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We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific
This new edition includes a discussion of theories about traditional methods of navigation developed during recent decades, the story of the renaissance of star navigation throughout the Pacific, and material about navigation systems in Indonesia, Siberia, and the Indian Ocean.
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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1010 people want to read
About the author
David Lewis
10 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
David Henry Lewis, DCNZM (1917 - 23 October 2002) was a sailor, adventurer, doctor, and Polynesian scholar. He is best known for his studies on the traditional systems of navigation used by the Pacific Islanders. His studies, published in the book We, The Navigators, made these navigational methods known to a wide audience and helped to inspire a revival of traditional voyaging methods in the South Pacific.
David was born in Plymouth, England and raised in New Zealand and Rarotonga. He was sent to the Polynesian school in Rarotonga, where he apparently developed his appreciation for Polynesian identity and culture. He remained a New Zealander throughout his life, though he eventually retired to Queensland.
After an adventurous childhood and teenage years including mountaineering and skiing in New Zealand, and a multi-hundred mile kayak journey, he traveled to England in 1938 for medical training at the University of Leeds, and served in the British army as a medical officer. After the war, he worked as a doctor in London, and was involved in setting up the National Health Service.
Sailing
With the announcement in 1960 of the first single-handed trans-Atlantic yacht race (from Plymouth, UK to the US East Coast), Lewis decided to enter in a small 25-foot boat. Following a series of accidents, including a dismasting shortly after leaving, he finished third (Francis Chichester came first), as described in his book The Ship Would Not Travel Due West.
He later decided to sail around the world with his second wife and two small daughters, and built the ocean cruising catamaran Rehu Moana, for this purpose. After an initial voyage towards Greenland, he entered the 1964 single-handed trans-Atlantic race and picked up his family in the United States. They circumnavigated by way of the Strait of Magellan, the South Pacific and the Cape of Good Hope. (See his book Daughters of the Wind.) This was the world’s first circumnavigation by multihull.
Following his longstanding interest in old navigational methods used to explore and populate the Pacific, he employed similar techniques for the Tahiti-New Zealand leg of the Rehu Moana voyage without using a compass, sextant or marine chronometer.
Study and literary career
In 1967, Lewis acquired another boat, Isbjorn, to embark on further field studies of traditional Polynesian navigation. With a research grant from the Australian National University and with his second wife, two daughters and 19-year-old son, he set out for the Pacific again to study traditional navigation techniques. While there, he was welcomed into the cultures of various Pacific Islanders such as Hipour, who taught him their navigational lore, heretofore largely unrecognized by those outside Polynesia. Lewis chronicled this voyage and research in various articles and in his books We, the Navigators and The Voyaging Stars. Lewis’ voyages and resulting books gave inspiration to the revival in traditional Polynesian canoe building and voyaging, which was essentially extinct in many parts of the Pacific.
In 1976, Lewis joined Polynesian Voyaging Society's first experimental voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti on Hokule'a. But this voyage was marred by a clash of egos between David and the Hawaiian navigators. Nevertheless, the team successfully navigated using traditional methods to Tahiti. Lewis departed from Hokule'a in Tahiti and went on to work in his own research.
Along with Dr. Marianne (Mimi) George, he proposed that original Polynesian navigation is still alive in the Polynesian outlier Taumako.
Lewis’ next adventure in 1972 was an attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica single-handed. For this he acquired a small steel yacht, named Ice Bird. Facing treacherous conditions in the Southern Ocean after departing, Lewis was not heard from for 13 weeks but eventually managed to sail the Ice Bird to the Antarc
David Henry Lewis, DCNZM (1917 - 23 October 2002) was a sailor, adventurer, doctor, and Polynesian scholar. He is best known for his studies on the traditional systems of navigation used by the Pacific Islanders. His studies, published in the book We, The Navigators, made these navigational methods known to a wide audience and helped to inspire a revival of traditional voyaging methods in the South Pacific.
David was born in Plymouth, England and raised in New Zealand and Rarotonga. He was sent to the Polynesian school in Rarotonga, where he apparently developed his appreciation for Polynesian identity and culture. He remained a New Zealander throughout his life, though he eventually retired to Queensland.
After an adventurous childhood and teenage years including mountaineering and skiing in New Zealand, and a multi-hundred mile kayak journey, he traveled to England in 1938 for medical training at the University of Leeds, and served in the British army as a medical officer. After the war, he worked as a doctor in London, and was involved in setting up the National Health Service.
