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Pacific Voyages of Discovery, from the Bronze Age thru the 1st millennium of the Iron Age (~3000 BC - 1000 AD)
Source: Exploration of the Pacific > Melanesians, Micronesians, Polynesians
Titles: ● Discovery of Hawai’i [~300-800 AD] ● Ka’anapali in Ancient Times ● Hokule’a II [1975]
Source: Herb Kawainui Kāne Studio
(1) Polynesian Voyaging Society & their full scale, performance accurate, deep ocean, transoceanic Voyaging Canoe Hōkūleʻa, of the type used during the Bronze Age to settle the Pacific island nations.
Hōkūleʻa
● Origins, Story, Timeline, Circumnavigation.
●●● See also the 1st paragraph, especially the near-end-of-paragraph reference to "the mysterious te lapa (underwater streaks of lightening-like light...[&]...'major ocean swell patterns and the ways the islands disrupted those patterns'...as displayed on a woven grid whose intersections & threads represent islands & waves respectively, as pictured at Polynesian Stick Charts", at "Mainland Friends of" co-founder Cliff's initial Polynesian Voyaging Canoe Hōkūle’a blog post "Polynesian Voyaging Canoe launches Polynesian Renaissance".
●● Video: Launch March 1975, Maiden Voyage, Hawai'i <> Tahiti 1976.
● 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, sketches of creatures from pookof, 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.
Polynesian Voyaging Society (Founded 1973)
● Mission/Vision, Leadership, Crews, Wiki, Archives & Core Values, Traditions.
●● Founders: Nautical Anthropologist Ben Finney, Hawaiian artist Herb Kawainui Kāne, sailor Charles Tommy Holmes.
●● President: Nainoa Thompson.
History
● Documentary
●● The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific.
●● Light at the Edge of the World: Polynesia: The Wayfinders.
●● “The origins of the 1st people in the Central Pacific...points to the Lapita...back in the Solomons, on the tiny island of Taumako, descendants of the Lapita still build and sail traditional voyaging canoes...in craft like these the Lapitans reached the island of Tonga, 2000 miles east of New Guinea in the heart of the South Pacific” - “Planet Earth: South Pacific” S1E2 “Castaways”.
●●● The Taumako islanders have recently created the NGO/Initiative “Pacific Traditions Society (PTS)”/"The Vaka Taumako Project (VTP)" whose mission is to "Train new generations to build, sail, and navigate voyaging canoes using ancestral designs, methods, materials & tools" to promote "Ancestral Voyaging for Everyone". VTP has created a documentary film series (viewable via “special free access” & Vimeo rent/buy) titled “We, the Voyagers: Lataʻs Children...a three part Film Series. As of 2020 the first 2 parts are complete...Part 1: We, the Voyagers: Our Vaka (view: free / Vimeo)...Part 2: We, the Voyagers: Our Moana (view: free / Vimeo)”. Additionally, the College of Micronesia-FSM has launched a course in Traditional Navigation.
Polynesian Culture
● Foundational Pillars:
●● Mālama Kai ("Care of the Sea"): Fishpond.
●● Mālama 'Āina ("Care of the Land"): Ahupua‘a (Valley, Coast, Island).
● Photo: Steve Thomas Traditional Micronesian Navigation Collection, author of The Last Navigator, photos taken during his multi-year stay & training with Master Navigator Mau Piailug on the remote coral island of Satawal, in the Caroline Islands of the Yap island group in the Federated States of Micronesia, the photo collection sprinkled with such stunners as Houses on Eauripik.
● Art (Herb Kawainui Kāne studio): Canoes, Arts & Crafts, People & Places, Chiefs, Deities, Historical Events.
(2) Mainland Friends of Hui O Wa'a Kaulua: Construction completion fundraiser project website for Maui’s “Hōkūleʻa’s ‘twin sister’” Voyaging Canoe Mo'okiha O Pi'ilani.
Hui O Wa'a Kaulua (Maui's Voyaging Society)
● Web.
●● Mo'okiha (during construction).
●● Fundraiser Project:
●●● Online campaign (Indiegogo).
●●● Pitch Flyer, Video.
●●● Flyer Distribution & Exhibit Booths at Mainland Aloha Festivals: San Francisco, Sacramento (booth pics), Napa Valley (booth pics).
●● Voyaging Canoe Launch:
●●● Launch Mo'okiha Event (the 1ˢᵗ Maui Voyaging canoe built/launched in over 800 years. The event was attended by the Royal Family of Hawaii (Hawaiian Royalty’s King Kamehameha (1795–1819; creator of the Kingdom of Hawaii & King of the Hawaiian Islands)), House of Kamehameha descendants).
●●●● Newspaper coverage: Announcement, Tow, Launch.
●●●● TV News coverage: Launch Drone Video.
●●●● Photography (B. David Cathell Photography Inc. Archives):
●●●●● July 21 - Prep for Moving, July 28 - Prep for Launch.
●●●●● August 4 - Launch Day, Part 1, August 11 - Launch Day, Part 2, August 18 - Launch Day, Part 3.
●● “Mainland Friends of” Web Resources:
●●● Voyaging Library.
●●● Voyaging Overview.
●●● Hōkūleʻa visit Alumni blog.
Hui O Wa'a Kaulua Rewards (as thanks for the Mainland Friends fundraising effort).
●● Polynesian Canoe Sail: An afternoon sail on Hōkūleʻa’s child, the 1ˢᵗ Polynesian canoe built after Hōkūleʻa, banked on the beach at the Hui, the Canoe Mo’olele.
●●● Sail video.
●● Canoe Sailing Club Races: An invite to the Hawaiian Sailing Canoe Association (HSCA) Inter-Islands Voyaging Leg: Hawaii (Big) Island-Maui-Molokai.
●●● Races video.
(3) Polynesian Voyaging Society Hōkūleʻa Worldwide Voyage Documentary
● The Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) Worldwide Voyage of Polynesian Voyaging Canoes Hōkūleʻa & her companion safety canoe Hikianalia. The entire voyage was essentially filmed live as it happened by Hawaiian television station ʻŌiwi Television founder & Pacific Culture documentary filmmaker Nāʻālehu, shooting, editing & satellite broadcasting from a compact television studio housed within the tiny cabin on Hikianalia, which canoe, on the last leg of the journey, split off from Hōkūleʻa (then headed home to Hawaii) & set off for California, pulling into & berthing at Half Moon Bay, where "Mainland Friends of" co-founder Cliff was able to visit & take a few photos (@ Hikianalia link below).
● The Worldwide Voyage documentary, “Moananuiākea: Once Ocean, One People, One Canoe", is available both as a 2 disc Blu-ray DVD, & as well a full version streaming over Vimeo.
●● DVD
●● Vimeo
●● Hikianalia
●● ʻŌiwi TV
●● PVS
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