surfresearch.com.au  polynesian surfriding : tahiti to 1900

Contents

u3.1    Samuel Wallis, 1767. u3.2    Louis de Bougainville, 1768. u3.3    Joseph Banks, 1769. u3.4    Banks' Surfcraft, 1769. u3.5    William Anderson, 1777. u3.6    The Bounty at Matavai Bay, 1788. u3.7    Surfriding Conditions, 1788. u3.8    James Morrison, 1788. u3.9    Royal Tahitian Surfriding, 1788. u3.10  William Bligh, 1788. u3.11  George Tobin, 1792.

u3.12  James Wilson, 1798. u3.13  Rev. William Ellis, 1822. u3.14 J. A. Moerenhout, 1834. u3.15  G. F. Gordon-Cummings, 1886. u3.16  Henry Adams, 1891. u3.17 Tueria Henry, 1928. u3.18 Ben Finney, 1956. u3.18 Tahitian Surfboard Construction. uEndnotes uAppendix A: Maps. uAppendix B: Weather Reports.

Overview
The eariest European explorers of the Pacific Ocean noted the maritime and aquatic skills of the Polynesians.
Joseph Banks, a member of James Cook's first Pacific expedition, reported surfriding on the west coast of Tahiti in 1769.
This was ten years before Cook's visits to the Hawaiian Islands in 1778 and 1779 on his third and final Pacific vovage.
While the exact design and construction of the Tahitian surfcraft in his report is unclear, the activity was undoubtedly surfriding.

The most detailed report of ancient Polynesian surfriding is by James Morrison at Matavai Bay, Tahiti, in 1788.
Boatswain's mate on the Bounty, despatched to Tahiti under the command of William Bligh, Morrison was one of the mutineers and he eventually stayed nearly two years in the Society Islands.
His journal is a substantial record of native culture and his account of surfriding, read in conjunction with Bligh's log, dramatically indicates the extreme surf conditions favoured by Tahitian surfriders.
Calculations based on Bligh's charts indicate these waves were in the range of 10 to 20 feet, still considered a serious challenge by modern surfriders.

Anticipating later Hawaiian accounts, Morrison notes surfriding was practised in large numbers by all ages and classes and that some surfers rode in a standing position.
His report on the expert surfriding skills of the Tahitian chiefs identifies the first named surfrider, Iddeah, the wife of a local chief Ottu (or Tu) and a woman of impressive talents.

The  Rev. William Ellis wrote of surfriding on Huhaine, an island to the north of Tahiti, circa 1820 and in the Hawaiian islands in 1823.
Although he reports Tahitain surfriding and surfboards as inferior to Hawaii, there are significant similarities and in locating the surfriding on the reefs outside of Fare Harbour, Ellis' account indicates that ancient surfriders rode transversely across the wave face closely following the peel of the curl in the manner of modern riders.
While some commentators have insisted the ancients essentially rode straight towards the beach, to do so at these locations could invite serious injury.

Only one report partially details the dimensions and design features of Tahitian surfboards (Wilson, 1798) and there are no accounts of surfboard construction.
However the early journalists provide extensive commentary on native carpentry, particular in relation to canoe buiding.
Analysis of these reports suggest that surfboards were probably shaped from a billet - a seasoned section of timber split from a log; a process in marked contrast with the widely quoted account of Hawaiian surfboard construction by Thomas Thrum in 1896.
Furthermore, the accounts of Banks and Bligh invite speculation as to the possible adaptation of damaged canoes and paddles in the formative era of ancient surfboard construction.

3.1 Samuel Wallis, 1767.
The island of Tahiti was discovered (1) by the English explorer, Samuel Wallis, in command of the Dolphin on 18th June 1767.
Arriving on the east coast, Wallis was unable to locate a suitable anchorage due to the large swell preventing safe entry to the inside of the reef:

"The (long) boats continued sounding till noon, when they returned with an account that the ground was very clear; that it was at the depth of five fathom, within a quarter of a mile of the shore, but that there was a very great surf where we had seen the (drinking) water."  (2, 3)

Despite conditions that threatened the safety of the Dolphin, the ship's officers in the long boats reported that the Tahitians negotiated the surf without difficultly:

The Dolphin was securely anchored on the north coast at Matavai Bay and while contact with the Tahitians was initially confrontational, relations subsequently improved and the expedition was able to trade for much needed provisions during a stay of five weeks.
This was followed by a further visit of two weeks on the neighbouring island of Moorea.
Wallis wrote extensively of the construction of Tahitian canoes, by implication noting advanced maritime skills. (5)
His notes on Tahitian canoe construction are discussed below, see 3.14.
The successful landing, identifying Tahiti as a suitable southern hemishere location to observe the transit of Venus in 1769, was the precedent for the expedition of James Cook.

