“We have looked at the farming cycle Sa-si - the traditional knowledge for harvesting and planting spices - nutmeg, cloves. It also is called Sa-si in relation to maritime practices - we have gathered the information from folklore and oral histories - Sa-si knowledge allows them to regulate the timeframe for each activity, and we believe this goes back to the beginning of the Sultanate - about 16th Century.”

“There is no written knowledge as such on the shipbuilding as it is more of an oral history, passed down between generations. There are however known taboos - do’s and don’ts when building the boats”

“People would go on steamships to go on the Hajj. We also saw port cities transform into places of public religious printing and publication, and proliferate as places where people didn’t just go for trade but for intellectual exchange of ideas. In Singapore, for example, Kampong Glam (now Beach Road) was the gathering point for Muslims to go before leaving on the Hajj and there were other gathering points like Aceh, for example.”

“In Maluku, the communities divide their time between fishing and agriculture, depending on the seasons and wind patterns, monsoon patterns. The period of Western wind is not a good time for seafaring, so they plant instead.”

“The pepper we found was most definitely used for trade as we found vast quantities of it in the wrecks. The pepper could be from Thailand, it originally came in from the Dutch, from Indonesia - but this item could be local.”

“The women in Lamalera occupy a very important role in economic life of the village. They are usually very involved in the processing of the fishes caught at sea and are also responsible for preparing their families for the off-season when no whales are available. The women of Lamalera also weave, make salt as well as handicrafts to earn extra income for the benefit of their families.”

“If you look at Taiwan, Philippines and Cambodia and Thailand, we have the same weaving patterns - the traditional costumes in China or Taiwan, are very similar to the traditional costumes of Philippine people in the north. The two big regions in the south, are more influenced by Malaysia and Indonesia.”

“We have a few paintings, prints and drawings of Singapore Harbour - mainly around 1850. By the late 19th Century there are also photographs. These depict Singapore from the sea. We also have some sketches from British Naval officers who either stopped or passed through Singapore.”

“If we are telling the story of women at sea, does that mean the historical person or the materials that represent women? We have a ceramic figurine of a woman from the 18th-19th Century, and also a comb. The figurine was found on a wreck, located in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. The comb we assume was used by a woman, and is made from tortoise shell, we are not sure where from though”

“Traditionally in the Philippines, it is a very maternal culture, thus they traditionally has priestesses that would bless the boats and the seamen, before they sailed on the ocean.”

“There is a Mazu temple in Singapore - and we have some items related to this temple. Most of the early seafarers - their first stop would be the temple to give thanks for safe passage.”

“More research needs to be done as I think there’s very little information on production, but based on of trade records we can most certainly know the amount of goods that were being exported out of Southeast Asia for a global market, all the way from diamonds to tortoise shell to pearls to gold. Colonial records actually are very, very useful for that. I wanted to look at Southeast Asian objects but then I thought that didn’t tell me a complete enough story. So if I was to look at, for example, important jewellery from Europe, by dynastic families or by royal families, the composition of gems itself could be Burmese rubies, or diamonds from Borneo, so I feel like that it can also be quite plausible to look at kind of global objects.”