Sailing
With the announcement in 1960 of the first single-handed trans-Atlantic yacht race (from Plymouth, UK to the US East Coast), Lewis decided to enter in a small 25-foot boat. Following a series of accidents, including a dismasting shortly after leaving, he finished third (Francis Chichester came first), as described in his book The Ship Would Not Travel Due West.
He later decided to sail around the world with his second wife and two small daughters, and built the ocean cruising catamaran Rehu Moana, for this purpose. After an initial voyage towards Greenland, he entered the 1964 single-handed trans-Atlantic race and picked up his family in the United States. They circumnavigated by way of the Strait of Magellan, the South Pacific and the Cape of Good Hope. (See his book Daughters of the Wind.) This was the world’s first circumnavigation by multihull.
Following his longstanding interest in old navigational methods used to explore and populate the Pacific, he employed similar techniques for the Tahiti-New Zealand leg of the Rehu Moana voyage without using a compass, sextant or marine chronometer.
Study and literary career
In 1967, Lewis acquired another boat, Isbjorn, to embark on further field studies of traditional Polynesian navigation. With a research grant from the Australian National University and with his second wife, two daughters and 19-year-old son, he set out for the Pacific again to study traditional navigation techniques. While there, he was welcomed into the cultures of various Pacific Islanders such as Hipour, who taught him their navigational lore, heretofore largely unrecognized by those outside Polynesia. Lewis chronicled this voyage and research in various articles and in his books We, the Navigators and The Voyaging Stars. Lewis’ voyages and resulting books gave inspiration to the revival in traditional Polynesian canoe building and voyaging, which was essentially extinct in many parts of the Pacific.
In 1976, Lewis joined Polynesian Voyaging Society's first experimental voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti on Hokule'a. But this voyage was marred by a clash of egos between David and the Hawaiian navigators. Nevertheless, the team successfully navigated using traditional methods to Tahiti. Lewis departed from Hokule'a in Tahiti and went on to work in his own research.
Along with Dr. Marianne (Mimi) George, he proposed that original Polynesian navigation is still alive in the Polynesian outlier Taumako.
Lewis’ next adventure in 1972 was an attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica single-handed. For this he acquired a small steel yacht, named Ice Bird. Facing treacherous conditions in the Southern Ocean after departing, Lewis was not heard from for 13 weeks but eventually managed to sail the Ice Bird to the Antarc
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 30, 2009
This a special book for me in a couple of ways. First, the name of my sailboat, Kavenga, which I have owned since 1983 came from its pages. Second, when we were cruising the South Pacfic in 1992 we were privileged to meet one of the main characters featured in the book, Hippour, one of the last surviving natural navigators on his home island of Puluwat Atoll, near Truk in Micronesia.
If you have a true interest in navigation (in this age of GPS and electronic chart plotters) you will find this a wonderful book. It is amazing how the Melanesian and Polynesian people developed and refined extremely sophisticated methods for navigating without benefit of any instruments. Sadly when we met Hippour (believe he was 68 at the time)he told us that he could no longer interest any of the young men on the island to become his students. For that reason alone I am greatful that Dr. Lewis took the time to document for us, and for them, the incredible techniques they developed which otherwise would be lost to history.
Because it is a documentary effort, the reading is sometimes slow with all the bibliographic references and footnotes, but for the reader willing to plow through, it is nothing short of amazing to learn the various techniques these island voyagers developed over a period of more than 1,000 years.
If you have a true interest in navigation (in this age of GPS and electronic chart plotters) you will find this a wonderful book. It is amazing how the Melanesian and Polynesian people developed and refined extremely sophisticated methods for navigating without benefit of any instruments. Sadly when we met Hippour (believe he was 68 at the time)he told us that he could no longer interest any of the young men on the island to become his students. For that reason alone I am greatful that Dr. Lewis took the time to document for us, and for them, the incredible techniques they developed which otherwise would be lost to history.
Because it is a documentary effort, the reading is sometimes slow with all the bibliographic references and footnotes, but for the reader willing to plow through, it is nothing short of amazing to learn the various techniques these island voyagers developed over a period of more than 1,000 years.
November 6, 2021
It's rare that a book can be considered a gift to humanity, but that's the case with We, The Navigators by David Lewis. Relying somewhat on written observations by other westerners, but primarily through painstaking work finding those very few men throughout Melanesia and Polynesia who were still trained in the traditional navigation techniques, Mr. Lewis documents in great detail how ancient Pacific Islanders likely navigated through the enormous stretch of territory that is the Pacific Ocean. His book among others has been the inspiration for a new generation of navigators throughout the Pacific who now practice these traditional techniques, helping set in motion a navigational, and indeed cultural, renaissance throughout the region, particularly in Hawaii. At the end of the book, Mr. Lewis notes the death of Tevake, one of the navigators Mr. Lewis learned from, and says, "The world of seafaring is diminished by his passing." The same can be said for David Lewis, who died in 2002.
