Jeff Evans - Polynesian Navigation and the Discovery of New Zealand: and the Discovery of New Zealand

I would like to shed some light on traditional Polynesian navigation. Ancient navigation was but dead reckoning, without compass, and integrating the observation of the stars. The sky, when clear, can give a lot of information on numerous destinations but even then, one must have a lot of experience.

The technique of this ancient art was based on a very good knowledge of the movements of the stars and, of course, geography. It is against logic to say geography doesnt come into navigation in todays age, because all the islands of our world are known. There can no longer be voyages of discovery. Today no navigator can escape the fact that he knows where he is sailing to. In fact, before starting on a journey, a navigator must know about his destination and prepare his route according to that knowledge. But there is still an incredible amount of skill involved no less than when our ancestors were sailing hundreds of years ago. Navigators must still have a very good knowledge of the heavens and the sea.

When passing on knowledge about how to navigate from one destination to another, the ancient people taught partly through oral traditions, but mainly through practice. This was necessary because when the sky is covered over with cloud, one has to find clues in the movements of the wind and sea when deciding on the course to sail. This is often too hard to explain verbally.

For those who might be interested, the practice of navigation without instruments is still taught at various islands throughout the Pacific in traditional settings, as well as in the more modern setting of Honolulu, and it is a good thing.

In 1983, I joined in partnership with my son-in-law Matahi Brightwell and the partial sponsorship of OTAC (Tahiti Cultural Centre) to complete the construction of a 22-m double canoe which Matahi had started in New Zealand. The canoe, Hawaiki-nui, was constructed using logs hollowed out with axes and adzes and entirely held together by sennit ropes (woven coconut fibres) and wooden dowels. The hulls were assembled together in the ancient traditional way, and the rigging was held together by manila ropes. No metal fastenings were used, and at that particular time, one could say that it was the only double canoe built by traditional techniques and materials.

Hawaiki-nui was launched in 1984, and in late 1985, after twelve months of trials and refinements, we departed on a voyage from Tahiti to Aotearoa, via Raiatea and Rarotonga. We were to follow the course believed to have been used hundreds of years ago by the ancestors of the Maori during their migration voyages to Aotearoa. That we were able to complete the voyage unaided and relying entirely on Polynesian navigation techniques perhaps goes some way to proving the sailing ability of our ancestors, as well as the durability of their waka.

Our voyage created a lot of interest throughout the Pacific, and a number of projects sprung up building canoes for offshore sailing. This concerted effort was very positive, and it is hoped that other Polynesian islands will also try to follow that path. My only regret is that none of these canoes followed the same traditional construction that was used in Hawaiki-nui.

Francis Cowan, 1998

Francis Cowan is recognised as one of the greatest Polynesian navigators and canoe builders of modern times. He took part in the Tahiti-nui expedition from Tahiti to Chile in the 1950s, and led the Hawaiki-nui expedition that is described in part two of this book.