The Talk of The Sea

Aiza Kabeer

“If you can read the ocean, you will never be lost.” – Mau Piailug, Master Navigator

If I were to ask you about the history of navigation and exploration by sea, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of Ferdinand Magellan. Or, you might recite “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. Most likely, the image that comes to your mind is of European navigation. But what if navigation was not just a feat accomplished by Europeans?

One of the indigenous groups of Polynesia, the Maori, call Ui Te Rangiora the greatest of navigators. He is described to have traveled so far that he saw “those wonderful things:—the rocks that grow out of the sea, in the space … the female that dwells in those mountainous waves, whose tresses wave about in the waters and on the surface of the sea; … Other things are like rocks, whose summits pierce the skies, they are completely bare and without any vegetation on them.” Perhaps the tresses of the female are kelp (which can be over 50ft long), and the bare rocks were icebergs. As legend would have it, Ui Te Rangiora had reached the seas of Antarctica, as early as the 7th century.³

Polynesia is a triangular area with corners at the Hawaiian Islands, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Rapanui (Easter Island).¹  Over many millennia prior to colonization, the people in this region of the world maintained a complex civilization and migrated across the Pacific Ocean in canoes. The Polynesian people were experts in navigation and they achieved incredible feats.²

The vessels that the indigienous Polynesian peoples used to sail were central to their existence. Smaller vessels that could be paddled by one or two people were used for inland or fishing journeys. But longer canoes, of up to 100 feet, had speeds comparable to European sailing ships. With a favorable wind, Polynesian voyaging canoes could travel more than 100 miles in a day.² 

To put things into perspective, the Polynesian people sailed in canoes, with no modern sailing technologies or maps, while exploring thousands of miles across the Pacific.⁴

Whether or not Ui Te Rangiora truly reached the Arctic Seas, the Polynesians’ explorations in the Pacific were a feat that required keen observation of the world around them. Beyond exploration, the Polynesians settled all over the Pacific. They didn’t just travel to an island once, they traveled back and forth among them all.⁵ 

The technology of the canoe alone would not be enough to navigate thousands of miles of the Pacific. Understanding the locations and trajectories of the stars was key to navigation (stars rise in the east and set in the west, and when one star rises too high to be useful, another may follow it’s trajectory). In the daytime, the sun could also serve as an aid. Observing currents, winds and swells (they can give an idea of far off wind patterns) also provided directional information. These methods required the navigator to keep a running account of a journey’s progress, meaning they could not sleep very much.² 

There were also specific methods used to find land. For example, observing the flight pattern of birds could indicate land, as could reflected waves (as opposed to those caused by wind) and the locations of clouds (which tended to cluster around island peaks, or could have a greenish tint due to atolls and expansive coral reefs).² 

These descriptions merely graze the surface of an intricately developed tradition that allowed the Polynesians to settle almost every inhabitable island in the Pacific.⁴ Imagine sailing hundreds of miles in open sea, without any modern aides. Though some have posited that this was simply possible by accident, there is evidence showing it was intentional. Voyages made by Micronesians on the order of hundreds of miles using similar methods have been documented. Computer simulations of the direction of Polynesian settlement (west to east, against the wind) also show it was not an accident.² 

It is an awe inspiring achievement, but the west was surprised, and sometimes doubtful, of the accomplishments of a culture with seemingly few resources.⁵ Of course western superiority is a part of that. But it is important to note that science is a language of many times and places, employed in different ways to suit different needs. And that is important – scientific thought doesn’t always occur in the western framework we perceive it to belong to.

The Hokule’a voyaging canoe, image courtesy of Waka moana.

Today, the ancient practice of Polynesian wayfinding has been revived. As of 2017, the voyaging canoe, Hokule’a, completed a 3 year sailing journey across the world. Using traditional polynesian navigation methods, the journey covered 40,300 nautical miles. Not only was it a technological feat, but a cultural milestone.⁶ Nainoa Thompson, captain of the vessel, was taught by master navigator Mau Piailung in a tradition that comes across as equally spiritual and scientific.

Mau shared knowledge of what he called “the talk of the sea”. For example, he could lie in the hull and identify the waves hitting the vessel, and from that he knew the direction of the wind and how to steer the canoe.⁷ It seems almost too ethereal to be a scientific endeavor. Yet, it is observation of the patterns of the earth that allowed Polynesian navigators to succeed, and that is indeed science. ⁷ 

When we think of navigation and exploration, do we remember the Polynesians? Or have we forgotten the extraordinary achievements of people who do not belong to the status quo? Our traditional understanding of human exploration is incomplete without Polynesian navigation. When we lose historical stories such as these, we forget that scientific thought exists outside the western framework we believe it belongs to.

References:

1. Martins K. Polynesian Navigation & Settlement of the PacificAugust 7 2020. Available from: https://www.ancient.eu/article/1586/polynesian-navigation–settlement-of-the-pacific/.
2. Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-western cultures. Second edition. ed. Berlin ;: Springer; 2008.
3. Smith SP. Hawaiki: The Original Home of the Maori, With a Sketch of Polynesian History. Christchurch, NZ: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited; 1904. Available from: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SmiHawa-t1-body-d7-d8.html.
4. Harris R. The Art of Navigation. Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine [Internet]. December 2007. Available from: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/art-navigation.
5. Powell A. The history and mystery of Polynesian navigation2020. Available from: https://phys.org/news/2019-03-history-mystery-polynesian.html.
6. Gray J. Voyaging canoe returns to Hawaii after three-year trip across the globeJune 17 2017 2020. Available from: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/voyaging-canoe-returns-hawaii.
7. Allen J, Bilderback J. Mālama Honua: Hōkūleʻa’s Voyage of Hope – Patagonia2016 2016-04-14. Available from: https://www.patagonia.com/stories/malama-honua-hokule%ca%bbas-voyage-of-hope/story-29586.html.

The above image of The Hokule’a voyaging canoe is courtesy of Waka moana, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.