3.2 Louis de Bougainville, 1768
Two French ships, Etoile and Boudeuse, under the command of Louis de Bougainville arrived on the east coast of Tahiti at Hitia'a on 4th April 1768
While the visit was less than two weeks (they departed 15th April), in Europe the accounts of the crew, largely focused on Tahitian sexuality, were cited as evidence in support of the theory of "the noble savage", propounded by the French philosophers Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau.

French author, Nolwenn Roussel (2005) writes of a brief description of surfriding on Tahiti, attributed to Bougainville himself:

" ... des 1768, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Francais et commandant la fregate du roi 'La Boudeuse', a rapporte dans ses notes que les insulaires « etaient capables de chevaucher la crete des vagues en se tenant debout sur des planches ».

... in 1768, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, the French commander of the royal frigate 'Boudeuse',
reports in his notes that the islanders 'were able to ride the crest of  waves while standing up on boards'." (6)

Unfortunately, the quotation cleary has a wider context, is not annotated and the source is yet to be identified.
Initial research suggests that, amoung various cultural observations, the French journalists did report on the sailing and swimming skills of the Tahitians. (7)

3.3 Joseph Banks, 1769.
The Endeavour, commanded by Lt. James Cook, arrived at Tahiti  on 13 April 1769 to prepare for observations of the transit of Venus, the visit lasting for two months.
The success of Cook's expedition was substaintally enhanced by the inclusion of a group of scientists and artists led and funded by Joseph Banks.
An immense amount of natural and cultural information was collected, including an early written account of Polynesian surfriding by Joseph Banks. (8)

"Cook's journals are the starting point for all studies of the history and culture of four major island groups in Polynesia (Society, Tonga, New Zealand and Hawai'i) and of eastern Australia, Vanuatu (New Hebrides) and New Caledonia." (9)

While the anthroloplogical evidence connecting Tahiti and the Hawaiian Islands is subject to often conflicting interpretations, most agree regular contact had ceased by the end of the thirteenth century. (10)
The early European reports appear to accurately represent, to the best of the journalists' understanding, the independent developments of several hundred years of ancient Tahitian surfriding.
See Chapter 1 (in preparation).

Joseph Banks, in company with Lt. Cook and Dr. Solander, left  the Endeavour's anchorage at Matavai Bay on the 28th May 1769 and travelled to the west coast, initially by boat and then on foot, where they stayed overnight. (11)
The following morning on their return to Matavai Bay, Banks reported in his journal:

"In our return to the boat we saw the Indians amuse or excersise themselves in a manner truly surprizing.
It was in a place where the shore was not guarded by a reef as is usualy the case, consequently a
high surf fell upon the shore, a more dreadfull one I have not often seen: no European boat could
have landed in it and I think no Europaean who had by any means got into could possibly have
saved his life, as the shore was coverd with pebbles and large stones." (12)

Banks is impressed by the potential danger of surfriding, specifically notes the  location as adjacent to a break in the reef allowing the swell to reach the shore (13) and indicates the wave size as "high".
Given the extensive nautical experience of Cook, and the intensive crash-course of Banks and Solander in crossing the Southern Ocean, the wave height was probably considerable.
He continues:

"In the midst of these breakers 10 or 12 Indians were swimming who whenever a surf broke near
them divd under it with infinite ease, rising up on the other side; but their chief amusement was
carried on by the stern of an old canoe, with this before them they swam out as far as the
outermost breach, then one or two would get into it and opposing the blunt end to the breaking wave were hurried in with incredible swiftness.
Sometimes they were carried almost ashore but generaly the wave broke over them before they were
half way, in which case the (they) divd and quickly rose on the other side with the canoe in their
hands, which was towd (originally swam) out again and the same method repeated.
We stood admiring this very wonderfull scene for full half an hour, in which time no one of the actors
atempted to come ashore but all seemd most highly entertaind with their strange diversion." (14)

Initally identifying a dozen bodysurfers, diving under the waves, Banks focuses on  the activities of those using " the stern of an old canoe", hereafter refered to as the surfriders.
The nature of the Tahitian surfcraft is at the core Banks' report and, while apparently specific, invites further analysis given the significance of a first report.
See 3.4, below.

Banks' report of the Tahitian surfriders' performance details four of the basic elements of surfriding: the paddle-out, the take-off, the ride-in and the pull-out. (15)
The performance appears relatively sophisticated; the take-off at "the outermost breach" is probably on the green wave face and not merely in the white-water, maximizing the potential wave size and length of the ride.
Riding on the green face is further indicated: while some rides went all the way to the shore, "generaly the wave broke over them before they were half way".
Banks' phrase "with incredible swiftness" may indicate an element of riding  transversely across the wave, the rider apparently travelling faster than the wave speed.
When the wave "broke over them' the ride was terminated ("the pull-out") by the rider diving down and forcing the board under the water to emerge behind the wave and paddle back out.