May 4, 2019
Quite simply, magnificent. Lewis's account of traditional Pasifika navigational techniques is thorough, humane and engrossing. I wish I could see the sea like those men and women could! They knew the sequence of rising and setting stars that marked the direction from island to island. They knew which start stood at the zenith over each latitude. They could orient themselves by the rocking of their canoes in the deep ocean swells. They could find land by observing the behaviour of seabirds, watching the formation of clouds, or by waiting patiently for rain and nightfall to bring forth bioluminescence in the sea. Their boats were light, flexible, and seaworthy. They preserved pandanus or breadfruit or nuts to provision themselves for weeks or months at sea. They could find their way again after a storm. They could, and did, settle lands scattered across a third of the earth's surface.
Lewis was a humble guy, and is rightly in awe of the navigational lore of Hipour and Tevake, his key informants. He let them pilot his boats on two voyages in 1967 and 1969, and his account of their knowledge is sympathetic. Not only was he a fine sailor, but he was a deep reader, avid writer and clearly a charismatic person. All across the Pacific, he picked up tales and pieces of information from the peoples of the islands, weaving them together with his own experience of sailing with Tevake and Hipour to tell a breathtaking story.
Seriously, this is a book of wonders.
Read
October 24, 2016This book describes the ancient art of navigation practiced by Pacific islanders for hundreds of years. When the early European explorers communicated with these seal faring people travelling in their outrigger canoes they refused to believe the distances the native sailors claimed to have traversed. After all, they had no charts, no compasses, no concept on longitude and latitude. These so called primitive people were able to navigate the Pacific Ocean from island to island using the stars, wave patterns, ocean currents, weather, flight habits of birds; methods they learned by word of mouth as the knowledge was passed from generation to generation. We, the Navigators describes the skills used by the islanders, the construction of the canoes and sails, and how their navigating abilities were put to the test by allowing them to guide modern ships across the ocean using only their native skills.
February 16, 2019
This is an excellent overview of navigation techniques employed by the traditional navigators of Oceania. The book is organized by navigational technique and generally follows Lewis's own voyages with Micronesian navigators in the Caroline Islands. Lewis is very explicit about accounting for techniques specific to particular cultural groups, and still, his generalizations are well supported. It is a dense technical read and will be most enjoyed by readers who have first-hand experience on the water and on the wind.
March 24, 2019
Consider this: while the Europeans were struggling across the Atlantic, these people were covering vast swaths of the Pacific Ocean. Their boats were faster and better than anything the "civilized" world had. Plus, you get to learn about "sailing by the balls."
June 21, 2025
Polynesians and Micronesians have a history of traveling great distances by canoe. Such trips were not chance or accidental trips, but deliberate and repeated multi-day trips. In recent decades, this tradition has diminished, leaving few men with knowledge of the techniques that had been used for navigation.
Lewis has studied these navigation techniques, working with a few of those who had practiced these methods, most notably Hipour and Tevake. He carried out a few trips with these navigators to understand the traditional techniques. A 1630 mile trip from Rarotonga to New Zealand culminated in a landfall whose latitude was only 26 miles in error.
1 - Rediscovery of a vanishing art
Lewis describes the current state of traditional navigation, and who the current navigators are. One was Hipour who, like most of his highly trained contemporaries, is illiterate, his vast store of learning being entirely memorized.
In Micronesia, astronomy owes its development to the requirements of navigation. Knowledge of the stars, their names and movements, is very largely restricted to professional navigators.
2 - Steering by the stars
Navigation is done primarily by the stars. Bearing is associated with stars on the horizon. As the stars rise higher their bearing changes, and so reference is changed to another star closer to the horizon. It is rare to require more than ten guide stars for a night's sailing. The star path, the succession of rising or setting guiding stars down which one steers, was known as the "avei'a" by the Tahitians.
In the Carolines a question about a star course was usually answered with the name of a single star point. Further questioning elicited detailed sailing instructions about reference islands, currents and the best time of the year for the passage.
It is unclear as to whether the star courses allowed for leeway due to current and winds. There is some evidence that star courses had a form for direct navigation and separate forms to allow for leeway. In areas where trips were taken throughout the year, different stars appear at night and so multiple star courses are needed.
