~ Sustainable Seafaring from Oceania. History, Design, and Relevance ~

October 29, 2015

Mokil and seafaring

Mokil is one of the more eastern islands in the Carolines.  It's actually in the Pohnpei district. Don't know how much seafaring they still do but I did find an old film (from the 40's?) which showed a lot of proa action.  It's here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP64wcCKZcA
Film by Melvin Sloan and Conrad Bentzen, Project by J.E. Weckler, 1948, 60 mintues

The people are doing their best for the camera and there are lots of interesting scenes.  At around 41 and 42 minutes there are good racing scenes, including a shot of capsize recovery.  Of note is that they're recovering the small canoe in the same manner I have used:  by sinking the hull rather than the float to right the boat.



There's also a film here called The Last Sailing Canoe on Mokil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TESimBxah80

Their canoes seem to have more in common with the Marshallese style.  Not unexpected given the proximity.

Model canoe, with paddle and bailer
Caroline Islands, Mokil
Collected by Saul H. Riesenberg, 1947, acc. 1948.
11–3263a-c
The model above was found here:

http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/exhibitions/cent/gallery3_2_1.html

And from the Last Sailing Canoe video:


P.S. In finally getting to listen to this film, at one point the narrator mentions that they got this style of canoe from the Marshalls and have only had it about one generation...