"generaly the wave broke over them before they were half way, in which case the (they) divd and quickly rose on the other side with the canoe in their hands, which was towd (originally swam) out again and the same method repeated." (16)

The manouvre could be described as an "island pull-out".
While breaking surf often appears extremely violent to the uninitiated observer, the greatest danger to the experienced surfrider occurs as a result of a collision with a solid object; either the bottom of the seashore, their board or another rider's board.
Control of the board, particularly at the termination of the ride, enhances the safety of all surfriders. (17)

Banks' appreciation of this "truly surprizing (and) strange diversion" features in most subsequent accounts.

3.4 Banks' Surfcraft
Analysis of Joseph Banks' description of the Tahitian surfcraft as "the stern of an old canoe" (and later in the text simply as "the canoe"), from an experienced surfriders' perspective, is intuitively problematic.
Taking the description at face value, it is unclear how the apparent bulk of a canoe stern, even riden with extremes of  strength and skill, could achieve the surfriding performance suggested by Banks.
There is a possibility that the description is misleading and close examination of the text demonstrates some incongruencies.
This is not questioned by J. C. Beaglehole who, perhaps understandably, simply paraphrases Banks (18);

The first, and crucial, difficulty is that as "no one of the actors atempted to come ashore", it is unclear how closely Banks was able to examine the craft or, at this stage, his intimate knowledge of Tahitian canoes.
The surfriding narrative appears six weeks into the visit, long enough to have some familiarity with the culture and language but well short of the knowledge detailed in  Bank's comprehensive notes on Tahitian canoes  compliled ten weeks later as the Endeavour sailed south from the Society Islands. (19)
One possible explanation is suggested, below.

Secondly, the implied dimensions are confusing.
While apparently large enough to support two riders, the craft is small enough that the riders "divd and quickly rose on the other side (of the wave) with the canoe in their hands".

Only the shape of one end of the craft is indicated: "opposing the blunt end to the breaking wave".
However, by implication, this suggests the (unreported) inverse: "the pointed end was directed shore-ward".

J. C. Beagleholes' 1974 edition has Banks noting "the canoe ... was towd out again".
While perhaps consistent with the impression of a "stern of an old canoe" , this is likely an inefficient method of negotiating the surf zone and would require considerable physical strength.
In the original manuscript Banks initially wrote that the craft was "swam" out, but later crossed out the word and adjusted the text to "towd". (20)

The consideration of an alternative term may indicate Bank's difficulty in describing the paddling process

Lasty, in examing the text of the surfriding narrative, while the phrase "one or two would get into it " (my emphasis) appears to imply the concave shape associated with a canoe, it could be interpreted to mean "caught by the wave/s".
Note that Banks has previously used the term "into" to indicate such a meaning:

An examination of the descriptions and illustrations of contemporary Tahitian canoes further complicates an understanding of Banks' description.
Wallis reported in 1767:

The three designs were the all-purpose single log canoe with outrigger, a large double canoe suitable for inter-island voyages and a large double canoe with a covered superstructure for royal or ceremonial use.
The first two were paddled and, depending on size, also had sails, but the later was only ever employed paddlers.
According to function, there were significantly different stern features.
The largest of the double-hull design was the fighting canoe with extremely elongated sterns up to 18 feet above the waterline. (23)
The extreme sterns of these craft, often elaborately decorated with carvings and banners denoting rank or status, are beauifully illustrated by William Hodges in "War Galleys at Tahiti, circa 1774", one of a  series of composite works painted after Cooks' second visit. (24)

The stern was less pronounced on the more common sailing, and the rarer ceremonial, canoes:

According to Banks, the raised stern greatly assisted in negotiating the surf zone:

"The only thing in which they excell is landing in a surf, for by reason of their great lengh and high sterns they would land dry in a surf when our boats could scarcely land at all, and in the same manner put off from the shore as I have often experienc'd." (26)

As Banks notes:

"The form of these Canoes is better to be expressd by a drawing than by any description." (27)

There are a numerous works by visiting European artists illustrating the various designs of Tahitian canoes, including one drawing annotated in Banks' hand. (28)
A large ceremonial canoe was illustrated by one of the two artists aboard the Endeavour, H.D. Sporing:

H.D. Sporing: Purea's canoe. British Museum Add. MS 23921-23a (29) Purea, an elderly queen of Tahiti, is named in the journals as "Oborea".

Alternatively, if the surfriding craft was simply one section or panel split from "the stern of an old canoe", then it is difficult to comprehend how Banks was able to provide such an apparently definitive description.
One possible senario, alluded to previously, is that the description was suggested to Banks in conversation with a Tahitian observer or commentator, subject to inaccuracies in translation.
Cook's policy of establishing cordial relations for trade and avoiding potential violent conflicts with the native inhabitants of the Pacific depended upon effective communication.
After anchoring at Matavai Bay, by the end of the first week :

For the crew of the Endeavour, some basic language difficulties were probaly overcome by consultation with those marineers who had visited Tahiti previously with Wallis in 1767. (31)

No subsequent account yet identified describes the use of damaged canoes for surfriding.
Although not detailed in any of the available literature, the recycling of damaged canoes into smaller craft may have been practised in the formative era of ancient surfboard construction.