The navigators orient themselves through a mental star or sidereal compass. It has 32 points of interest corresponding to specific stars used in navigation. The stars are important due to their position and so some fourth and fifth magnitude stars are named, while brighter stars such as Sirius and Rigel are not. The cardinal compass point and basis of the Carolinian
navigational system is the position where Altair rises which is actually 8.5 degrees north of true east.
Wind compasses have been described from the Southern Cooks, Pukapuka, the Tokelaus, and Tahiti. The compass is divided into twelve points, the wind from each point having a name which reflects the direction and the force. The winds of the tropical Pacific are relatively steady in direction and their variation in response to fronts from higher latitudes fairly predictable.
While the sun can used for reference, it changes through the seasons and it is checked against the stars.
"The Tahitians of 1769 knew a very large part [of the stars] by their Names and the clever ones among them will tell in what part of the heavens they are to be seen in any month when they are above the horizon; they also know the time of their annual appearing and disappearing to a great nicety, far greater than would be easily believed by an European astronomer."
3 - Subsidiary directional guides
During the daytime the stars are not visible. Navigation is then done by observing the ocean swells. Swells are waves that have traveled beyond the wind systems that generated them. Their origin is in regions of strong and persistent winds, the more important swells originating in 'permanent' weather systems such as the Trades. Swells from relatively distant origins are long in wavelength and move past with a slow swelling undulation, while wind waves and swells from nearby sources are shorter and steeper. Swells can generally be perceived even during prolonged gales.
The ocean wave and swell pattern is almost always a complex one, with several systems that differ in height, length, shape, and speed moving across each other from different directions at the same time. Navigators will spend much time sensing the swells, eventually knowing them and naming them.
4 - Dead reckoning
While the star paths provide directional guidance, allowance must be made for drift due to ocean currents. Lewis describes the complexity of the currents in Polynesian waters, and how they change seasonally.
"Clearly it was only through the trial and error of innumerable canoe voyages that the Carolinians were able to elucidate the most complex of Pacific currents for a 1900 mile east-west span — more than the distance from London to Kiev or New York to the Rockies — and about 840 miles south to north."
A major method used to gauge the currents is back sighting. Once the direction of navigation is established, a sight is taken directly to the rear on the land and the degree of change allows the current to be determined. the currents are more variable near the islands; once out to sea, the currents are more dependable.
Valuable indicators are the "sea marks" - the sinuous lines of flotsam that collect at the junctions of opposing currents.
Navigation must allow for leeway - the angle between the direction steered and the direction made good. This is done by observing the angle of the wake from the reciprocal of the course.
The Polynesian navigators demonstrated a great ability to accurately estimate the speed and the distance made good, based on observations of indicators such as spray, turbulence, and wind pressure.
5 - Orientation concepts in dead reckoning
The most detailed facts about a Pacific orientation system come from the Caroline Islands in Micronesia, where it may be studied in operation today.
The navigators learn the direction of every known island from every other one. They visualize the locations of islands with reference to themselves. During travel they visualize the islands moving around them - fundamentally different than the European system of visualizing one's location and movement across a map. The navigators were unable to understand the idea of maps.
The etak system divides a trip into a number of etaks. Each etak visualizes an island moving in location from being under one star point to being under a second star point. Therefore, one etak along the course corresponds to the apparent 'movement' backwards by one star point of the reference island. The navigator's reckoning of the canoe's speed will mainly determine his estimate of the number of star points past which the reference island has 'moved'.
A voyage may involve as many as ten etaks. The first and last etaks are different. They are of ten miles in length, the first concentrating on the final sighting of the departure island while the last makes use of bird sightings.
When tacking to an island, the navigators tack from one star point over the island to another star point, thus making shorter tacks as they approach their destination.
Lewis notes that the etak system is fundamentally different from the European concept of maps. "Contact with European seamen has not enabled navigators like Hipour to abstract data from European charts and incorporate it effectively into their own system.
6 - Island blocks — birds — clouds
While stars give the course to travel, landfall is determined by the very important land signs, especially clouds, waves, and birds.
These determinants make an island larger than it's true size. Where islands are in a group they form an island block, a larger target than a single island.
'Birds are the navigator's very best friends', stated Teeta. Mixed flocks of white terns and noddies are found up to 20 or 25 miles offshore. Within 30 or perhaps 50 miles of shore boobies in threes and fours are common, but they are not found on all islands. Frigate-birds may be sighted 75 miles from land. Lewis notes incidentally that tame frigate birds are kept in the Gilbert Islands, and had been used to pass messages in the past.
