Mainland Friends of Hui O Wa'a Kaulua

● Culture: 2012 Festival of Pacific Arts in the Solomon Islands (Parts: One Two Three); Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau (DVD, Download, Online); Princess Kaiulani; Hawaii A Voice for Sovereignty (dvd) which presents the Hawaiian Islands Index of Claims Awarded, Grants Issued, Grants and Patents Land Sales (see also UH Mānoa Land Ownership and Maps) & book Kū'ē: The Hui Aloha 'Āina Anti-annexation Petitions, 1897-1898; Hawaiian Language & Modern Hawaiian Culture: ʻŌiwi TV Hawaiian language learning series "Ka Leo ʻŌiwi" & cultural issue series "Nā Loea: The Masters".  ʻŌiwi TV Partner website Kamehameha Schools Distance Learning > Hawaiian Resources offers "a free, comprehensive guide on learning Hawaiian language" at "Kulāiwi (Video Lessons)", as well as further cultural resources at Tutorials & Presentations

● Navigation

●● Indigenous Pacific Islander Ancient Instrument-less Celestial Navigation is described in detail by Hokule’a master navigator Mau Piailug in the book The Last Navigator by Steve Thomas. A documentary film, The Last Navigator, was made for the PBS Adventure series. Additionally, Steve did a presentation on the topic - “The Last Navigator...USNA Museum...Steve Thomas...discusses his time on a South Pacific island in the 1980s learning ancient navigation skills. This event was held on January 22, 2020 at the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland”; the talk contains detailed navigation info & is viewable on YouTube @ The Last Navigator. 

●● The following excerpts from the book cover the broad dimensions of the islander’s indigenous cultural knowledge regarding navigation. Steve writes...

“Going to [Micronesia island] Satawal, and studying and voyaging with [Hokule’a master navigator] Piailug, was a great and romantic dream...I had the supreme good fortune to be able to realize...Piailug...had been fully involved in the Hokule’a project in Hawaii...Micronesia’s is an oral tradition. As the old navigators have passed away, so has any opportunity to learn the Talk of the Sea, and the highly secret Talk of Light.

●●●  Itang...A collection of metaphorical verses or poems, the meaning of which is held secret, containing the wisdom and ethics of the culture. Some itang is used to resolve conflict and settle disputes; other itang verses are spoken at ceremonial occasions. Itang is also called ‘the talk of wisdom’ and ‘the talk of light’.

●●●  Talk of Light/Talk of Wisdom/Itang…’What exactly is itang?’...It is the talk of wisdom...the talk of light, Itang is deep talk. If one is wise, he will understand it; if he is not wise, he will not understand. It is a shield for the man who possesses it, for it protects him on any island. Because it has the power to restore order, it is the most important kind of knowledge.

●●●  Talk of the Skies...kapesani lang...the art of forecasting the weather by analyzing the shape, color, and arrangement of the clouds at sunrise and sunset. 

●●  Talk of the Sea...kapesani lemetau…the totality of navigational lore...[coverage includes] diagrams of sailing directions, lists of wofanu  [Glossary: wofanu...Navigational system delineating the star courses between the islands], sketches of creatures from pookof [Glossary: pookof...A navigational system which gives star courses and ranges to distinct and identifiable birds, fishes, whales, and reefs arrayed around each island], and drawings of the reef channels around the islands.

●●●  Talk of Navigation…[gives] one the means to sail from island to island.

●●●  Talk of Sailing...kapesani serak…a series of course corrections and current-compensation regimes enabling the navigator to correct for the displacement of current and leeway...Piailug explained the ‘talk of sailing’ in detail...It is important to learn the talk of sailing, he said, but far more important to develop the ability to construct one’s own sailing directions by projecting the star courses of wofanu [Glossary: wofanu...Navigational system delineating the star courses between the islands] across the sea and envisioning the reference island moving according to the current and one’s course. With this skill—and with the correct star courses—one can sail anywhere in the world. He had done precisely this on his voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti. Using the Marshall Islands as his lu pongank [Glossary: lu pongank...An island (or epar) off to one side of the course used in the Etak modeling process  [Glossary: Etak...A conceptual plotting system that enables the navigator to track his position at sea without charts, sextant, compass, or other modern aids to navigation. Also a unit of measurement]. Lu means ‘middle’; pongank means ‘crossing’ or ‘athwart.’ Called the ‘reference island’ in Western literature.], he constructed an Etak sequence from star courses he had learned from his grandfather” - The Last Navigator, Steve Thomas.