Before proceeding, further consideration should be directed to Sporing's illustration reproduced above.
Note that if, for any reason, Banks' description refered not to the stern, but to the bow (stem or head) of a Tahitain canoe as described and illustrated above, then the surfcraft was undoubtedly a surfboard.
Thirty years later, missionary James Wilson would use exactly such a description:

Also note the wave study in the lower right of the drawing, detailed right. This is a near photograhic representation of the dynamics a breaking wave - in surfriding parlance: "a hollow left-hander". (33) It features the thick base, thin curl, effervescent white-water, smooth surface (possibly resulting from a light off-shore wind) and, critically, the conical structure of the wave face that is integral to the dynamics of transverse wave riding. These features are all instantly recognised by experienced surfriders. (34)

3.5 William Anderson, 1777.
On Cook's third Pacific voyage, before arriving in Hawaii, a report of canoe surfing in the Society Islands was recorded by William Anderson, surgeon on the 'Resolution' (35), in August-September 1777.

"He went out from the shore till he was near the place where the swell begins to take its rise; and,
watching its first motion very attentively, paddled before it with great quickness, till (it) had
acquired sufficient force to carry his canoe before it without passing underneath.
He sat motionless, and was carried along at the same swift rate as the wave, till it landed him on
the beach.
Then he started out ... and went in search of another swell.
I could not help concluding that this man felt the most supreme pleasure while his was driven so fast
and smoothly by the sea." (36)

The canoe was, almost certainly, fitted with an outrigger and the performance shares the basic surfriding elements identified by Banks.
The take-off is finely calculated by the rider on the outer-most break and ridden "till it landed him on the beach."
The Tahitian canoe surfrider probably rode directly to the beach, at least "as the same swift rate as the wave."
Anderson's evaluation of the rider's amusement as "the most supreme pleasure"  is, arguably, not an exaggeration.

3.6 The Bounty in Tahiti, 1788-1789.
Another member of Cook's crew to visit Tahiti in 1777, and subsequently Hawaii in 1778-1779, was then mid-shipman, William Bligh.
Bligh returned in to Tahiti on 26th October 1788 as captain of the Bounty on an unsuccessful mission to collect and transport breadfruit plants to the West Indies.
The mission was terminated by the infamous mutiny led by Fletcher Christian in 1789, precipitating  Bligh's epic 3600 mile voyage in an open boat. (37)

At Matavai Bay, the first anchorage in Tahiti, the Bounty was subjected to extreme swell events that threatened the safety of the ship.
For a tabulated record of the swell and weather conditions discussed henceforth, see
Appendix B: Weather Reports: Matavai Bay and Toaroah Harbour, Tahiti.

On Thursday 6th November, one week after arrival, Bligh's journal records the first indication that his anchorage is exposed to northern swells (Swell #1):

The swell apparently continued for several days and on Sunday 9th the Bounty's log notes:

A larger second swell (#2) arrived two weeks later, on Monday 24th November Bligh's journal reports:

On Thursday 4th December, eight days later, the swell  (#3) was again on the rise (42) and the log for the following two days notes:

and, more dramatically:

"I experienced a scene of to day of Wind and Weather which I never supposed could have been met with in this place.
By Sun set a very high breaking Sea ran across the Dolphin Bank, and before seven O'Clock (7 am) it made such way into the Bay that we rode with much difficulty and hazard.
Towards Midnight it increased still more, and we rode untill eight in the Morning in the midst of a
heavy broken sea which frequently came over us.
The Wind at times dying away was a great evil to us for the Ship from the tremendous Sea that broke
over the Reefs to the Eastward of Point Venus, producing such an outset thwarting us against the
Surge from the bank which broke over us in such a Manner, that it was necessary to batten every part of the Ship.
In this state we remained the whole Night with all hands up in the midst of torrents of Rain, the Ship
sending and rolling in a most tremendous manner, and the Sea foaming all round us so as to threaten
instant destruction. " (44)

By Wednesday 10th December, this swell had abated:

Continuing the roughly bi-weekly pattern, the swell rose again (#4) and on Saturday 20th December, Bligh reported:

The journal of James Morrison, boatswain's mate on the Bounty, confirms Bligh's report and indicates the difficulties this presented the crew.

