Bikinian boats

Bikinian boats in 1946

Historical image

"Stone money transport to Yap Island in Micronesia"

Taken from Wikipedia article on Oceania (Micronesia segment):  "Image extracted from page 125 of Südsee-Erinnerungen (1875-1880). Mit einem einleitenden Vorwort von Dr. O. Finsch…, by HERNSHEIM, Franz. Original held and digitised by the British Library."

I've posted this image so as to allow it to be blown up to its full size and enjoyed.  Note two accuracies:  The stone or coral foundations on which the homes are built (peculiar to Yap) and also the leeward curve in the very tip of the mast - characteristic of Carolinian canoes - to allow clearer wind into the sail.

Bikini - their home

Bikinians leaving their home in 1946...

From the video:  World of Discovery - Bikini: Forbidden Paradise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehjy0NeoB44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehjy0NeoB44https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehjy0NeoB44

Planing by proa...

I happened to be reading an article at Wikipedia about the venerable Sunfish and it mentioned that the design was one of the earliest production planing hulls (under sail).  So I followed the link to planing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planing_(boat)

Was delighted to read, "The earliest documented planing sailboat was a proa built in 1898 by Commodore Ralph Munroe; it was capable of speeds of more than twice the hull speed. "

(The Commodore's boat had a flat bottom.)

In case you've never read about his boat here's an small excerpt and the link -

"With the growing wind on the quarter, outrigger in air and spray flying, they were traveling at a very high speed for a small boat. Then suddenly, with a little extra puff, the fore part of the boat lifted under them and, skimming the surface like a skipping stone, leaped into a surprising burst of speed. The sea beneath swept by like a cataract, vague and foam-streaked, the tugging steering oar cut a clear open cleft in the water and threw up on either side a long rainbow of spray, while the boat itself rested so lightly on the water that she made little, if any, disturbance in her flight. They stole hurried, ecstatic glances at each other. How fast were they going? What sort of creature was this proa? And what on earth was she doing?"

- from The Cheap Pages - http://www.thecheappages.com/proa/commodore.html#1900

  

On the subject of planing hulls - IMHO, while there's no denying that the deep-V'd native hulls are the most beautiful and offer the bonus of great lateral resistance for windward work, there's one advantage that a flat-bottomed hull will have and that is the ability to plane.  

Any finely proportioned hull, i.e. with a high length-to-beam ratio, will be able to go faster and faster as the driving power increases and there is no "hull speed barrier" so to speak, which must be overcome.  But while the knive-edged V hull keeps slicing through the water, a flat-bottomed hull will climb on top of the water and really go at that point.  It's a lot of fun!

Carving the hull

From the digital collection here:
http://digicoll.man oa.hawaii.edu/kiste/Pages/browseby.php?s=browse&tid=793&route=http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/kiste/Pages/viewtext.php?s=browse&tid=263&route=browseby.php&start=60&category=6&by=category&s=browse#.php&start=12&category=6&by=category

Note the long shafted daze for carving the interior

Smoothing the exterior

Not knowing much about their boatbuilding method, I`m a bit puzzled by the last two photos.

Sharp hull...

The phrase "knife edge" comes to mind...

'nough said

From the digital collection at:
http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/kiste/Pages/viewtext.php?s=browse&tid=820&route=browseby.php&start=24&category=6&by=category&s=browse#

Evolution of Pacific Culture

Published on May 18, 2012

Video 06 of the Introduction to Ethnobotany series. Presented by Will McClatchey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uF99ww72Og

Walap of the Marshalls

A nice sketch of a model walap from Canoes of Oceania, Haddon & Hornell.

 

An oddly similar view of a real vessel found here:  http://www.realmagick.com/proa-history-of-the-proa/

More historical pics

From the Hawaiian & Pacific Images pages of the digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu site.

Found here:
http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/pacific/Pages/browseby.php?s=browse&by=category&category=41

Dumont d'Urville?  Caroline Islands, circa 1835

same as above

Artist unknown, Caroline Islands canoes, circa 1819

Artist unknown, Caroline Islands, 1819

Historical pics from the Jack Tobin Collection

From the Jack Tobin Marshall Islands Anthropology Collection found here:
http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/tobin/index.php?c=1

"Dr. Tobin extensively documented his time in Micronesia, both in written and photographic form. The photos in this collection date from 1950 through 1985, with the majority taken between 1950 and 1972. These images include not only the Marshalls, but also various atolls and islands throughout what was then the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands"

Starting here are pics of "Boats/Ships - Marshall Islands"
http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/tobin/Pages/browseby.php?s=browse&by=category&category=31

Carolines canoe

Another classic shot showing the beautiful Carolinian sail shape.  Found here:  http://www.multihull.de/proa/history/p_history.htm

Canoes of the Kiribati Islands

Check out this great piece on Kiribati canoe construction at Jane Resture's site:
http://www.janeresture.com/kiribati_canoe/history.htm

With the slightest of a breeze

And the greatest of ease

She skims over the shimmering blue

A most remarkable craft

From the fore to the aft

The incredible Kiribati canoe!

Like a frigate bird on a wing

The rigging and sails sing

A melodious song of the deep

About the spirits of the sea

And what has come to be

The incredible Kiribati canoe!

Poem by Dame Dr. Jane Resture

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...

Mau and adzes

Mau hafting an adze and basalt blades from a Hawaiian site.

More historical canoe pics

From the Jack Tobin Marshall Islands Anthropology Collection found here:
http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/tobin/index.php?c=1

Best historic photo site ever (Marshall Islands)



Marshallese korkor, photo probably pre-1905


Dirk H. R. Spennemann's excellent site Marshall Islands Historical Images:
http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/histpix/histpix.html



Photograph of Jaluit Harbour, taken before the typhoon of 1905. Note the large number of canoes.


The above listed site is found on this page of Digital Micronesia:
http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/Marshalls_History.html



The island of Airõk, Maoleolap Atoll, with Canoes.

Nuclear Diaspora: Bikini and Enewetak

*Note: Diaspora definition: "A diaspora (from Greek διασπορά, "scattering, dispersion") is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands". (Wikipedia)



These photos are from the Nuclear Diaspora: Bikini and Enewetak collection at: http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/kiste/

This is one of many interesting digital and digitized collections of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library:
http://library.manoa.hawaii.edu/research/digicoll.html

Canoe on beach and SAR plane in lagoon in background

Abner's canoe

Jorri's canoe under construction



Canoes of the Grand Ocean

This boat was encountered by the French corvette, the Astrolabe, in 1826 and the print was published in 1843.  From Canoes of the Grand Ocean published by Archaeopress, publishers of British Archaeological Reports.

Link to the PDF document:

http://www.netspeed.com.au/horridge/papers/canoes08.pdf

Another PDF file referring to a number of publications:

http://hspls.org/hp/Bibliographies/Pacnavast07.pdf

Marshall Islands canoe

Two views of a Marshall Islands canoe in a display at the Chicage Field Museum. Found in the Files at Proafile - submitted by kayaker37.

Note the narrow beam and the weatherboards.

The stone money of Yap

An article on the stone money of Yap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_money

- from Wikipedia