UCHE MELANESIAN OUTRIGGER CANOE

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aukepalmhof
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UCHE MELANESIAN OUTRIGGER CANOE

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Mar 22, 2020 7:41 pm

This stamp shows us the UCHE which is the term for a canoe in the Hermit Islands in the northwestern part of the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea.

She is a high-sided, 2 masted traveling and ceremonial canoe. Dugout hull to which three strakes were sewn; sides carved in geometric designs and painted. Ends curved up from the bottom and continued above gunwale level as recurved end pieces; ends decorated with shells and tassels. Single outrigger unit composed of 4 heavy horizontal booms and a relatively long sharp ended float connected by multiple tall stanchions. Some stanchions on the outer booms were taller and partially formed the framework for basketlike devices, platform laid across most of the area between the hull and float; a larger basket was situated at the outer end of the 2 middle booms; there was a smaller, counterbalancing platform on the opposite side. Oblong sails were hung from two masts stepped roughly amidships, the forward mast taller; each steadied by a mast shore and 2 stays. Foresail overlapped the after sail by more than half its width. Sails boomed at the foot with the heel of the boom forked against the mast. Steered with a paddle.
Length ca 17m.

Source; Aak to Zumbra a dictionary of the World’s Watercraft.
Nauru 1976 20 c sg 136, scott 127
Attachments
1975 Melanesian-outrigger-canoe.jpg

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Anatol
Posts: 1038
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Re: UCHE MELANESIAN OUTRIGGER CANOE

Post by Anatol » Mon Mar 23, 2020 4:32 pm

See also: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11530.

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