TONGIAKE canoe

[shipstamps]

The TONGIAKE was used in the Tonga and central Pacific area.
A double-hulled voyaging canoe; extinct since the late 18th century. Plank built craft with hulls of roughly the same size; connected by a large, heavy platform that rested on washstrakes on each hull and sometimes also on stanchions at each end. On some, the platform sloped upward toward the stern. Hull reported to have been either a narrow oval or hart-shaped in cross section; ribs lashed to cleats inside the irregular strakes.
Rocker bottom; hulls tapered to a sharp point forward and a blunted point aft. Decked at each end; hatches gave access to interiors to permit bailing. Steered with 2-3 oars, each worked by 2 men when seas heavy.
Short mast, vertical or raked forward; some notched to form steps. One type employed a bipod mast with each part stepped in a different hull. Set a triangular mat sail with the apex down; boomed at the foot. Mast stayed in various ways, including shrouds that ran from a long balance spar that crossed the platform abaft the mast and extended well out each side.
Reported lengths 18.2 till 21.3m. Beam 4.5 till 5m.
She were sometimes also named TOGIAKI or TONGIAGI.

Penrhyn 1981 1c sg169, 15c sg189, 1984 8c sg 340

Copied from: Aak to Zumbra, A Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft

[Anatol]

300 AD: The Polynesians embark on daring sailing trips and explore thousands of Pacific islands. Driven by overpopulation and a desire for adventure, they set forth into the unknown on simple catamarans called Tongiakis.Without any help from navigational instruments, they charted their course with the help of the sun, stars, wind and water temperature. Birds, reefs, cloud formations, fishes and distinctive waves were the signals telling them that land lay nearby. Each trip became a life-threatening journey, as landfall was often impossible to achieve or the way home became cut off by strong currents. Suspense was their constant companion. Will the next hour, the next day bring them to their goal... or will the ocean's currents force them to drift endlessly at sea? Tongiaki double canoe was used during the expansion of Tonga from 16th to 18th century, when the adventurers of the small islands of Tonga established the so-called " Tongan maritime empire "- a network of political and social influence with other island groups , primarily the Fiji Islands , Uvea, Tuvalu and Samoa. The first recorded European contact with this type of vessel made Dutch navigator Schouten in 1616. He writes: "The installation of these ships so well , and they go so well under sail , that several ships in the Netherlands can outrun them . "
Marshall Islands 1998; 32c; SG966. Marshall Islands 1999; 33c; SG?.
Cook Islands 2013; 60c; SG?
Tonga 15,0; SG? Niue 1999;70c;SG854.
Source:www.iluvkoc.com/tongiaki.html‎ and other web-site.