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Penjajap, also pangajava and pangayaw, were native galley-like warships used by several Austronesian ethnic groups in maritime Southeast Asia. They were typically very long and narrow, and were very fast. They are mentioned as being used by native fleets in Indonesia, the southern Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei.
The terms (particularly pangaio) were also later borrowed and used generically for any native wooden sailing ships made from planks without using nails by the Portuguese Empire in their colonies in Africa and India. This usage later spread to other European colonial powers, being applied chiefly to Arab people and Swahili people-built ships. The terms are similarly inaccurately applied to the garay, fast raiding vessels of the Banguingui and Iranun people in the Philippines. However, the garay were much broader and did not have outriggers.
Penjajap may also be generically referred to as prao, prahu, proe, prauw, or prow in historical records. The "List of Ships and Sea Vehicles from East Indies" which is periodically published by colonial government of Dutch East Indies, registered pangajaoa as pengajoehan ( pengayuhan). The list records its name came from kajoeh ( kayuh—means paddle) and pengajoeh ( pengayuh—means paddler), and consider it as a kind of galley.Bruyn Kops, G.F. De 1921. 'Vaartuigen'. In: Stibbe, D.G. & Spat, C. (eds.) Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië. 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff. p. 485.
In modern Malay military literature, penjajap refers to modern cruiser classes, although English loanword "kruiser" might be used.
According to Afonso de Albuquerque, during the 1511 Portuguese attack on the Malacca Sultanate, the Malays used an unspecified number of lancaran ( lanchara) and twenty penjajap ( pangajaoa).
In 1775, the British explorer Thomas Forrest described a large penjajap in an Iranun people harbor in Sulu Archipelago as being only wide and deep, but was as long as . It mounted six brass lantaka and carried a crew of thirty men, and was equipped with outriggers.
Admiral François-Edmond Pâris observed penjajaps during his voyage aboard the ship Favorite. The dimensions of the vessels encountered vary widely, the largest he saw were long, wide and deep; the smallest was long.
Herbert Warington Smyth reported the description of penjajap from Malay Peninsula at the end of the 19th century. The boats were using dipping Lug sail, with small deckhouse or awning (called kajang in Malay) and overhanging stern gallery (called dandan).
Penjajap carried 1 or 2 guns of larger caliber in the wooden gunshield (apilan). Small penjajap only carried 1–2 lantaka supported on posts at the bow, while larger ones had additional swivel guns mounted at the sides. They were propelled by oars and usually by two (called saguran among Sulu pirates). They could be rowed both forwards and backwards. They had a relatively open deck covered by a platform. A small cabin is located at the back, which served as the quarters of the nakodah and as a magazine for arms.
Like the larger and broader garay, they also served as motherships to smaller kakap war-boats. Penjajap were very fast. Large penjajap could reach speeds of under sail, and when rowed. In Iranun raiding fleets, they usually outpaced the slower lanong warships.Great Britain Parliament (1851). Paper relating to the Piracies committed in the Indian Archipelago and to the Measures adopted by the Netherland Government, in the Years 1816 to 1845 for their Repression. In Accounts and Paper Volume 15. House of Lords. pp. 67–188 86–89.}
The Portuguese diplomat Tomé Pires, on his visit to Nusantara, referred the penjajap as cargo vessels. Many cargo penjajap were collected by Pati Unus from various port cities in Java to attack the Portuguese in Malacca. Penjajap were converted to serve as armed troop transports for landing, as the were too large to approach shore. Penjajap was the other type of vessels counted by Pires after junks and lancaran upon arriving at a port. However Pires said that after the boats were donated to Pati Unus, trading activity in the ports became more lethargic.
Admiral François-Edmond Pâris noted several cargo penjajap in Malacca strait during 1830s. The penjajap brought , dried , and coconut almonds from Sumatra, and seem to frequent only the southern part of the strait.
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