Week 12 Overheads

Pre-Industrial Human Navigation

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The Drinking Gourd

Southern USA slave song

Oral tradition

Celestial navigation

• Drinking gourd = big dipper

Landmarks

• Old Man = Mississippi river
• River ending between two hills
• A second river, dead trees

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Puluwat Navigation

26 foot sailing cannoes

500 mile voyages

Features specific to Caroline Islands

Waves, wind, clouds, stars, sun, moon, birds, fish, and water

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Dead Reckoning System

Three phases:

1. Initial course plan and heading
2. En-route course and position keeping
3. Homing on destination

Celestial Cues

Near equator

• Stars rise and set near verticle
• Selected stars as "compass"

Star compass

32 bearings defined by navigation stars

Systematic

Accurate (to a point)

Each island associated with a navigation star

• e.g., Satawal, due west of Puluwat is "under the setting of Altair"

Star courses given in pairs

• Return star not necessarily opposite of outbound star

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"Landmarks"

Reefs

• Common seamarks
• Seen by day
• Produce whitecaps
  • Seen by day
  • Felt/heard by night
• Unique outlines

Waves

1. Big wave
   • Steep, short, distinctive
   • Regularly from east
2. North wave
   • Long swelling wave
   • From north-east
3. South wave
   • Weak, irregular
   • From east-south-east

Sun

• For heading only when low in sky
  • Two definite directions
  • Yearly variation

Seabirds

• Species specific behaviours
  • Flight distances
  • Nesting places

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The Navigators

Maps

Mnemonics

Islands, mythical animals, reefs, imaginary islands

Navigators use metaphores

• Myths, chants, recitals, spells, etc.

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Etak

Gives distance to destination

Divides journey into segments

Etaks can be different lengths

Line canoe up with reference island ... each island passed is another etak.