"On the 20th (December) we had heavy rains & a strong Gale of Wind from the N W which brought with it a heavy sea from that Quarter breaking so violently on the Dolphin Bank that the Surge run fairly over the Ship, and the Carpenter who was the evening before Confined to his Cabbin, was now released to secure the Hatches.
Several things were washd overboard & had not the Cables been very good the ship must have gone on shore.
Next day the Gale abated, but the surf run very high on the shore so as to prevent landing either in Canoes or Boats." (47)

These events encouraged Bligh to seek an alternative anchorage.for the Bounty.

On the 24th December he relocated the ship south-west of Matavai Bay to Toaroah Harbour for the remainer of his stay.
While riding safe at Toaroah Bay, the northern swells were still in evidence and the log records another increase in swell (Thursday  8th January, #5).
Towards the end of the month there was a further week of extreme surf (#6), 22nd to 28th January :

and, five days later:

The northern swells made one more appearance before Bounty's departure on the 5th April 1789.
On Monday 2nd March, Bligh reports:

"The Wind blowing Strong from the N. W.
I sent a Man down to Taowne Harbour (t) to see if the Sea set much in, it being open to that quarter.
He returned with an Account that a great Sea broke all over it and that it would have been bad riding
there for any Ship, and that a Great surf run on the Shore.
Matavai is equally bad, but here we lye as smooth as in a Mill-pond." (51)

On 8th March, seven days later, this swell (#7) is still very much in evidence:

After relocating the Bounty's anchorage, Bligh summarized the stay at Matavai Bay:

"Since I have been here Matavai has shown itself to be a very dangerous place, a high breaking sea
almost constantly running over the Dolphin Bank unto the Shore, and likewise over the Bank near to
one Tree Hill where the sea breaks with great violence." (53)

3.7 Surfriding Conditions at Matavai Bay, 1788.
The seven major swell events recorded in Bligh's journal in Tahiti, given his previous nautical experience and the danger to the Bounty, certainly indicate waves of considerable, if not extreme, size.

Bligh's charts record the minimum depth of the Dolphin Bank at 2.25 fathoms, approximately 13 feet, allowing for a tidal variation of less than 12 inches. (54)
Basic calculations; assuming ocean waves initially break at a depth of 1.3 times the wave height (55); give a minimum wave height of approximately 10 feet to break on the Dolphin Bank.
To break on the outer limits of the reef (at six fathoms or 36 feet), the estimated wave height is approximately 27 feet.
Bligh's and Morrison's reports indicate some of these swells were probably to the larger end of this range.

Image right: The "Bounty's" anchorage at Matavia Bay, Tahiti 26th October to 24th December, 1788. (56) The compass alignment is an poor approximation. The anchorage is indicated by the inverted anchor symbol. The Dolphin Bank is the reef to the left (north west) of the anchorage. The soundings are in fathoms. Also see Appendix A: Maps As a result of two extreme surf events that threatened the safety of the ship, Bligh moved the Bounty  to Toaroah Harbour for the remainer of the visit, departing Tahiti on Sunday 5th April 1789.

The prevalent wind direction reported during the impact of the large swell events indicate strong on-shore winds (W and NW) at Matavai Bay, less than ideal conditions for surfriding.
However, these swells ran for several days before and before and after the peak impact and alternative wind directions were in evidence.
The log records a significant number of days where the swell was fanned by offshore winds, approximately anywhere in the quadrant from NE to SE.
On Friday 19th December, with the onset of the fourth major swell event, the log records the wind as ESE to ENE and Bligh writes:

Sublime surfriding conditions occur with the combination of suitable bottom contours, signficant swell, off-shore winds, warm air and warm water temperatures.
For the duration of the Bounty's stay in Tahiti, the temperature ranged between 76 and 85 degrees Farenheit, or 25 to 29 degress Celsius.
Without historical documentation, it is probably safe to assume the water temperature was similar to the present range:

While the extreme swell conditions at Matavai Bay, vastly different to his visit with Cook in August-September 1777, came as a suprise to Bligh, they were probably eagerly anticipated by the Tahitian surfriders.
Joseph Banks wrote in 1769:

"The people excell much in predicting the weather, a circumstance of great use to them in their short voyages from Island to Island.

They have many various ways of doing this (Banks notes one method); and in this as well as their other predictions we found them indeed not infallible but far more clever than Europreans." (59)

One critical observation from a study of these accounts that must be stressed is the relative rarity of such extreme and sublime surfriding conditions. (60)
These conditions are not in evidence during the winter visits of Wallace (June 1767), Cook (May 1769, May 1774, August-September 1777) and Bligh's second voyage to transport breadfruit to the West Indies (July 1792).
While the possibly of such events was undoubtedly increased with Bligh's extended stay, the critical factor was seasonal - the visit of the Bounty coincided with Matavai Bay's direct exposure to the summer northern swells.
If the Bounty had arrived at Tahiti four weeks later when the north swells were running, it is likely Bligh would sought an alternate anchorage.
The reports by Cook's crew and the subsequent post-contact accounts in Tahiti and Hawaii, where the expedition commanders invariably sought anchorages protected from the predominant swell direction, must be examined in this context.

