Micronesian navigation

Micronesian navigation techniques are those navigation skills used for thousands of years by the navigators who voyaged between the thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean in the subregion of Oceania, that is commonly known as Micronesia. These voyagers used wayfinding techniques such as the navigation by the stars, and observations of birds, ocean swells, and wind patterns, and relied on a large body of knowledge from oral tradition. These navigation techniques continued to be held by Polynesian navigators and navigators from the Santa Cruz Islands. The re-creations of Polynesian voyaging in the late 20th century used traditional stellar navigational methods that had remained in everyday use in the Caroline Islands.

Early voyaging

Based on the current scientific consensus, the Micronesians are considered, by linguistic, archaeological, and human genetic evidence, to be a subset of the sea-migrating Austronesian people, who include the Polynesian people and the Melanesian people. Austronesians were the first people to invent oceangoing sailing technologies (notably double-hulled sailing canoes, outrigger boats, lashed-lug boat building, and the crab claw sail), which enabled their rapid dispersal into the islands of the Indo-Pacific. From 2000 BCE they assimilated (or were assimilated by) the earlier populations on the islands in their migration pathway. The Mariana Islands were first settled around 1500 to 1400 BCE by migrants departing from the Philippines. This was followed by a second migration from the Caroline Islands during the first millennium CE, and a third migration from Island Southeast Asia (likely the Philippines or eastern Indonesia) by 900 CE. People from the Caroline Islands had regular contact with the Chamorro people of the Marianas Islands, as well as rarer voyages into the eastern islands of the Philippines.

20th Century navigators

Mau Piailug was the best-known teacher of traditional, non-instrument wayfinding methods for open-ocean voyaging. He was a master navigator from the Carolinian island of Satawal. He earned the title of master navigator (palu) by the age of eighteen in 1950; which involved the sacred initiation ritual known as Pwo. As he neared middle age, he grew concerned that the practice of navigation in Satawal would disappear as his people became acculturated to Western values. In the hope that the navigational tradition would be preserved for future generations, Mau shared his knowledge with the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS). With Mau's help, PVS recreated and tested lost Hawaiian navigational techniques on the Hōkūle‘a, a modern reconstruction of a double-hulled Hawaiian voyaging canoe. Hipour was a master navigator from the navigational school of Weriyeng and the island of Puluwat. In 1969, Hipour accompanied David Henry Lewis on his ketch Isbjorn from Puluwat in Chuuk to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, and back, using traditional navigation techniques; a distance of approximately 1,000 km (621.37 mi) each way. In April 1970, Repunglug and Repunglap, half-brothers, navigated from Satawal to Saipan in a traditional Carolinian outrigger canoe, which was approximately 26 feet (7.92 m) long, and equipped with a canvas sail. This voyage was understood on Satawal to be the first time in the 20th century that a traditional canoe had made the voyage to Saipan. While they used a small boat compass, they relied on their knowledge of traditional stellar navigation and wave patterns to sail approximately 52 miles (84 km) to West Fayu, where they waited for favourable winds before continuing on the 422 miles (679 km) voyage to Saipan. They later made the return journey to Satawal. In the early 1970's there were at least 17 men who could serve as a master navigator (palu) for voyages to the Marianas. They include Sautan on Elato; Orupi, a Satawal man residing on Lamotrek; Ikegun, Epaimai, Repunglug, Repunglap, and Mau Piailug from Satawal; Ikuliman, Ikefie, Manipi, Rapwi, Faipiy, Faluta, Filewa and Hipour, all from Puluwat; Yaitiluk from Pulap, and Amanto from Tamatam. There were also six or seven apprentice navigators learning the art of traditional navigation on Satawal, including Epoumai and Repunglug's son Olakiman.

Navigational techniques

The Carolinian navigation system, used by Mau Piailug, relies on navigational clues using the Sun and stars, winds and clouds, seas and swells, observing the flight path of birds, and the patterns of bioluminescence that indicated the direction in which islands were located, which skills were acquired through rote learning passed down through teachings in the oral tradition. Once they had arrived fairly close to a destination island, the navigator would have been able to pinpoint its location by sightings of land-based birds, the cloud formations that form over islands, as well as the reflections of shallow water made on the undersides of clouds. Subtle differences in the colour of the sky also could be recognised as resulting from the presence of lagoons or shallow waters, as deep water was a poor reflector of light while the lighter colour of the water of lagoons and shallow waters could be identified in the reflection in the sky. These wayfinding navigation technique relies heavily on constant observation and memorization. Navigators have to memorize where they have sailed from in order to know where they are. The sun was the main guide for navigators because they could follow its exact points as it rose and set. Once the sun had set they would use the rising and setting points of the stars. When there were no stars because of a cloudy night or during daylight, a navigator would use the winds and swells as guides.

Navigation by the stars

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