Gerald R. Knight's Blog

By: Man Shark is First Installment of Series - Gerald R. Knight

[…] R. Knight has truly excelled in bringing Marshallese culture and tradition to life. His vivid descriptions and attention to detail make it evident that he has a deep respect for and […]

By: Gerald R. Knight

In reply to Roy.

Thank you!

By: Gerald R. Knight

In reply to Roy.

Thanks for your comment.

By: Roy

That a so great the way you describe the charts..Good job..

The wapepe

This is what they call a “Marshall Islands stick chart.” This the one they called wapepe. It is the mother of all stick charts. Any resemblance to the German Iron Cross is, of course, coincidence.  The wapepe predates the 1813 Napoleonic Wars by hundreds of years and has nothing to do with a cross. It describes the convergence of ocean swells on an island in Mid-Pacific. It is the Marshall Islanders contribution to the world’s knowledge of these swells and how to use them to navigate without the stars.

Star navigation was widely used by Polynesians and  the Islanders of the eastern and Western
Carolines. This method  is best described
by Stephen S. Thomas in his non-fiction book The Last Navigator. Thomas stayed
with the people of Satawal in 1983 and tells of a star compass used by the
navigators there that consists of 32 points around the horizon associated with
star risings and settings. He explains how these stars become points of navigation
among the various atolls. Closely kept Navigation skill is esoteric knowledge
and only passed on to the initiated. 

Thus, it is no surprise that by 2019 amid the on slot of
American culture those who possess such knowledge are no longer passing it to the
initiated and the knowledge may now disappear for good. The wapepe represents
knowledge passed on from navigator to apprentice for hundreds of years prior to
first contact with a compass. The knowledge of how to find a low-lying coral
atoll in the open ocean before it appears on the horizon and how to navigate toward
it without the use of stars. After all, the night sky can become blemished by
cloud cover. You don’t always have the luxury of having a star to point the
way.

To better understand the chart, let’s dissect it into its
essential part. In the center of the chart you see four half-moons. They appear
in the following image below. This image
is the heart of the wapepe. You will recognize this image as the one appearing
in Man Shark. It is the image Lainjin carved into the unconscious Paratak’s
chest with four clean incisions with his single shark’s tooth weapon. What does
this design represent? What does it have to do with navigation?

The swell pattern navigation of the Marshall Islanders is
based on four swells, one from each quadrant converging on an atoll in
Mid-Pacific. The actual atoll or island is absent from the drawing because it
is of course below the horizon. It is what one is searching for, but it is
there and can be detected in the pattern of swells as they converge upon it.

Let’s start by describing the difference between a wave and
a swell. A wave caused by the current direction of the wind has a higher
frequency than a swell caused by a much greater period of constant wind
direction. A swell has a much longer wavelength. Where do the swells come from?
Unlike waves created by current wind direction, the swells come from the
quadrants. Heat rises and frigid air pushes down. The winds from the poles set
up swells from the north and south quadrants. The ancestors were not aware of
this reasoning, but they recognized these swells buñtokiōñ
and buñtokrōk because they saw them cancelling each other out in
the open ocean while becoming more predominant as they approached the north and
south sides of an atoll because the atoll cut off the counter swell.  The swell from the east, bun̄tokrear, is the result
of the strong trade winds that sweep the Pacific for months at a time. A
current from the west kāleptak is the result of the
counter current set up by the South Pacific convergence Zone. Although it is
not a swell per se, the result is the same. It causes  large wave to break on the west side of an
atoll especially during the summer months of the year.

The unseen atoll cuts off the counter
swell and as a result the swell from the opposite quadrant becomes gradually
more predominant. This is the central idea the wapepe portrays. The meaning of
wapepe is “boat floats.” The illustration above is a photograph. Unfortunately,
the photograph is upside down. Turn it 180 degrees in your mind’s eye until the
vertical “stick” at the center of the design continues to point north and south
and the much shorter vertical “stick” also points north and south but faces east.
The longer vertical “stick” represents the hull of the canoe in the open ocean
and the smaller “stick” is its kubaak (outrigger). When left to float on its
own in its natural state the swells we just discussed will turn the boat to
this direction.

There are eight diagonal pathways to
the island. This is where the navigator maneuvers the craft by putting the
predominant swell (the atoll cutting off its counter swell) on his stern to
left or right and uses the swell from the left or right quadrant as his guide
to approach the island on a diagonal course between them. One swell breaking to
the right of his stern the other on the left. The swells then “push” the boat
toward its destination. Given the existence of these swells the theory makes
logical sense. As one approaches the atoll two swells become more predominant
and two become gradually less so. Put the predominant swells on your stern to
right and left and they will “push” you home.

Do these swells exist? Predominant
weather patterns in the Pacific suggest they do. Bun̄tokrear, the
swell from the east is obvious. The others not so in the open ocean. Yet these
swells roll upon the northern, southern and even the western reefs. Detecting
them in the open ocean is another matter altogether. A traditional navigator could
point to the island lying prone in the hull judging by the rock of the boat. It
obviously took many years of apprenticeship to accomplish this, but then they
spent a lot of time out there traveling between atolls. They have another
saying Emejjia wa
ilọmeto (a boat is slow to die in the open
ocean.)

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See what Kirkus just said about Man Shark!

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TITLE INFORMATION

MAN SHARK

Gerald R. Knight

Iguana Books (298 pp.)

ISBN: 978-1-77180-228-4; November 15, 2019

BOOK REVIEW

A long-traveling stranger seeks the hand of a chief’s
daughter in this debut novelization of an ancient legend from the Marshall
Islands.

Ḷainjin—nicknamed Ḷōpako, or “Man Shark,” due to his constant movement—has long searched the scattered islands for his mother, the famous Tarmālu. She once led a large fleet from atoll to atoll, but since leaving her infant son long ago, no one has been certain of her whereabouts.

While Ḷainjin and his bird companion, the Chief, are returning unsuccessful to Wōtto Atoll, where their hunt began, they meet a fishing party from nearby Lae Atoll. The group includes an alluring young woman: Liṃanṃan, the daughter of the chief of Lae, who quickly promises herself to Ḷainjin. The voyager manages to prove himself on Lae—saving the chief’s boat from destruction in a storm and dealing with the aggression of the local men—but there will still be challenges to face in order to be Liṃanṃan’s chosen one. “The most difficult will be resisting” Liṃanṃan’s cousin Likkōkālọk, his girlfriend’s grandmother informs Ḷainjin. “She will do everything in her power to get onto your sleeping mat. She is very cunning, and she will not respect Liṃanṃan’s choice or yours. If you’re not careful, she’ll pluck you out of the water like a fish and swallow you.” After all his searching, Ḷainjin may have finally found a home, but only if he can survive the dangers of the local politics.

Knight’s steady prose succeeds not only in re-creating the details and customs of his prehistoric Micronesian setting, but its language and worldview as well: “In Rālik and Ratak culture both, you could sit yourself down by a man’s fire, enter his shelter, grab onto his fishing line or his kilt, or even throw pandanus fruit at his bird, but you could never touch his boat without permission.”

The pacing is slow and the plot meanders, but readers will be so thoroughly immersed in this remote world that they won’t mind. Fans of prehistoric fiction will enjoy this thoroughly researched and often charming tale.

An engrossing, realistic, and deeply detailed story set in
Micronesia’s legendary past.