Land clouds are important in sighting islands. Clouds move rather slowly over an island, as if stuck. Lewis describes a number of cloud forms seen. The clouds vary in color depending on the vegetation on the island and whether there is a large lagoon. The white sand and the still lagoon of an atoll reflect the tropical sun-glare upwards, forming a "loom" on the horizon.
7 - Swell patterns and phosphorescence
The ocean swell is both reflected and refracted when it intersects an island. These distortions can be detected 13 - 20 miles from the island, doubling the normal sight range. Lewis goes into some detail as to what these swell patterns look like in a variety of situations.
Deep phosphorescence, known as Te lapa, is different from the familiar surface phosphorescence left in the wake of boats. Depth is between a foot and a fathom. Two types of flashes occur that are directional toward land and toward reefs. The phenomenon is so marked on dark rainy nights that it is then customary to steer by it. This indicator is unknown outside of Polynesian navigation.
Navigators also pay attention to drift objects such as freshly broken branches that the current has moved from land. The sea's colour alters when you pass over the edge of a reef 20 to 30 fathoms down, allowing sub-surface features to be used as waypoints.
8 - Expanded target landfall in practice
Lewis describes a number of actual long distance voyages in detail, showing how the navigators brought a number of techniques together to make accurate landfalls on distant islands after long voyages.
9 - Position fixing at sea
It appears that various navigators used zenith stars, "stars on top". When at their zenith, these stars points down to an island - its "overhead star". For example, Rigel is the star on top of the island Tikopia. The remaining evidence for this concept is fragmentary and not always consistent. The author's tests of the technique showed an accuracy of an accuracy of one half degree or 30 sea miles.
10 - Voyaging canoes
Micronesian or Polynesian voyaging canoes were essentially planked vessels, with broad strakes fastened to each other and to ribs and keel by lashing with coconut fiber. They were 50 to 70 feet in length.
Eastern and Western Polynesian twin-hulled canoes were built to tack in the European manner. Micronesian, Outlier Polynesian and Melanesian canoes altered direction by changing the identical ends, keeping the outrigger upwind.
Cook stated that Tahitian pahi could sail much faster than his ship. They are able to sail over 100 miles in a day.
11 - Reasons for voyaging
Long distance voyaging was done for a number of reasons. Lewis notes that "All over Oceania a wandering spirit persists to this day." Voyages were also taken for raiding and conquest, trading, deep sea fishing and by exiles.
12 - The long seaways of Eastern Polynesia
Lewis uses this knowledge of Polynesian navigation methods to provide insight as to the likelihood of travel between widely separated island groups. The Hawaiian islands were originally peopled from the Marquesas, but it must have been a one-way venture as the return route would have been very difficult. In contrast, Tahitian-Hawaiian is very practical and there is traditional evidence indicating a prolonged relationship between these two areas occurring between the 12th and 14th centuries A.D.
"It is hoped that this study will go some way towards demonstrating the navigational feasibility of fairly intensive inter-island contact over considerable stretches of ocean."
Lewis has studied these navigation techniques, working with a few of those who had practiced these methods, most notably Hipour and Tevake. He carried out a few trips with these navigators to understand the traditional techniques. A 1630 mile trip from Rarotonga to New Zealand culminated in a landfall whose latitude was only 26 miles in error.
1 - Rediscovery of a vanishing art
Lewis describes the current state of traditional navigation, and who the current navigators are. One was Hipour who, like most of his highly trained contemporaries, is illiterate, his vast store of learning being entirely memorized.
In Micronesia, astronomy owes its development to the requirements of navigation. Knowledge of the stars, their names and movements, is very largely restricted to professional navigators.
2 - Steering by the stars
Navigation is done primarily by the stars. Bearing is associated with stars on the horizon. As the stars rise higher their bearing changes, and so reference is changed to another star closer to the horizon. It is rare to require more than ten guide stars for a night's sailing. The star path, the succession of rising or setting guiding stars down which one steers, was known as the "avei'a" by the Tahitians.
In the Carolines a question about a star course was usually answered with the name of a single star point. Further questioning elicited detailed sailing instructions about reference islands, currents and the best time of the year for the passage.
It is unclear as to whether the star courses allowed for leeway due to current and winds. There is some evidence that star courses had a form for direct navigation and separate forms to allow for leeway. In areas where trips were taken throughout the year, different stars appear at night and so multiple star courses are needed.
