Stars of the Pacific: The Remarkable Navigation Skills of Hawaiian Voyagers
Amazing Maui Stars November sky: Can you see Hokule’a - a Hawaiian star line also known as Orion’s belt ?
Hawaiian navigators, or wayfinders, were extraordinary seafarers who used a combination of natural cues—such as the stars, the sun, the ocean swells, the winds, and the behavior of marine life—to navigate across vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean without the aid of modern instruments like compasses or maps. While they did not measure latitude and longitude in the way we understand them today, they had highly developed systems of navigation that allowed them to find their way with incredible precision. Their methods were based on a deep understanding of the natural world and an intricate knowledge passed down through generations.
Here’s a breakdown of how Hawaiian navigators found latitude and longitude and how they managed their way across the open ocean:
1. Latitude: Finding North and South
Latitude is the measurement of how far north or south you are from the equator, and Hawaiian navigators determined their latitude primarily using the stars and the sun.
Stars and the North Star (Hōkūleʻa)
Hawaiian navigators used celestial navigation, which involves observing the positions of stars. To determine their latitude, navigators would:
Use the North Star (Hōkūleʻa) in the Northern Hemisphere or Polaris, which sits nearly directly above the North Pole. The altitude of Polaris in the sky corresponds roughly to the observer’s latitude on Earth. For example, if Polaris is 30 degrees above the horizon, the navigator is approximately at 30°N latitude.
For southern latitudes, navigators relied on other star clusters like the Southern Cross to estimate their position relative to the equator.
The Sun and Solar Declination
During the day, navigators could determine their latitude based on the position of the sun. The sun’s angle at noon varies depending on the time of year and the observer's latitude. By measuring the height of the sun at noon and knowing the date, navigators could estimate their latitude.
The solstices (around June 21st and December 21st) provided important markers for latitude because, during these times, the sun would be directly over the Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N) or the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5°S). By measuring the sun’s angle during the solstices, navigators could estimate their position.
2. Longitude: Determining East and West Position
Longitude, or the east-west position on the Earth’s surface, is much more difficult to determine without modern instruments because it requires knowing the time at a specific location and comparing it to a reference time (such as Greenwich Mean Time). Hawaiian navigators did not have clocks or a precise system like the Prime Meridian, but they used other methods:
The Stars and Star Paths (Hōkū)
Star Paths: Hawaiian navigators had an intimate understanding of the rising and setting points of stars on the horizon. Each star has a predictable path across the sky, and its position in the sky could tell the navigator if they were on course.
By knowing the star lines (or star pathways)—the fixed directions in which certain stars rise and set on the horizon at different times of year—navigators could steer their canoes along specific lines of latitude or longitude. This is similar to using a modern compass, except that instead of cardinal directions, they used the stars as guides.
The stars also provided a way to gauge time on the open ocean. Hawaiian wayfinders could use the pattern of star risings and settings as a form of timekeeping. As they traveled, they kept track of how long it took for certain stars to appear or disappear over the horizon, which helped them estimate their position.