3.8 James Morrison, 1788.
James Morrison was boatswain's mate on the Bounty and was one of the mutineers.
His journal is a highly detailed account of ancient Tahitian culture, significantly enhanced by his extended stay in Tahiti from 1788 to1791. (61)
Morrison's long-term exposure, covering the full twelve month climatic cycle, to traditional culture contrasts markedly with the relatively short-term visits to Polynesian islands by most Europeans in the 18th century.
Furthermore, his dramatic account of surfriding is enhanced by the extreme swell conditions that caused Bligh and his crew considerable difficulty and threatened the safety of the ship.
James Morrison's account essentially replicates the earliest Hawaiian surfriding reports.

This report, although in an attached overview of Morrison's stay in Tahiti, specifically dates the surfriding activity to the fourth of the extreme swell events, with an estimated wave height between 10 and 27 feet, reported and discussed above.

"This Diversion took place during the time the Bounty lay in Maatavye (Matavai) Bay when the Surf from the Dolphin Bank ran so high as to break over her, and we were forced to secure the Hatches expecting the Ship to go on shore evry Minute." (62)

Morrison describes some of the basic elements of surfriding, as previously recorded by Banks, except that the most skilled ride in a standing position:

"they get peices of Board of any length with which they swim out to the back of the surf, when they Watch the rise of a surf somtimes a Mile from the shore & laying their Breast on the board, keep themselves poised on the Surf so as to come in on the top of it, with amazing rapidity watching the time that it breaks, when they turn with great Activity and diving under the surge swim out again towing their plank with them ... some are so expert as to stand on their board till the Surf
breaks" (63)

The description of the board "of any length"  indicates a significant range of dimensions; probably determined by skill, body size, social status and/or the materials available for construction.
Certainly the boards were specifically constructed for surfriding, and not an adaptation as possibly implied by Joseph Banks and indicated by William Bligh, discussed below.
Riding in a standing position was not noted by members of Cook's third Pacific voyage and does not appear to be confirmed in accounts from Hawaii until circa 1825 by Rev. William Ellis. (64)
The minimum surfboard dimensions for successful riding in the standing position are open to debate. (65)

Furthermore, Morrison gives some some indication of the extreme surf conditions favoured by Tahitian surfriders, indicating the rider's preference for a critical wave shape and the potential maximum wave height and the length of the ride.
The distance from the beach, "a mile", is consistent with the previously estimated wave heights.

"When the Westerly Winds prevail they have a heavy surf Constantly running to a prodigious height on the Shore ... the part they Choose for their Sport is where the Surf breaks with Most Violence ... they Watch the rise of a surf somtimes a Mile from the shore" (66)

He reports that  the arrival of large surf was a significant community event and surfriding was practised by both sexes and all ages.
The potential dangers were substantially reduced with the selection of suitable ("smaller") conditions and the skill of swimming taught at an early age.

"at this diversion both Sexes are Excellent ... the Children also take their sport in the smaller surfs and as Most learn to swim as soon as walk few or no accidents happen from Drowning....
They resort to this sport in great Numbers and keep at it for several Hours." (67)

The number of riders is considerable, enough to require those paddling out to avoid those riding in:

This was not always successful, but such collisions were apparently considered an integral part of surfriding and the occassional "very Coarse landing"  suffered without rancour or dispute:

"which they somtimes cannot avoid in which case both are Violently dashd on shore where they are thrown neck & heels and often find very Coarse landing, which however they take little Notice of and recovering themselves regain their boards & return to their sport." (69)

Morrison briefly  records Tahitian canoe surfriding, confirming the earlier report of William Anderson and the contemporary account by Bligh, below.

"They have also a diversion in Canoes, which they steer on the top of the Surf with Great dexterity, and can either turn them out before it breakes or land safe tho it Break ever so high."  (70)

3.9 Royal Tahitian Surfriding, 1788.
Significantly James Morrison's account notes the expert surfriding skills of the Tahitian ruling class, consistent with Polynesian legends but not recorded in the earliest accounts from Hawaii by Europeans. (71)

"The Chiefs are in general best at this as well as all other Diversions, nor are their Weomen behind hand at it.
Eddea is one of the Best among the Society Islands & able to hold it with the Best of the Men Swimmers." (72)

Note that the assessment of Iddeah's (Morrison's Eddea) surfriding skill may not be Morrisson's independent view, but was probably based on the communal consent of Tahitian surfriders.
It is unlikely to be the result of some organised competitive event.
See Chapter 1 (in preparation).