The navigators orient themselves through a mental star or sidereal compass. It has 32 points of interest corresponding to specific stars used in navigation. The stars are important due to their position and so some fourth and fifth magnitude stars are named, while brighter stars such as Sirius and Rigel are not. The cardinal compass point and basis of the Carolinian
navigational system is the position where Altair rises which is actually 8.5 degrees north of true east.
Wind compasses have been described from the Southern Cooks, Pukapuka, the Tokelaus, and Tahiti. The compass is divided into twelve points, the wind from each point having a name which reflects the direction and the force. The winds of the tropical Pacific are relatively steady in direction and their variation in response to fronts from higher latitudes fairly predictable.
While the sun can used for reference, it changes through the seasons and it is checked against the stars.
"The Tahitians of 1769 knew a very large part [of the stars] by their Names and the clever ones among them will tell in what part of the heavens they are to be seen in any month when they are above the horizon; they also know the time of their annual appearing and disappearing to a great nicety, far greater than would be easily believed by an European astronomer."
3 - Subsidiary directional guides
During the daytime the stars are not visible. Navigation is then done by observing the ocean swells. Swells are waves that have traveled beyond the wind systems that generated them. Their origin is in regions of strong and persistent winds, the more important swells originating in 'permanent' weather systems such as the Trades. Swells from relatively distant origins are long in wavelength and move past with a slow swelling undulation, while wind waves and swells from nearby sources are shorter and steeper. Swells can generally be perceived even during prolonged gales.
The ocean wave and swell pattern is almost always a complex one, with several systems that differ in height, length, shape, and speed moving across each other from different directions at the same time. Navigators will spend much time sensing the swells, eventually knowing them and naming them.
4 - Dead reckoning
While the star paths provide directional guidance, allowance must be made for drift due to ocean currents. Lewis describes the complexity of the currents in Polynesian waters, and how they change seasonally.
"Clearly it was only through the trial and error of innumerable canoe voyages that the Carolinians were able to elucidate the most complex of Pacific currents for a 1900 mile east-west span — more than the distance from London to Kiev or New York to the Rockies — and about 840 miles south to north."
A major method used to gauge the currents is back sighting. Once the direction of navigation is established, a sight is taken directly to the rear on the land and the degree of change allows the current to be determined. the currents are more variable near the islands; once out to sea, the currents are more dependable.
Valuable indicators are the "sea marks" - the sinuous lines of flotsam that collect at the junctions of opposing currents.
Navigation must allow for leeway - the angle between the direction steered and the direction made good. This is done by observing the angle of the wake from the reciprocal of the course.
The Polynesian navigators demonstrated a great ability to accurately estimate the speed and the distance made good, based on observations of indicators such as spray, turbulence, and wind pressure.
5 - Orientation concepts in dead reckoning
The most detailed facts about a Pacific orientation system come from the Caroline Islands in Micronesia, where it may be studied in operation today.
The navigators learn the direction of every known island from every other one. They visualize the locations of islands with reference to themselves. During travel they visualize the islands moving around them - fundamentally different than the European system of visualizing one's location and movement across a map. The navigators were unable to understand the idea of maps.
The etak system divides a trip into a number of etaks. Each etak visualizes an island moving in location from being under one star point to being under a second star point. Therefore, one etak along the course corresponds to the apparent 'movement' backwards by one star point of the reference island. The navigator's reckoning of the canoe's speed will mainly determine his estimate of the number of star points past which the reference island has 'moved'.
A voyage may involve as many as ten etaks. The first and last etaks are different. They are of ten miles in length, the first concentrating on the final sighting of the departure island while the last makes use of bird sightings.
When tacking to an island, the navigators tack from one star point over the island to another star point, thus making shorter tacks as they approach their destination.
Lewis notes that the etak system is fundamentally different from the European concept of maps. "Contact with European seamen has not enabled navigators like Hipour to abstract data from European charts and incorporate it effectively into their own system.
6 - Island blocks — birds — clouds
While stars give the course to travel, landfall is determined by the very important land signs, especially clouds, waves, and birds.
These determinants make an island larger than it's true size. Where islands are in a group they form an island block, a larger target than a single island.
'Birds are the navigator's very best friends', stated Teeta. Mixed flocks of white terns and noddies are found up to 20 or 25 miles offshore. Within 30 or perhaps 50 miles of shore boobies in threes and fours are common, but they are not found on all islands. Frigate-birds may be sighted 75 miles from land. Lewis notes incidentally that tame frigate birds are kept in the Gilbert Islands, and had been used to pass messages in the past.
