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Checked and found a few more links about ancient Polynesian navigation methods: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~adamson/vol43a1.html http://www2.hawaii.edu/~adamson/vo

by vram22 9y ago

Checked and found a few more links about ancient Polynesian navigation methods: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~adamson/vol43a1.html http://www2.hawaii.edu/~adamson/vol43a1.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation

contingencies 9y ago
A lot of material available is too heavily weighted towards Hawaii for obvious reasons (US / research funding), but in fact the range of vessels and navigation techniques in the region is large and the best / most detailed information on a surviving navigation tradition emerged from Micronesia (as documented in The Navigator mentioned by the parent). Recently me and one other guy created the featured page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_(watercraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_(watercraft) which is the traditional watercraft of that area. Much of the information came from http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/ http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/. I tried to visit the Spanish National Library in Madrid to search for other early sources but the uncultured swine wouldn't let me in without a tertiary institution affiliation!
- vram22 9y ago
  Cool about the Wa. I got a ride on a catamaran once, in South India, when our final year class (high school) was there at a beach on a picnic. Asked the fishermen to let me hop on, and they did. I was sitting in the front, astride the log, with my legs in the water almost up to waist level. We went out to sea for a kilometer or two at least, then came back after a while. Good fun. It was something like this, but narrower in the front: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Tamil_catamaran.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Tamil_ca...
  - contingencies 9y ago
    Interesting. The multihull technique is essentially ascribed to the Austronesians but was first recorded in historic times by westerners visiting Tamil areas, possibly Sri Lanka. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship too. There is some theory that certain early Roman ships were actually catamarans. This early patent from the 1870s describes a multihull: https://www.google.com/patents/US189459 https://www.google.com/patents/US189459
    - vram22 9y ago
      Cool. I saw this in the article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship#Borobudur_ship_expedition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship#Borobudur_ship_... where it says that a British sailor created a reconstruction of that type of ship and sailed in it from Indonesia via Madagascar, and then around the Cape of Good Hope to Ghana. Reminded me of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki voyage :), which I had read about in a National Geographic article about the voyage some years ago.

by vram22 9y ago

contingencies 9y ago

A lot of material available is too heavily weighted towards Hawaii for obvious reasons (US / research funding), but in fact the range of vessels and navigation techniques in the region is large and the best / most detailed information on a surviving navigation tradition emerged from Micronesia (as documented in The Navigator mentioned by the parent). Recently me and one other guy created the featured page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_(watercraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_(watercraft) which is the traditional watercraft of that area. Much of the information came from http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/ http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/. I tried to visit the Spanish National Library in Madrid to search for other early sources but the uncultured swine wouldn't let me in without a tertiary institution affiliation!

vram22 9y ago
Cool about the Wa. I got a ride on a catamaran once, in South India, when our final year class (high school) was there at a beach on a picnic. Asked the fishermen to let me hop on, and they did. I was sitting in the front, astride the log, with my legs in the water almost up to waist level. We went out to sea for a kilometer or two at least, then came back after a while. Good fun. It was something like this, but narrower in the front: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Tamil_catamaran.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Tamil_ca...
- contingencies 9y ago
  Interesting. The multihull technique is essentially ascribed to the Austronesians but was first recorded in historic times by westerners visiting Tamil areas, possibly Sri Lanka. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship too. There is some theory that certain early Roman ships were actually catamarans. This early patent from the 1870s describes a multihull: https://www.google.com/patents/US189459 https://www.google.com/patents/US189459
  - vram22 9y ago
    Cool. I saw this in the article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship#Borobudur_ship_expedition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship#Borobudur_ship_... where it says that a British sailor created a reconstruction of that type of ship and sailed in it from Indonesia via Madagascar, and then around the Cape of Good Hope to Ghana. Reminded me of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki voyage :), which I had read about in a National Geographic article about the voyage some years ago.