Iddeah and her husband Tu (also known as Otoo, named as Tinah by Bligh) formed a personal and commercial relationship with Bligh. (73)
Upon first meeting her on board the Bounty at Matavai Bay in October 1788, Bligh wrote:

"His wife (Iddeah) I judged to be about twenty-four years of age: she is likewise much above the common size of the women at Otaheite, and has a very animated and intelligent countenance." (74)

Three months later, while preparing to depart Tahiti, Bligh affirmed his initial assessment:

Besides her surfriding skills, Iddeah's social, physical and mental prowess was considerable.
Invited to witness a wrestling competition, Bligh reported:

A mother of several children; with (a somewhat surprised) Bligh she discussed and demonstrated native childbirth, and was highly amused by his account of English methods. (77)

Some of Iddeah's other talents were less maternal:

"Iddeah has learnt to load and fire a musquet with great dexterity, ...
It is not common for women in this country to go to war, but lddeah is a very resolute woman, of a large make, and has great bodily strength." (78)

On a day recorded as one of the most extreme surf condtions (5th-6th December), her canoe paddling skill was outstanding.
Bligh's journal notes:

"The sea broke very high on the beach; nevertheless, a canoe put off, and, to my surprise, Tinah, his wife (Iddeah), and Moannah, made their way good through the surf, and came on board to see me.
There was no other person in the canoe, for the weather did not admit of useless passengers: each of them had a paddle, which they managed with great activity and skill." (79)

Ten years later, Iddeah's son was now the local chief, Pomare.
Circa 1798, the newly arrived English missionary, John Williams, post-dated  James Morrison's report of her surfing skills:

"The women are very dexterous at this sport; and Iddeah, the queen-mother, is considered the most expert in the whole island." (80)

3.10 William Bligh, 1788.
Following the second major swell event at Matavai Bay, on Friday 28th November William Bligh also briefly reported canoe surfriding; confirming the accounts of William Anderson and James Morrison.

They also practise with small Cannoes in these high surfs, and it is seldom that any of them get
overturned or filled. " (81)

He was more expansive on the subject of Tahitian surfriders, apparently using canoe paddles as surfcraft, recording some of the basic elements of surfriding (paddle-out, take-off and ride-in) and, like Banks, notes the potential danger of the activity.

"The heavy surf which has run on the shore for a few days past has given great amusement to many
of the Natives, but is such as one would suppose would drown any European.
The general plan of this diversion is for a number of them to advance with their paddles to where the
Sea begins to break and placing the broad part under the Belly holding the other end with their Arms
extended at full length, they turn themselves to the surge and balancing themselves on the Paddles
are carried to the shore with the greatest rapidity." (82)

Given this report parrallels James Morrison's, there is a remote possibility Bligh's description of the surfcraft as "paddles" is misleading, although Bligh's reputation for exactitude makes this highly unlikely.
Joseph Banks, assisted by J. C. Beaglehole's Footnote, describes Tahitian paddles as:

The use of inverted canoe paddles is confirmed by the method of "placing the broad part under the Belly holding the other end with their Arms".
Such a technique was unlikely to be suitable in deep water and the paddles were probably used close to the beach.
One, highly spectulative, senario is that the extreme and sublime conditions placed such high demand on the available surfboards that canoe paddles were used by some surfriders as substitute craft.
The use of canoe paddles as surfcraft by ancient surfriders invites further speculation. (84)

Laurie McGinness (1997) partially quotes Bligh's report (85) and comments:

"The sport was very crude in those early years.
They did not have specially constructed boards, but simply used paddles, presumably from their canoes.
Nor, apparently, did they attempt to trim across the wave, but rode straight in to the shore.
Surfing of this type was widespread throughout Polynesia.
It had no cultural importance and took no great skill to perform.
Only in Hawaii did surfing develop significantly." (86)

To some extent this is an understandable analysis based on Bligh's edited report, however James Morrison's account obviously contradicts several of McGinness' conclusions.

Like Morrison, Bligh also notes the potential for riders colliding and notes such encounters are successfully avoided by "duck-diving":

"As several seas follow each other they have those to encounter on their return, which they do by
diving under them with great ease and cleverness." (87)

Bligh confirms previous assessments of the rider's pleasure and notes the practical advantages of swimming and surfriding skills.

"The delight they take in this amusement is beyond anything, and is of the most essential good for
them, for even in their largest and best Cannoes they are so subject to accidents of being overturned
that their lives depend on their swimming, and habituing themselves to remain long in the Water. " (88)

The question of why Bligh did not make the connection between Tahitian and Hawaiian surfriding, given that he probably saw or, at the least, heard reports of Hawaiian surfriding ten years earlier with Cook in 1778-1779, remains unanswered.

3.11 George Tobin, 1792.
Bligh was again dispatched to Tahiti in 1791 in the Providence, accompanied by Lt. Nathaniel Portlock in the Assistant, successfully completing the transportation of breadfruit plants to the West Indies in 1793.
In July 1792, George Tobin, an amateur artist and journal-keeper for the voyage, recorded juvenile surfriding in Tahiti.

