«Wa»-canoe of Bismarck Archipelago

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Anatol
Posts: 1033
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

«Wa»-canoe of Bismarck Archipelago

Post by Anatol » Sun Jan 24, 2016 8:30 pm

A slender canoe with pointed, horizontal and vertical extensions at each end. Found on the Wuvulu Islands (sometimes called Aru or Maty Islands) at the west¬ern end of the archipelago. The small, one-man canoes fished for shark and flying fish; the largest were used for interisland transport and for war. Hewn from the breadfruit tree; V-section hull; bot¬tom rocker; elongated, pointed ends; at the end of the cockpit, 2 triangular, vertical spurs were affixed, extending up as much as 1.6m. Single outrigger con¬nected to the short float by multiple booms, 3-4 on the smaller canoes, 8-9 on the larger types; booms passed through the hull; outer end might be forked; booms set in crossed connectives. One boom often wide and flat as it crossed the hull, forming a coun¬terbalance seat. Paddled by as many as 22 men on the largest canoes; blade pointed; steered with a paddle. Reported lengths 3.5-18m; e.g., length 16m, beam 0.69m, depth 0.66m.

Papua New Guinea 2009;K3.00;SG?
Source:A. Haddon, John. Hornell: Canoes of Oceania.1937.Volume II. A Dictionary of the world’s Watercraft from Aak to Zumbra.
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aukepalmhof
Posts: 7762
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: «Wa»-canoe of Bismarck Archipelago

Post by aukepalmhof » Sat Oct 24, 2020 8:22 pm

On the stamp is given VUVULU ISLANDS not a type is given but Anatol is correct she is a wa canoe.
But it is almost impossible to find the stamp on the list via the search engine.

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