Replicas of 320 AD vessel ‘balangay’

> 29 crew members on the three vessels hope to make it across the South China Sea, a near-1,000-kilometre voyage, to the eastern city of Xiamen by May 2 > The 18-metre boats are replicas of a “balangay”, a type of vessel used in the region as far back as 320 AD. > Sultan Paduka Batara — who ruled part of what is the Philippines today — sailed to China on a balangay in 1417