Pacific Explorers Essay, Research Paper
Andrew Sharp claims in his Ancient Voyagers in the Pacific
published in 1956 that the Pacific Islanders did not possess
the necessary navigational and sailing technology to
deliberately navigate the distances between islands of the
Pacific when colonizing these islands. He claims
colonization was random and accidental. However, more
recent studies from 1972 on of Pacific navigation suggest
deliberate navigation and colonization was possible and did
take place. These studies have been supported by
reenactments of voyages, computer simulations, and newly
acquired information regarding preparation for distant
voyages. Andrew Sharp supports his claim of accidental
colonization by citing numerous examples of lost voyagers
landing on populated islands, their testimony or second
hand information recorded by Captain Cook. Sharp claims
the only distant voyages were confined to "Western
Polynesia-Fiji and the Tahiti-Tuamotu archipelago" (Sharp
1956:2). He states that the longest offshore voyages made
without landing on intermediate islands included distances
of up to three hundred miles, separating Tonga, Fiji,
Samoa, Rotuma and the Ellice Islands, and distances up to
two-hundred and thirty miles, separating Tahiti from the
Tuamotu islands. Sharp refers to an account by Captain
Cook’s interpreter, Omai, who discovered three of his own
countrymen from Tahiti, who landed on Atiu, six hundred
miles away. They were the sole survivors of twenty people,
blown off course in a sudden gale while attempting to
voyage from Tahiti to Raiatea, one hundred miles away.
Sharp relies on generalizations given in Cook’s logs
referring to colonization of the remote islands of Polynesia.
Cook refers to the accidental voyage to Atiu stating "this
will serve to explain, better than a thousand conjectures of
speculative reason, how the detached parts of the earth,
and in particular, how the South Seas, may have been
peopled; especially those that lie remote from any inhabited
continent, or from each other." (Sharp 1956:4) Sharp uses
examples procured from Cook’s log book, citing
observations of Anderson, ship surgeon in charge of natural
history observations. "The knowledge they have of other
islands is no doubt, traditional; and has been communicated
to them by the natives of those islands, driven accidentally
upon their coasts, who besides giving them the names,
could easily inform them of the direction in which the places
lie from whence they came, and of the number of days they
had upon the sea." (Sharp 1956:7) Sharp discusses the
navigational technology of the Tongans, with most of his
knowledge based on Cook’s observations. "The sun is their
guide by day and the stars at night. When these are
obscured, they have recourse to the points from which the
winds and waves come upon the vessel. If during the
obstruction the winds and waves should shift. . . they are
then bewildered, frequently miss their intended port and are
never heard of more." (Sharp 1956:16) Sharp further states
that if difficulties existed in water the Tongans were
presumably more familiar with then even more difficulties
existed in sailing in "unknown seas, since on long voyages
good visibility is not assured." (Sharp 1956:16). Sharp
claims the canoes used, efficient enough to take the
Tongans off-shore, would not hold against bad weather.
Furthermore, the Tongans related to Cook when courses
were reset using the stars, using directional angles with
east-west or north-south lines or points on the horizon
marked by stars, they resulted in faulty courses. Sharp
claims the "primitive voyager" did not have precise means
of determining distance traveled, and when the distance of
the journey was increased the degree of error for dead
reckoning increased. Sharp’s biased views are best
described in his own words, "Centuries of navigation by the
highly sophisticated system of latitude and longitude, which
took 5,000 years to evolve, have made us forget the
limitations of off-shore navigation without instruments, as
well as its romance and achievements." (Sharp 1956:17)
Recent published studies since 1972 of navigational
technology in Polynesia contradict Sharp’s findings and
shed light on the capabilities of Polynesians as navigators
supporting deliberate colonization of the remote Polynesian
islands. This more recent evidence contradicts statements
and reasoning by Sharp, supporting the probability of
deliberate distant voyages and colonization. Seaworthiness
was necessary to make distant voyages. Edward Doran Jr.,
in his 1976 publication "Wa, Vinta and Trimaran",
describes the Caroline Islanders’ technique for righting an
overturned canoe. "The mast is rigged from under side of
float to a sheer legs erected above the bottom of the
capsized boat. Four men climb quickly up the inclined mast
their weight forcing the float to submerge to a point directly
underneath the main hull. . ." taking the canoe to an righted
position. (Doran 1976:45) It seems reasonable that on any
occasion of sailing out to sea, righting ones vessel would be
a necessary skill. Edwin Doran’s study included the wa or
single outrigger canoes of the Caroline Islands and the vinta
or double rigger canoes of the Sulu Archipelago. The
vessels had "excellent speed and performance,
seaworthiness, and general voyaging capacity of the wa
and the vinta cannot be seriously questioned. Their
performance in comparison with modern sailing yachts is
remarkably good." (Doran 1976:45) Geoffr
The Prehistoric Explanation and Colonisation of the Pacific
points out the materials with which the Pacific canoes were
built allowed them to give rather than break; furthermore, in
gale winds averaging 34 knots, although a canoe could not
sail, it could survive intact. (Irwin 1992:44) Some canoes
could easily average 100 – 150 sea miles in twenty four
hours. "Some of the first Europeans to reach Polynesia saw
canoes over 30m long while others saw local canoes
literally sail rings around their own more ponderous
vessels." (Irwin 1992:43) David Lewis, in his 1972
publication, We, the Navigator: The Ancient Art of
Landfinding in the Pacific, discusses the frequency of
overcast days stating that while at sea for 273 days
"position could not be determined on 7, or one in 39."