Land clouds are important in sighting islands. Clouds move rather slowly over an island, as if stuck. Lewis describes a number of cloud forms seen. The clouds vary in color depending on the vegetation on the island and whether there is a large lagoon. The white sand and the still lagoon of an atoll reflect the tropical sun-glare upwards, forming a "loom" on the horizon.
7 - Swell patterns and phosphorescence
The ocean swell is both reflected and refracted when it intersects an island. These distortions can be detected 13 - 20 miles from the island, doubling the normal sight range. Lewis goes into some detail as to what these swell patterns look like in a variety of situations.
Deep phosphorescence, known as Te lapa, is different from the familiar surface phosphorescence left in the wake of boats. Depth is between a foot and a fathom. Two types of flashes occur that are directional toward land and toward reefs. The phenomenon is so marked on dark rainy nights that it is then customary to steer by it. This indicator is unknown outside of Polynesian navigation.
Navigators also pay attention to drift objects such as freshly broken branches that the current has moved from land. The sea's colour alters when you pass over the edge of a reef 20 to 30 fathoms down, allowing sub-surface features to be used as waypoints.
8 - Expanded target landfall in practice
Lewis describes a number of actual long distance voyages in detail, showing how the navigators brought a number of techniques together to make accurate landfalls on distant islands after long voyages.
9 - Position fixing at sea
It appears that various navigators used zenith stars, "stars on top". When at their zenith, these stars points down to an island - its "overhead star". For example, Rigel is the star on top of the island Tikopia. The remaining evidence for this concept is fragmentary and not always consistent. The author's tests of the technique showed an accuracy of an accuracy of one half degree or 30 sea miles.
10 - Voyaging canoes
Micronesian or Polynesian voyaging canoes were essentially planked vessels, with broad strakes fastened to each other and to ribs and keel by lashing with coconut fiber. They were 50 to 70 feet in length.
Eastern and Western Polynesian twin-hulled canoes were built to tack in the European manner. Micronesian, Outlier Polynesian and Melanesian canoes altered direction by changing the identical ends, keeping the outrigger upwind.
Cook stated that Tahitian pahi could sail much faster than his ship. They are able to sail over 100 miles in a day.
11 - Reasons for voyaging
Long distance voyaging was done for a number of reasons. Lewis notes that "All over Oceania a wandering spirit persists to this day." Voyages were also taken for raiding and conquest, trading, deep sea fishing and by exiles.
12 - The long seaways of Eastern Polynesia
Lewis uses this knowledge of Polynesian navigation methods to provide insight as to the likelihood of travel between widely separated island groups. The Hawaiian islands were originally peopled from the Marquesas, but it must have been a one-way venture as the return route would have been very difficult. In contrast, Tahitian-Hawaiian is very practical and there is traditional evidence indicating a prolonged relationship between these two areas occurring between the 12th and 14th centuries A.D.
"It is hoped that this study will go some way towards demonstrating the navigational feasibility of fairly intensive inter-island contact over considerable stretches of ocean."
February 23, 2019
How was Polynesia populated? How did ancient people go hundreds or thousands of miles out of sight of land, arriving at a new island accurately? David Lewis sailed with some of the few remaining Polynesian navigators, observing their techniques as they made successful landfalls after voyages of hundreds of miles. The book is highly technical from a navigational point of view, making it all the more credible. Compared to Heyerdahl's narratives of his voyages, We the Navigators is more satisfying from the standpoint of understanding the navigational aspects.
Lewis also brings then-current research on Polynesian navigation into the discussion, including what may have been some of the earliest computer simulations. The prevailing theory before Lewis was that the Polynesian diaspora was the result of chance, random encounters with islands. His work, supported by the computer models, completely dispels this notion, showing how intentional migration was completely feasible and that capable navigators lived (and still did) to guide these voyages. As a side note, modern DNA analysis of Polynesians completely vindicates this theory.
Lewis also brings then-current research on Polynesian navigation into the discussion, including what may have been some of the earliest computer simulations. The prevailing theory before Lewis was that the Polynesian diaspora was the result of chance, random encounters with islands. His work, supported by the computer models, completely dispels this notion, showing how intentional migration was completely feasible and that capable navigators lived (and still did) to guide these voyages. As a side note, modern DNA analysis of Polynesians completely vindicates this theory.
September 29, 2019
Absolutely outstanding. While an extraordinarily niche topic, the author starts out by laying out his bonafides and those of the locals he's learning from before systematically setting out topic by topic the craft and the techniques of ancient Pacific navigation.
