CANOES

The canoe was probably the most essential element in the Polynesian culture.  Remarkable navigators, their open ocean outrigger canoes were far from being rudimentary and their single hull with outrigger or double hulled could attain a length of 60 meters.  

The nature, shape and the construction of these vessels that permitted the migrants to voyage across the Pacific, is still relatively unknown.  We can only suppose that these ancient navigators navigated on double canoes or single with outrigger as did their descendants.  

The first written descriptions of these canoes were made by the early European navigators who observed these canoes in Tahiti in 1767. All the explorers were struck by the big role the canoe played in the daily life of the Tahitians.  

These ancient canoes are classified according to their plan, their mode of propulsion : double hulled canoes with paddlers or sail and single hulled with outrigger with paddlers or sail.

• The small simple outrigger paddling canoe (va’a): measured 5 to 9 meters, and was  used for short distances and inshore fishing.  Only one tree trunk (such as  the tamanu or purau) was needed to build the hull and the outrigger, as on all canoes,  was placed on the left. 

• The simple outrigger with sail (va’a motu), measured 10 to 13 meters and was used for fishing and short voyages.  The single hull was heightened with fitted planks lashed with coconut sennit and if necessary was lengthened by extending the hull with another tree trunk.  The front boom supported a narrow platform which enabled a man to provide a counter weight if necessary.  Sails differed according to archipelago.

• The Outrigger canoe with sail (va’a motu nui), measured 14 to 18 meters and, depending upon its size,  was manoeuvred by five to twelve men and used for fishing, combat and voyaging between atolls.  To change it from a war canoe to a voyaging canoe the two combat platforms were removed.  A 13 to 17 meter canoe could carry thirty or so men. The hull was made from one or two trunks the sides raised with lashed on planks.  A platform was built on the booms that connected the outrigger float to the hull and a bamboo shelter was added to give protection to supplies and people.  The sails varied according to archipelago.

• The Double canoe with sails (tipairua) for transportation and  pahi for voyaging were very large canoes  sometimes attaining 25 meters in length.  It was a sort of catamaran with one or two sails and operated by four to twenty men, depending upon its size. It was on this type of canoe that the great voyages of discovery and settlement probably took place.  It could carry 60 people along with the  supplies needed for the trip.

• The double canoe with paddlers (pahi tamai) were practically exclusively for war.  They were of two sorts: one with a round bottom exclusively for war and one with a V shaped bottom which could be used for war or for voyaging.

Outrigger canoes

The outrigger canoe is present in all areas of cultural and linguistic stocks of population from austronesian origin, from the islands of Madagascar, Andaman and Nicobar in the extreme west in the Indian Ocean, to the Melanesian islands in the south of the Pacific Ocean, Micronesian in the north and Polynesian in the east. 

 A Symbol 

Named va'a has, the outrigger canoe is also called vaka, waka, she is the symbol of the fundamental bond that the Man of the islands maintains with the ocean. Means of transport, of communication, wars and exchanges, she is the essence of the Polynesian civilization. 

 A Territory 

Means of transport of humans, plants and animals, necessary to their subsistence during the migrations, the canoe also conveys their social, political and religious organization through the Pacific. Thus, va'a indicates the canoe, but not exclusively. The concept is much broader, referring to men of the same group and within their territory, named “va’a mata’eina’a ” in the Society Islands. The canoe of voyage receives the name of the line, name which will also be given to the land left behind, and will become the name of the conquered land. 

 A Boat 

The canoe always rests on the same naval architecture design : a narrow hull coupled to a float. That the hull is connected to a float or to another hull, or that two floats support a platform reserved to the sailors, the principle remains the same: several millenia later, Westerners will manufacture the fastest boats in the world in that matter and that will name these boats catamarans or multihulls. 

Construction of the canoe

 Traditional materials 

All of the necessary materials to build a canoe, from the hull, to the sails and cordage, were of plant origin.  Not having any metal, tools were made from stone, wood, shell and fishbone.

 Canoes Constructers

The Polynesian navy carpenters selected the wood according to the projected use of the canoe (fishing, inter-islanders voyaging, rituals). Thus, the hull of a deep-sea boat was worked in dense and hard wood (…). For the float, the carpenters sought, within the limit of acceptable resistance, an essence of lesser density, therefore of greater buoyancy, and if possible not very porous. The cross-pieces of the beam combines flexibility, as to absorb the mechanical constraints, with the needed lightness. 

The construction of a large canoe was entrusted to specialized workers, who possessing great social prestige, were followed by the grand priests and the work group was accompanied through out by invocations to the gods.  A special shelter was built for the construction and various assemblages whilst the cords and sails were made on the side.  Once finished, the canoe was given a name and dedicated to a god.  

 Phase of construction 

Traditional technique of cutting boards consisted in splitting into two a trunk using corners of hard wood. Each half trunk was then squared and thinned to obtain a board. The Polynesian carpenter assembled the multiples [boards and] parts of the hull according to two techniques of binding known as ‘right through’ or ‘internal bindings’. 

·       The first consisted in boring the boards in all their thickness and on each edge; bonds then passed through the holes; the sealing could be reinforced by placing slats of bamboo or flexible wood into the joints. 

·       The technique of internal bindings, bulges were arranged on the circumference of the boards at the time of the shaping; in these bulges, perforations were practiced in which bonds passed, invisible from the outside. 

Then, whatever the chosen method, the CHEVILLES were inserted in each perforation, the hull was caulked, and frames added for reinforcement. 

 The launching of a canoe

The launching of a large canoe (pahi) was done in the presence of the high chief and the entire population of his district.  The chief builder would invoke the aid of the gods for the occasion and then the canoe, placed on coconut trunk rollers, would be pushed into the sea by all the craftsmen.  

A launching was an exceptional event and gave place to big feasts and interminable ceremonies.  

LINK: http://archive.hokulea.com/ike/kalai_waa/kane_evolution_hawaiian_canoe.html