NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Ancient mariners enjoyed Hawaiian holidays
From: Gary LaPook
Date: 2007 Oct 31, 12:38 -0700
From: Gary LaPook
Date: 2007 Oct 31, 12:38 -0700
I have had "We The Navigators" on my bookshelf for many years and it is a very intresting discription of the navigational techniques used by ancient pacific voyagers. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0824815823/ref=sib_dp_pt/105-6149226-0956425#reader-link gl On Oct 31, 12:33 pm, Winchurchwrote: > A more up-to date discussion of the methods of Micronesian navigation > can be found in a recent book (1987) by Steve Thomas. Thomas sailed > with one of the few remaining practitioner's of the ancient methods. > Thomas comes with notable sailing credentials and his account provides > some useful insights. > > Dick > > Michael Daly wrote: > > Clive wrote: > > >> How do you find its direction and how do you deduce that its direction is > >> unexpected and therefore of navigable interest ? > > > Very good point and I'm guilty of not thinking critically about this > > info. Most of my experience with currents is in inland waters where > > they can be quite visible (like a line of bubbles between two slightly > > different coloured areas of water) as in two big rivers meeting or a > > river flowing into a large lake. > > > On the ocean, you'd be swept along with it and, out of sight of land as > > you say, there's no point of reference. I suppose the only means of > > detecting the current is if it regularly swept along flotsam (of the > > natural kind) and it could be identified from a distance as one > > approached. Knowing nothing of Pacific currents, I can't say there's > > any location where this wild hypothesis is possible. > > >> It is conceivable the pacific islanders navigated over long distances, > >> although I remain unconvinced that they did so with any prepared passage > >> plan, but principally I argue that it would be impossible to navigate using > >> this method. > > > If they ran regular trade routes, I can see it possible to do the > > planning. However, your contention that using currents is not feasible > > is valid until I or someone can identify a legitimate way to do it. > > > Mike --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---