RESTORING TRADITIONAL SEAFARING and NAVIGATION in GUAM By
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MICRONESIAN JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Vol. 5, nº 1/2 Combined Issue November 2006 MICRONESIAN VIEWPOINT RESTORING TRADITIONAL SEAFARING AND NAVIGATION IN GUAM by Lawrence J. Cunningham, Ward Kranz, and Manny Sikau University of Guam Traditional Seafaring Society, Guam Chamorro sailing vessels impressed early visi- makers, but also were spontaneous, gleeful, and tors to the Mariana Islands more than any playful. other aspect of the Chamorro culture. Hun- The typical outrigger canoe was 26 to 28 dreds of proas came out to greet and trade with feet long and less than two feet wide. The larg- the foreign explorers. These famous European est proa recorded in the early historical record navigators consistently described the was 42 feet in length. The long, deep, and rela- Chamorro proa as the best canoe of its type in tively narrow hull served as a keel. The average the world. They called it the “flying proa.” The size proa had a crew of five to seven men or ancient Chamorros had several names for their women. The smaller canoe hulls were made proas. The largest was the sakman and the out of the trunk of a breadfruit tree. Dokdok or slightly smaller proa a lelek. Medium-sized seeded breadfruit trees were preferred to the proas were dudings. The smallest proa with a sail lemmai or seedless breadfruit trees. Neverthe- was the duduli. Any canoe ready to carry a sail less, in the details about one large proa the became ladjak (sail). The same-sized craft with- craftsmen constructed the entire hull out of out a sail was a panga. An even smaller reef ca- da’ok (Calophyllum inophyllum). In the Carolines, noe was a galaide’. this wood is sometimes used for the keel, when The ancient Chamorro outrigger canoe had the proa must be frequently pulled over the a very sophisticated design, and the ancient rocky reef onto a sandy beach. Da’ok is also Chamorros had a successful navigation system, used for the struts between the outrigger float too. Laura Thompson, an anthropologist who and the outrigger arms. Carolinians also use studied Chamorro culture, claimed the outrig- da’ok for the end seats of the canoe, because ger canoe best expressed the spirit and cre- this wood has the strength to withstand the ativity of the Chamorros. She felt the “flying stress on the lines attached to them. Usually proa” demonstrated that the ancient Chamor- the Chamorros started with a single dugout ros were not just gatherers, farmers, and tool- tree trunk and built up the sides with planks. They split tree trunks and adzed them into This contribution is not peer-reviewed. © Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences ISSN 1449-7336 HeritageFutures™ International, PO Box 3440, Albury NSW 2640, Australia 314 Persistent identifier: http://www.nla.gov.au/nla.arc-65664 Restoring Traditional Seafaring and Navigation in the Marianas 315 smooth planks. Most proas were three to five Nevertheless, early drawings of Chamorro ca- feet deep. The thickness of the hull was about noes depict undecorated ends of the canoes. one inch at the gunwales and up to two inches The proas were either red, black, or white. thick at the keel. Da’ok hulls were no more They made the white paint from a mixture of than a finger width thick because this wood is coconut oil and quicklime. The red paint got heavier and stronger than the breadfruit wood. the color from red clay. Soot and charcoal The craftsmen lashed the planks together with from burnt coconut husks provided pigment coconut fiber rope and caulked these sewn for the black paint. Paint could also be made seams. They used a coarse braid of coconut fi- with lemmai sap. Both of these types of paint ber rope covered with putty made of powdered were very shiny and had a varnished look. They quicklime and coconut oil or heated breadfruit used a pounded section of a coconut husk for a sap for the caulking. This sap is a natural vege- paintbrush. table gum. The outrigger and its float kept the proa Master canoe builders used two dugout from turning over easily and served as a weight breadfruit tree trunks sewn together end to end to counterbalance the canoe against the force for vessels more than 18 feet in length. The sail of the wind on the sails. The ancient Chamor- yard and boom were probably made of pågu ros suspended the float from the ends of the (Hibiscus tiliaceus) or perhaps bamboo. The mast outrigger arms. When sailing, the outrigger and outrigger arms were likely made of any one arms and attached