East Is a Big Bird

This book was the first systematic, book-length effort to explain how Pacific voyagers found their way across thousands of miles of open sea without such navigational instruments as a sextant or magnetic compass.

The author, Thomas Gladwin, conducted research on Puluwat Atoll (now usually written as “Polowat”) in what is currently the Federated States of Micronesia. By working with skilled navigators, he documented the complex understanding of astronomic phenomena, wind patterns, currents, and waves that Micronesian wayfinders used to travel to small islands across immense expanses of open sea.

This work inspired me to ask respected sailors on the islands… show more.

East Is a Big Bird is a beautiful and inspiring first-hand account of the indigenous navigators of Micronesia. Their long training enabled them to make accurate landfalls after voyages of hundreds or even thousands of miles in outrigger sailing canoes, without maps or instruments, relying only on their observational skills and wits. These skills were on the point of dying out when Gladwin studied them, and had already been lost throughout Polynesia. Gladwin played an important role in helping ensure their survival as well as their revival in places like Hawai’i and Samoa. East Is a Big Bird is both… show more.