Traditional Canoes

The double-hull canoe was never in use in the Marshall Islands, nor the Micronesian. The typical fast sailing craft of the region had a double-ended hull with asymmetric sides and a sharp, very narrow, keel, passengers and goods are being carried on a transverse platform. The canoes of the past could reach a length of 100 feet and carry up to 40 people; with supplies for open-sea voyages that lasted well over a month since these large vessels, called Walap, were not fast. Tipnol is a smaller type of canoe and speedier. It is used mainly for fishing inside the lagoon. It could still carry 10 or more and be serviceable for ocean voyaging. Korkor is a small paddling outrigger, sometimes fitted with sail, and it is also used for lagoon work. The sails of a korkor are triangular and often extremely large, with a yard and boom on two sides. They are woven in matting strips from the strongest pandanus leaves; they were sewn together most securely. The hulls were made of breadfruit tree, the best wood available but far from ideal. A nineteenth century sailor left a vivid description of a trip:

“Up went the huge sail, down went the great steer oars and away we shot like a horserace. The mast bent like a reed, and at the great rate at which we were going the sea was like a hissing cauldron on either side of our course.”