Garay (ship)

[1] In the 18th and 19th centuries, they were commonly used for piracy by the Banguingui and Iranun people against unarmed trading ships and raids on coastal settlements in the regions surrounding the Sulu Sea.

During the early 19th century, Banguingui garay squadrons regularly plagued the straits of southern Palawan from the months of March to November each year.

They had a single tripod main-mast made of three bamboo poles, which was rigged with a large rectangular sail with tilted upper corners (a layar tanja).

[3] Large garay can serve as motherships to smaller salisipan (a covered banca, shielded against arrows and spears), which could carry an additional 15 people.

Despite this fact, garay were commonly incorrectly referred to as prahu or proa (both outrigger vessels) in historical records.

However, the projecting catwalks can function as a sort of outrigger in instances where the hull was flooded, keeping the ship afloat.

While the lanong specialized in ship-to-ship combat, the garay was more suited to raiding coastal villages and attacking unarmed or lightly armed trade ships.