● History

●● “The Building of the Hokule‘a...Hokule‘a was completed and launched by the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) in 1975....Herb Kawainui Kane...co-founder of PVS, came up with the conceptual design for the canoe...Since Hawaiians had ceased long-distance, open-ocean voyaging eight centuries ago in the 12th century, no examples of actual ancient voyaging canoes were available as models for Hokule`a. Hawaiian artist Herb Kane based the design of Hokule`a on drawings of canoes made by artists and draftsmen employed by Captain Cook and other early explorers of the Pacific.”- The Building of the Hokule‘a - 1973-75, Hawaiian Voyaging Traditions, Polynesian Voyaging Society.

●● “In Search of the Ancient Polynesian Voyaging Canoe...Polynesia began with the voyaging canoe. More than three thousand years ago...More than two thousand years ago, Polynesians exploring eastward...discovered the Tahitian and Marquesas Islands. From these...explorers reached outward as far as Hawai'i...Easter Island...and New Zealand...Before European open ocean exploration began, Eastern Polynesia had been explored and settled...Canoe Design Evolution...Because the exploration and settlement of Eastern Polynesia originated from the same centers, the design of the canoes must have been much the same throughout. But that design disappeared. Ships are as mortal as their makers. Except for fragments of ancient canoes excavated...there is no hard evidence...Except for a petroglyph on Easter Island, and passing references in the old legends, there is no descriptive record. (...an illustration of the...petroglyph...and Herb's rendition of what the original canoe may have looked like [drawing].)...Over the following centuries, this [excavated/petroglyph] 'archaic' form evolved into designs which became 'classical' to each island...When Europeans arrived, they found pronounced differences in canoe designs...One such design change was witnessed by Europeans. Schouten in 1619 saw only the tongiaki double canoe in Tongan waters. When the Cook expedition arrived in 1773, the drawings of double canoes by the artist Hodges depicted a transition from the tongiaki to the swift kalia...When Cook visited again five years later, the artist Webber's drawings suggest that he saw only the new kalia...Design Strategy for Hokule'a...'Iako (Connecting Cross-beams)...the connection of the two hulls could be strengthened by two or more lower crossbeams let through the hulls, as seen in the drawing of a beached Tahitian double hulled sailing canoe by Webber, with Cook [footnote] 5...Notes...5. Beaglehole, The Voyage of the Resolution and Discovery, Cambridge, 1967, Pl. 25-b."  - Herb Kawainui Kane, In Search of the Ancient Polynesian Voyaging Canoe, Hawaiian Voyaging Traditions, Polynesian Voyaging Society.

●● Captain Cook Pacific Voyages Paintings by William Hodges, R.A. 1775 Draughtsman on Captain Cook's Second Voyage 1772- 1775. The Collection is at Royal Museums Greenwich. An Exhibit occurred at The Queen's House, Royal Museums Greenwich, England, June 2015. Placards read “England, Ministry of Defense Art Collection: ‘The most significant paintings of the MOD art collection are those commissioned by the Admiralty from the artists accompanying the voyages of exploration of Captains Cook and Flinders. The best of these are on loan to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich...Hodges’s paintings of the Pacific celebrate British exploration. He was appointed by the Admiralty to record the places discovered on Cook’s second voyage, undertaken in the ‘Resolution’ and ‘Adventure’, 1772 to 1775’". “Friends of the Hui…” co-founders Cliff & Toni were able to photograph the collection during a vacation in England in mid June 2015, when the collection, normally housed at the National Maritime Museum, was on loan to & exhibited at the Royal Museums Greenwich in The Queen's House.

●●●  Collection: Royal Museums Greenwich > National Maritime Museum (NMM) > Collections > Exhibitions > The Art and Science of Exploration, 1768-80.

●●● Exhibit: (see 1st Comment for Album Description) Photo Album.

●●●● Exhibit Archive: "Captain Cook's voyages of exploration" > "The Art and Science of Exploration, 1768–80 (Past events)"  > Past exhibitions > Royal Museums Greenwich.

●● Supplemental

●●● BBC

●●●● “Captain’s log: Original artwork from Cook’s landmark voyages”.

●●● British Library

●●●● Exhibition: James Cook: The Voyages.

●●●● Web: James Cook: The Voyages.

●●● Documentary

●●●● Captain James Cook (Mini Series, 1987, ~ 7 hrs) (DVD, Online (Parts: One, Two, Three, Four)

...

Tools: