The Pacific and the Americas

The ancestral waka of the Māori, the canoes of Hawaiian tradition, the boat from Aztlán, Quetzalcoatl’s raft of serpents and the boat of Sedna’s father.

This chapter of Sacred Ships holds 11 ships. For each one we give the source, what happens, and only what the text itself says about the vessel. See all 102 ships on one page.

Subject to interpretation, Marea can build any of these ships as a scale model, with the maximum detail the scale permits. We build her as the text describes her: the timber, the oars, the sails. Seventeen of these texts even give her size or her crew.

This database was put together by Ai Refloat™, Marea’s own artificial intelligence, from published translations of the texts and from museum and university sources. Ai Refloat is still young & like any teenager, it can be a little volatile and unpredictable at times, but above all, it is learning fast. So this list may well contain mistakes and we welcome the input of everyone who knows these texts and traditions better than we do.

Have you spotted a mistake? Tell us which ship and which text, and we will amend it accordingly. Tell us here

The ships

The Pacific and the Americas · Māori
Te Waka a Māui, the Canoe of Māui Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara
Tradition Māori
Māui hides in his brothers' canoe with an enchanted hook and fishes up the North Island. The South Island has since been known as his canoe, and Stewart Island as his anchor.
The vessel “His waka became the South Island, Te Waka-ā-Māui” (Te Ara).
Sources Te Ara: Waka · Te Ara 1966
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori
The Canoe of Aoraki Canoe
South Island oral tradition
Tradition Māori
Aoraki and his three brothers, sons of Rakinui the Sky Father, run aground on a reef. They climb to the upper side, where the south wind turns them to stone: Aoraki the highest peak, his brothers the Southern Alps.
The vessel The stranded canoe became the South Island, its prows the Marlborough Sounds.
Sources Wikipedia: Aoraki
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori (Tainui iwi)
Tainui Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara, Canoe traditions
Tradition Māori (Tainui iwi)
Under the chief Hoturoa, Tainui leaves Hawaiki about 800 years ago, is carried overland into Manukau Harbour, and comes to rest at Kāwhia.
The vessel Built by Rakātaura from a great tree with three sacred adzes, about thirty cubits (13.5 metres), with a small outrigger and three sails; buried at Maketū marae, Kāwhia.)
Sources Te Ara · Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori (Te Arawa iwi)
Te Arawa Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara
Tradition Māori (Te Arawa iwi)
Captain Tamatekapua takes Ngātoroirangi from the Tainui canoe as his navigator, and the canoe reaches Maketū in the Bay of Plenty.
The vessel A voyaging canoe saved at sea by a shark (arawa), after which it is named.
Sources Te Ara
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori (several tribes)
Tākitimu Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara
Tradition Māori (several tribes)
Tamatea Arikinui brings Tākitimu from Hawaiki to Tauranga. In one account Tahu Pōkai takes it on to the Arahura River, where it turns to stone.
The vessel A tapu canoe: no cooked food aboard, and all chips and sawdust from its building ritually burnt.
Sources Te Ara · Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori
Matahourua, the Canoe of Kupe Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara
Tradition Māori
Kupe finds Aotearoa in this canoe, in some accounts chasing the great octopus Te Wheke a Muturangi. It is later re adzed in the Hokianga and renamed Ngātokimatawhaorua.
The vessel Owned by Kupe's wife Kuramārōtini; Wikipedia describes an open ocean catamaran for about 25 people.
Sources Te Ara · Wikipedia: Kupe
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Hawaiian
The Canoe of Māui and the Hook Mānaiakalani Canoe
Westervelt, Legends of Maui (1910)
Tradition Hawaiian
Māui baits his magic hook with his mother Hina's sacred bird and hooks land from the sea floor. A brother looks back, the line breaks, and the land rises as separate islands.
The vessel A fishing canoe paddled by the brothers.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Hawaiian
Honuaiakea, the Canoe of Pele Canoe
Beckwith, Hawaiian Mythology, ch. XI; US National Park Service
Tradition Hawaiian
Pele sails from Kahiki to Hawaiʻi with her siblings, carrying her sister Hiʻiaka as an egg, chased by the waves of her sister Nāmakaokahaʻi, and settles at Halemaʻumaʻu.
The vessel A canoe named “the great expansive earth”, with Kamohoaliʻi as steersman and Tide and Current as paddlers.
Sources NPS · sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Mexica
The Boat from Aztlán Boat
Codex Boturini, first page
Tradition Mexica
At Huitzilopochtli's command, a priest leads the ancestor Chimalma away from Aztlán by boat, and the migration begins.
The vessel A boat drawn in the painted manuscript, crossing water.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Aztec
The Raft of Serpents Raft or coracle
Florentine Codex (Anderson and Dibble)
Tradition Aztec
Leaving Tula, Quetzalcoatl reaches the sea and sets off towards Tlapallan; the text says his arrival is unknown.
The vessel “Then he made a raft of serpents ... as if it were his boat.”
Sources Purdue · Mexicolore
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Inuit
The Boat of Sedna's Father Boat
Oral tradition (Boas and others)
Tradition Inuit
A girl is thrown overboard and, as she clings to the gunwale, her fingers are cut off. They become seals and other sea animals, and she sinks to become a great spirit of the sea.
The vessel Her father's boat in Boas's version; no further description.)
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.