Furthermore, he states that when the sun was not obscured
the whole day, but just during the desired sight time; the
stars were not obscured on corresponding nights. (Lewis
1972:82) Swells could guide the vessel when the stars or
sun were obscured. The use of swells was "more feel than
sight?which emphasizes the value of the art on overcast
nights." Lewis describes how the navigator Tevake would
lie down in the outrigger and direct the helmsman by
"analyzing the roll and pitch of the vessel as it corkscrewed
over the waves." (Lewis 1972:86) R. Gerard Ward, John
W. Webb and M. Levison in their publication "The
settlement of the Polynesian Outliers: A Computer
Simulation", work with computer simulations of the
settlement of Polynesia to show that drift or accident alone
would be extremely unlikely to bring people into the
"Polynesian triangle from East, North, West, or South,
though it could account for settlement throughout the
Fiji-Tonga- Samoa groups once an entry had been made to
one the three archipelagos. . . Hawaii, New Zealand and
Easter Island could not have been settled by a drift
process." (Ward et al. 1976:57) The individuals who ran
the canoes spent their whole life learning the complex
sidereal compass as used in the Caroline Islands and
steering by swells as used in the Marshall Islands. (Irwin
1992:45) A lack of knowledge in some cases led to lost
navigators. As Lewis points out, "Accidental voyages
involving inshore canoes and untrained Islanders must have
occurred with increasing frequency as the general
navigational level declined and specialized deep-sea canoes
became obsolete. Rash adventurers in unsuitable vessels,
and ill-equipped fishermen, would readily get blown away
and often lack the skill to come again to land." (Lewis
1972:25) This could explain the many references that
Sharp takes from Cook’s logs, such as the discovery by
Omai of three of his fellow islanders from Tahiti who were
stranded on Atiu. Irwin points out that colonization was
deliberate "because explorers took with them the plants
and animals, women and men necessary to establish viable
settlements". (Irwin 1992:7) In some cases this was made
possible by using canoes that had huge storage capacities;
food during the long-term Carolinian voyages might include:
pre-cooked fermented breadfruit, pounded taro, drinking
and eating coconuts and baked fish, while the Santa Cruz
"sea-going diet. . . included a variety of thick pastes of
puddings of banana or taro in coconut oil, dried breadfruit
chips and nyali nuts. All these are said to keep indefinitely.
They are supplemented by baked sweet potato and
breadfruit and plentiful supply of drinking coconuts", in
other cases Gilbertese created a paste from Pandanus that
would keep for two months. (Lewis 1972:274) It is
obvious that the diet of the voyager was created to stay
edible for long periods of time when stored in the proper
area of the canoe. This, coupled with the average speeds of
Micronesian and Polynesian canoes’ "100-150 miles a day,
this would give a range, in winds that were not contrary, or
3000-4500 miles" covering the furthest reaches of
Polynesia. (Lewis 1972:275) Colonization of the Pacific
required an extensive knowledge of the celestial system and
intimate knowledge of the Pacific. Preparation for
successful distant voyages required careful practice,
experience and careful preparation of supplies. Scholars
have rejected Andrew Sharp’s view that the Pacific was
colonized by accident. Most scholars today support
deliberate colonization of the Pacific with reenactments,
computer simulations, and newly acquired knowledge
regarding the preparation process for distant voyages.
Bibliography Doran, E. Jr. "Wa, Vinta, and Trimaran."
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Geoffrey. The Exploration and Colonisation of the Pacific
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