float must remain on the of several Marianas hardwoods. The mast had windward side of the canoe. They built a plat- to be strong, and as light as practical. Carolin- form for passengers and cargo over the outrig- ians frequently carve masts from drift-logs and ger frame. It is not clear in the historical record use the heavier wei wood for the outrigger if the ancient Chamorros had a lee platform arms. The ancient Chamorros shaped the out- like that of the Carolinian canoes still used to- rigger float out of breadfruit wood and at- day. Nevertheless, since they had contact with tached it to the outrigger arms by wood rods. the Carolines and the lee platform is so useful, These struts extended from the float to the it seems likely that the Chamorros had them, outrigger arms in a V-shape. It seems likely that too. the Chamorros used da’ok for these rods. The The “flying proa” has a single lateen (trian- float was about one-third to one-half the length gular) sail. The Chamorro proas, so impressed of the canoe. The canoe builder secured the Magellan, that he named Guam and the nearby outrigger arms through both sides of the ca- islands, Islas de los Latinas (The Islands of the noe. The mast in the illustration would lean Lateen Sails). Unfortunately, he later changed forward when under sail. Also, there was a the name to Islas de los Ladrones (The Islands deck built on the outrigger arms. It was likely of Thieves) because a group of Chamorros made of paipai (Guamia mariannae). took one of his small boats. Although the ends of the hull were the The lateen sail stretched between an upper same, the sides of the hull were different. The yard and a lower boom. The uppermost yard outrigger side of the hull was more rounded. fitted into a socket at the bow. The mast served The lee side opposite the outrigger was nearly to hold the yard and sail aloft. The mast leaned flat to offer resistance to leeward drift. This toward the bow. The bottom end of the mast asymmetrical hull counteracted the drag of the fitted into a socket at the middle of the length outrigger float. of the canoe just a little off center, favoring the The ends of the proa curved upward. outrigger side of the hull. The mast did not go Thomas Cavendish, who visited the Marianas to the bottom of the hull. It rested over the Islands in 1588, reported that there were outrigger side of the hull. Chamorros called the figureheads on the ends of the proas. The rigging lines, talin gapu. wooden busts had hair tied in one or two knots Women wove the pandanus sails called gua- at the crown and resembled the Chamorros. fak ladjak. During rainy weather, the sailors lowered and covered the sail. If the sail became 316 Restoring Traditional Seafaring and Navigation in the Marianas wet it was too heavy to use and would tear four or five. Boys, 14 years old, knew how to apart. A triangular-shaped sail allows a boat to sail. By the age of 16 or 18, young men set out sail close to the wind. This means that the to sea alone. In the Carolines, navigators with- sailor will have to tack less when sailing to a out male offspring, sometimes taught their windward destination. The narrow hull, more daughters to sail and navigate so that when rounded to the windward, and nearly flat to the they have sons, this knowledge can be passed lee side, also helped the ancient Chamorros sail on to the navigator’s grandsons. Some early fast and close to the wind without drifting off explorers described the ancient Chamorros as course. the best seamen yet discovered. Chamorros steered their small sailing ca- The people, we have come to call Chamor- noes with a hand held paddle. Carolinians use ros, were among the first to settle the open- Neisosperma oppositifolia wood to make paddles. ocean islands of Micronesia. Radio-carbon dat- In Chamorro this wood is called fagot. It seems ing and analysis of core soil samples suggest likely that the ancient Chamorros used this that they settled the Mariana Islands prior to hard, light wood, too. Along the reef they 2000 BC. This precedes the earliest dates for sometimes poled the canoe along. They steered settlement in Polynesia, too. The earliest set- larger proas with a staff attached to the upper tlement in Polynesia is generally thought to be end of a long board. This served as a rudder. in Tonga about 1100 BC. Care had to be taken to keep the outrigger to- The “flying proas” were very fast. One ac- ward the wind. The pressure of the wind on count estimated their speed at an unbelievable the sail tended to raise the float out of the 20 miles per hour. A four-day voyage to Manila water.