Navigating by the Stars

BY AWAKE! WRITER IN HAWAII

CENTURIES before Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, Polynesian voyagers were sailing across thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean in wooden canoes, navigating among the islands within the Polynesian triangle. How did the ancient Polynesians discover the scores of island groups that are inside this vast region? Did they stumble onto these islands by accident?

If the Polynesians had a definite plan in mind regarding their destination, how were they able to navigate their canoes with no charts, magnetic compass, or other instruments that Western explorers used?

The answer not only reveals the ingenuity of Polynesian methods of navigation but also heightens our appreciation for the orderliness and structure of our world and the universe.

Two Early Theories

Not all scientists and scholars are ready to accept the idea that the Polynesians were able to navigate purposefully from island to island. Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian explorer, theorized that Polynesians were originally from South America and that the voyagers found their way to the Pacific islands by drifting along with prevailing ocean currents and winds.

To test this theory, Heyerdahl and a crew of five Scandinavians set sail from the west coast of Peru on a raft made of balsa wood. They proceeded to sail out into the Pacific Ocean until their raft was carried by the westward currents. After 101 days and 4,300 miles [7,000 km] of sailing, Heyerdahl and his crew landed on the Raroia atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago. Thus, in a dramatic way, Heyerdahl demonstrated the possibility that the Polynesians came from South America by drifting on prevailing ocean currents. But not all scholars were convinced by Heyerdahl’s demonstration.

One such skeptic was Andrew Sharp, a historian from New Zealand. In his book Ancient Voyagers in Polynesia, written in 1963, he cited numerous archaeological and linguistic findings as evidence supporting the more conventional view among historians and experts​—that the Polynesians originally came from the west. However, he also discounted any views that credited the Polynesians with being great voyagers.

While Sharp allowed for the possibility that the voyagers were able to guide themselves on short trips, he claimed that there was no way that the Polynesians could have had any firm idea where they were headed for a journey beyond 300 miles [500 km]. He felt that any islands they encountered over a longer trip were located purely by chance.

 Experimental Voyages

Believing that Heyerdahl and Sharp had not given enough credit to the ancient Polynesians as voyagers and navigators, Dr. David Lewis, from New Zealand, decided to demonstrate the validity of ancient navigational methods. Sailing on a modern catamaran with no compass and navigating only by the stars, sun, and ocean swells, he successfully sailed from Tahiti to New Zealand in 1965, a voyage of over 1,700 miles [3,000 km]! Lewis’ journey stimulated interest in traditional navigational techniques and ancient migration routes. One person who took notice of this accomplishment was Ben Finney.

A professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii, Finney had studied ancient Polynesian canoe design and building for many years. He and a few of his colleagues at the Polynesian Voyaging Society built a 60-foot- [20 m] long double-hulled canoe, which they named Hokule‛a, a Hawaiian word meaning “Star of Joy.” Although the Hokule‛a was made of synthetic materials instead of traditional ones such as koa wood, the vessel was designed to replicate ancient canoes in build, appearance, and performance.

The maiden voyage of the Hokule‛a took place on May 1, 1976, when it departed from the Hawaiian island of Maui and headed toward Tahiti. Because the Polynesian art of finding one’s way and navigating by the stars had been lost, navigating expertise had to be found outside the Hawaiian Islands. Thus, Mau Piailug, a master navigator from Micronesia, was chosen to guide the Hokule‛a on its initial trip. It took the Hokule‛a 31 days to complete the voyage of several thousand miles to Tahiti.

The successful trip sparked a cultural revival throughout Polynesia and a renewed interest in ancient navigation and canoe-building. In the years that followed, similar voyages were made between islands in the Polynesian triangle, such as Hawaii, New Zealand (also known as Aotearoa), Rarotonga (in the Cook Islands), and Easter Island (also known as Rapa Nui). Many of these voyages were led by Nainoa Thompson, a Hawaiian-born navigator who studied under Piailug.

Ancient Methods of Navigation

Just how did the Polynesians successfully navigate over thousands of miles without instruments? According to Dennis Kawaharada of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, the sun was the main guide. The exact points where it rises and sets indicate the directional points during the daytime. At night, the navigator directs the course of the canoe by using the rising and setting points of the stars.

Even if there is no star rising or setting in the particular direction that the canoe is headed, other stars in the sky can be used as points of reference. Besides the stars, navigators also use the moon and the five visible planets as additional aids for staying on course.

During midday and on cloudy nights when no stars are visible, the navigator can guide the canoe using winds and ocean swells (in relation to the rising and setting points of the sun). According to Kawaharada, “swells are waves that have travelled beyond the wind systems or storms that have generated them, or waves that persist after the generating storm has died away.”

Therefore, swell patterns are a more reliable point of reference than waves, which are generated by variable local winds. Because the swells move in a straight direction, the navigator can orient the canoe to head in a desired direction. The physical motion of the canoe as it travels into or against the ocean swells tells the navigator if the vessel is headed in the proper direction.

Evidence suggests that the ancient Polynesians were able to use celestial bodies and forces of nature to navigate their canoes deliberately over thousands of miles. But as ingenious as the navigators were, none of their methods would have worked if there had not been patterns that governed the indicators they used, such as the rising and setting point of the stars.

 Over 2,700 years ago, the prophet Isaiah gave credit to the Grand Creator, Jehovah God, for the orderliness that is seen in the sky, when he wrote: “Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.”​—Isaiah 40:26; Psalm 19:1.

The psalmist was also inspired to write that God “is counting the number of the stars; all of them he calls by their names.” (Psalm 147:4) The Polynesians recognized the orderliness of the stars in the sky above them and were able to utilize them in conducting their vast exploration of the Pacific Ocean. Does this not give credence to the idea that our universe is the product of a Creator who is highly intelligent and organized?

[Map/Pictures on page 23]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Fiji

POLYNESIAN TRIANGLE

Hawaii

Samoa

Tonga

New Zealand

Cook Islands

Tahiti

Marquesas Islands

Tuamotu Archipelago

Tubuaï Islands

Easter Island

[Picture]

The double-hulled canoe “Hawai‘iloa” was built in 1993 with more traditional materials than its sister boat, the “Hokule‘a”

[Credit Line]

Hawai‘iloa on pages 21 and 23: © Monte Costa