While of necessity a fairly technical topic, the narrative is brisk and dotted with sufficient anecdotes to be both entertaining and fascinating; at no time was I lost or unable to follow the concepts.
A well written survey of an extraordinary skill.
While of necessity a fairly technical topic, the narrative is brisk and dotted with sufficient anecdotes to be both entertaining and fascinating; at no time was I lost or unable to follow the concepts.
A well written survey of an extraordinary skill.
September 13, 2023
I found some sections interesting, others so boring they actually put me to sleep. The author falls into the trap common for academics, believing the if he doesn't know or can't figure it out, that no one can. Since no one told him how to do something, he assumes that no one knows.
There are some interesting tips on navigation.
There are some interesting tips on navigation.
October 4, 2020
Fascinating explanation of traditional navigation techniques used by island people from the Pacific - interpreting clouds, swell, birds, following star compasses and much more. Gives colour to the early sea voyages to New Zealand were possible.
November 10, 2023
Good book. A little technical so it took a while to finish but overall very good. Need to read a second time to get a better grasp of the navigational concepts.
April 5, 2024
Comprehensive and detailed exposition of Polynesian voyaging techniques, based on the Author's first-hand collection of nautical lore from indigenous experts and practitioners.
Read
December 7, 2025Hyper-fixation ended - keeping this saved for when the hyper-fixation restarts.
March 29, 2014
Lewis assembles a lot of information -- from his own practical experience sailing in the South Pacific, conversations with indigenous canoe voyagers, ethnographers, and historical records -- on what is known of navigational techniques to speculate on how the area was populated and what sorts of relations existed between the peoples in the past. Though the details are hard to follow (the reader has to cope with nautical terms as well as native names for stars and directions) and the overall organization of the book is topical, rather than regional or historical, a good index and table of contents make cross-reference easy.
The book performs a wonderful service, gathering the practices of non-European navigational techniques at a point where practitioners had begun to abandon them and, in its own way, spurring the renaissance of Far Voyaging which began with the Hokulea's bicentennial journey, which is described in one of the final chapters.
The book performs a wonderful service, gathering the practices of non-European navigational techniques at a point where practitioners had begun to abandon them and, in its own way, spurring the renaissance of Far Voyaging which began with the Hokulea's bicentennial journey, which is described in one of the final chapters.
July 21, 2015
I liked this book a lot. The author travelled with a number of different South Pacific navigators. He watched and asked questions. Then he does a very good job of explaining the answers. Not an easy task. The navigators did not use charts so they did everything in a very different way than Western navigators did. They did not have compasses either.
My favorite moment is when one of the teachers explains the best way to really feel the direction of the waves is to stand on deck and feel which way your balls swing. Worked for him, will have to try it myself.
My favorite moment is when one of the teachers explains the best way to really feel the direction of the waves is to stand on deck and feel which way your balls swing. Worked for him, will have to try it myself.
May 28, 2009
Out of all the anthropology I've read this last si years I'd say this one is the best of the batch. It's an incredible page turner, entirely debunking any myths of polynesian exploration as anything but intentional, and relaying plenty of first hand accounts of traditional boat building and navigation systems. It could have been a dry yawn of a book, but instead it just makes me want to put everything aside and go to sea - well, which I did, I guess...
Want to read
October 17, 2015(Referred to in Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.)
October 10, 2012
Lewis's work in rediscovering and documenting the ancient Polynesian art/skill of wayfinding comes through loud and clear as the depth and detail of his studies fill the pages of this excellent book dealing with the ancient art of landfinding in the pacific.
September 30, 2014
Great book. I just finished reading the first edition, which was relatively easy to come by. Too bad the second edition is not available at any of my local libraries; I would like to pick up a copy to read the new material.
January 26, 2008
Excellent and informative account of traditional seamanship and navigation techniques among the Pacific Islanders.
May 1, 2008
honest, factual based account of what pre-european contact polynesians navigators probably did and how well they could do it
July 16, 2010
fantastic insight into navigation history particularly for anyone whos sails the central pacific ocean
February 24, 2013
It is amazing how much knowledge of the natural world supposedly "primitive" cultures have. We are just beginning to catch up to them with all our technological wonders.
August 24, 2015
Fabulous education for anyone interested in navigation - before the skills are lost!
October 26, 2015
Read this to my kid who (amazingly) sat all the way through it, despite a lack of a traditional narrative structure. Fascinating stuff.
August 15, 2019
My all-time favorite book
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