Unlike land explorers, those who criss-cross the oceans leave no tracks – no evidence of prior travelers – who they were, where they came from, or where they were headed. Despite this trackless blue frontier, the Polynesian Navigator mapped out a network of familiar seaways connecting land masses. 

It would be centuries before western man would dare to explore out of sight of land. Native Hawaiians had settled the Hawaiian Islands for more than a thousand years before Captain James Cook and other foreign explorers landed on their shores.

The Polynesian Navigator’s voyaging canoe was and continues to be as transformational as the invention of the wheel to ground transportation or the spaceship to exploration of the heavens.

VOYAGING

In Polynesia, the voyaging canoe embodies the essence of a people and culture linked in a delicate balance between a volatile ocean and the limited resources of their island sanctuary.

The Polynesian Navigator is at home surrounded by the ocean. It was familiar. For centuries, the ancestors have observed the ocean in every season and weather condition. The Navigator understood the ocean and used its natural ebb and flow and currents to reach destinations. Polynesian vessels are sea kindly, calculated for speed with flexible lashing that joined two hulls together.

 "The Navigator" by Herb Kawainui Kāne (Used by permission)

Without instruments, charts, or a written language, the ancient Polynesian Navigator charted pathways in the mind. Reading the stars. Listening to the winds. Carefully observing ocean debris that floated past the vessel. Understanding the language of the sea. The highly trained master Navigator was intimately knowledgeable of how to observe and interpret natural phenomena. A skilled Navigator has to have an astounding memory; recalling up to two hundred different star positions as they  rise or set at any time of the year. Effectively, a star compass was embedded in the mind of every Navigator. 

While stars, planets, and the moon are a Navigator’s most reliable helpers, wind, currents, and ocean swells helped to determine course and progress. Polynesians had become adept at weather forecasting since survival on an island in the middle of an ocean often depended on the weather. In the launching of an ocean voyage, the Navigator always waits for favorable weather conditions before departing, even if it meant a delay of weeks or even months.

SURVIVING ON THE OCEAN

The Polynesians dried or fermented their food for long canoe voyages. At the start of the voyage, fresh food would have been abundant – sugar cane, sweet potatoes, taro, yam, breadfruit, bananas, and drinking coconuts.

The voyagers would have left trolling lines out all day to catch fish. But there are huge swaths of ocean where there’s very little marine life near the surface. The voyagers prepared their food storage because they knew they wouldn’t be able to catch enough fish for a canoe full of people and animals over long distances.

 "Readying a Canoe for Voyage" by Herb Kawainui Kāne (Used by permission)

To cook at sea, they would have lined a hearth with coral, stone, and sand. Coconut husks were used for fuel. Gourds and sections of bamboo held water. Drinking coconuts were stashed wherever there was space. Rain squalls brought precious fresh water caught off the sails and in buckets. They would have rationed fresh water for the entire voyage. 

The canoes were traveling gardens. Experience had shown voyagers that uninhabited islands had almost no edible plants. About two dozen types of plants were brought to Hawai‘i in the first voyaging canoes. Slips, tubers, cuttings, and seedlings were first bathed in moss moistened in fresh water. Then they were wrapped  in dry ti-leaf, the skin of banana trees, or kapa (bark cloth). These bundles were covered in sheaths made from lauhala (pandanus) and hung in a safe place to protect them from deadly salt water or salt spray.

THE LEGACY OF THE FIRST PEOPLE

The remarkable history of the Polynesian Navigators, the voyaging canoes, and the ingenious methods learned over centuries of navigating the oceans using only natural phenomena as guides, is truly a miracle of humankind.

Their descendants, the Hawaiians, have carried forth this knowledge to new generations of Navigators who continue to prove that using the star-filled heavens as a compass and venturing into uncharted waters in traditionally-built canoes is a gift from the ancestors.

An uncommon accomplishment by uncommon people…

……………………………

Stephanie Namahoe Launiu is a Native Hawaiian lifestyle and cultural writer. She is a lifelong advocate for native rights, and for broadening the scope and reach of Hawaiian culture. Stephanie lives at the foot of a live volcano on the Big Island with her husband, Noa, and growing family.

Cover image: “Crossing to Moloka‘i” by Herb Kawainui Kāne. Used by permission. Herb's artworks illustrating the history and culture of the Hawaiian islands are awe-inspiring glimpses into another world. His research on Polynesian canoes and voyaging led to his participation as founder of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and designer and builder of the sailing canoe Hōkūle‘a.

 Sources:

1. Fragments of Hawaiian History, John Papa Ii, Bishop Museum Press 1959
2. Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii, Revised Edition, S.M. Kamakau, Kamehameha Schools Press, 1992
3. Hawaiian Antiquities, David Malo, Bishop Museum Press 1951
4. Finding a Way: 1974-1980 - Nainoa Thompson, Polynesian Voyaging Society (link)
5. Hawaiian-Pacific Traditions: Readings on Polynesia, UH West O’ahu, Humanities 304