hedland. The eye of the cyclone passed directly over Pardoo Roadhouse completely destroying the establishment while staff sheltered inside a sea container. As Cyclone Ilsa continued inland it rapidly deteriorated and lost strength. Isla continued to track inland over the Pilbara desert where it dwindled down to a tropical low, continuing to dump rain into the countries interior.
Site Description:
The Putri Jaya lays on its port side in approximately 9 to 13 metres of water on the western rim of Clerke Lagoon inside Clerke Atoll. It is a relatively small site but it is an interesting wreck at an enjoyable depth. The wreck is only 10 metres from the rim of the lagoon and is wedged in place between numerous coral bommies. The bow faces southeast and the wreck has a few easily distinguishable and interesting features. Central to the site, in the hold are a pair of two-cylinder deisel engines, typical for an Indonesian fishing vessel. The main mast lays flat on the coral slope to the north of the hull and the sail boom is perched to the south amongst two coral bommies, resting on the starboard gunwale. Rising through the centre of the aft main deck is the rudder post. The main deckhouse is no longer on the wreck site or the dogbox, if the Putri Jaya had one. It may be likely that more structure can be found by moving out further from the wreck site.
Authorities have removed all contaminants and hazardous material to protect the surrounding environment and stabilize the site. The wreck was decided to be left in place after work was completed to protect the surrounding eco system. It was found that any attempt to remove the hull would lead to an unsatisfactory level of damage to the surrounding reef and delicate coral bommies that the hull is wedged between.
Diving the Site:
The site is located in a protected area of the lagoon and could almost be visited in most conditions. Diving near low tide would provide the best conditions top side creating a lee from the southwest wind however, near the top of the tide would likely create better visibility. Swell is non-existent inside the lagoon and shouldn’t need to be monitored. Anchoring is also difficult on the site as it is densely surrounded by coral and reef structure. The best approach to visit the site would be to live boat divers on to the site. Anchoring is to be avoided in all areas of the Rowley Shoals and although the wreck is not heritage protected and anchoring on or near the wreck would potentially damage the site and detract from the value of the site for future divers.
Photogrammetry of the Putri Jaya
The Putri Jaya model was produced from 723 images sequenced over the wreck site during a single dive. The model was developed with Agisoft Metashape software.
The model achieved a full alignment utilizing all 723 images generating a point cloud of 10,357,919 points.
The animation was developed with the Belowjs.com online viewer and animator, the interactive model below can be viewed with the rest of the divingwawrecks library by following the link to sketchfab.com