"It is common to see the children at five or six years of age amusing themselves in the heaviest surf with a small board on which they place themselves outside the breaking, whence they are driven with great velocity to the shore, fearless themselves, nor are the least apprehensions of accidents entertained by their parents."  (89)

Any concerns of the parents were, no doubt, allayed by their own familiarity with the dangers of surfriding.
Clearly, the surf conditions did not compare with those peviously experienced by the Bounty in 1788-1789 and Tobin appears not to have conversed with Bligh or others on the subject.

3.12 James Wilson, 1798.
European contact with the already waring Polynesian chiefdoms would dramatically realign political power, with a near terminal impact on the traditional culture.
Military power was dependent on acquiring western firearms, munitions and sail power and the alignment of the Bounty mutinners with the house of Tu significanly altered Tahitian politics.
In 1797, the traditional culture was confronted with an alternate spirituality by the arrival of Christian missionaries from the Missionary Society (later the London Missionary Society) on the Duff.
One of the missionaries, James Wilson wrote of the exceptional swimming skills of the Tahitians:

"They are uniformly excellent swimmers and divers; it was affirmed that one of the natives swam from Otaheite to Eimeoi (15 miles;) he was in consequence esteemed and worshipped as a god; for they declared that as the channel was infested with numerous sharks, and the distance so great, none but a god could pass safely." (90)

His account of surfriding, highly reminiscent of Morrison, recognises the challenge of extreme conditions:

"They have various sports and amusements; swimming in the surf appears to afford them singular
delight.
At this sport they are very dexterous; and the diversion is reckoned great in proportion as the surf runs highest and breaks with the most violence:  they will continue it for hours together, till they are tired." (91)

Wilson provides the earliest dimensions for Tahitian surfboards, in this case certainly ridden prone, and notes that some riders were bodysurfers.

"Some use a small board, about two feet and a half long, formed with a sharp point, like the fore part
of a canoe; but others depend wholly on their own dexterity." (92)

While the basic mechanics of surfriding are effectively described, Wilson notes the stylish raising of the outside or non-steering leg, apparently indicating the riders transversed the wave face:

"They swim out beyond the swell of the surf, which they follow as it rises, throwing themselves on  the top of the wave, and steering with one leg, whilst the other is raised out of the water, their breast reposing on the plank, and moving themselves forward with one hand, they are carried with amazing velocity, till the surf is ready to break on the shore, when, in a moment, they steer themselves with so quick a motion as to dart head foremost through the wave, and, rising on the outside, swim back again to the place where the surf begins to swell, diving all the way through the waves, which are running furiously on the shore." (93)

Wilson also reports surfriding is practised in smaller conditions by children and the activity, despite the inherent danger to European eyes, is essentially injury free:

"The children take the same diversion in a weaker surf, learning to swim as soon as tbey can walk, and seldom meet with any accident except being dashed on the beach; but hardly is ever is a person drowned." (94)

Whereas some writers (such as Ellis, below) make much of the potential danger of shark attack, Wilson records a remarkable response by these Tahitian surfriders:

"If a shark comes in amoung them, they surround him, and force him on shore, if they get him into the surf, though they use no instrument for the purpose: and should he escape, they continue their sport without fear." (95)

Such acts of bravado were likely directed at smaller specimens of the species.

3.13 Rev William Ellis, 1822.
The religious conversions and the rejection of "pagan" values (96) so eagerly sought by the missionaries failed to materialize.
Facing irrelevance and challenged by the increasing influence of European commerical interests, under intense local pressure the missionaries eventually provided access to armaments, imported from the new British colony  in Australia.
Again, most benefit went to the house of Tu, now lead by his son, Pomare II. (97)
Victory by Pomare II at the battle of Feipi in 1815 firmly entrenched the Christian church in Tahitian politics and commerce and effectively established an alternate state religion, directly in conflict with the traditional beliefs. (98)

In this period of political and cultural upheaval, William Ellis arrived on island of Huahine, north-west of Tahiti, in June 1818 with other Missionary Society members to further advance Christianity in the Pacific islands.
Ellis moved on to Hawaii in 1822, but after completing a tour of the major islands his wife's illness forced a return, via America, to England. (99)
On his return he published  A Journal of a Tour Around Hawaii  in 1825 (100) and quickly followed with an expanded work, Narrative of a Tour of Hawaii in 1826 that included a report of surfriding. (101)
In 1829 he produced a three volume work, Polynesian Researches,  detailing his missionary experience and cultural observations in the Society Islands, Tubuai Islands and New Zealand. (102)
Volume I included a report of surfriding at Fare harbour on Huhaine. (103)
Polynesian Researches was reprinted in 1831 with the addition of a fourth volume on Hawaii including the earlier surfriding account from the Narrative (1826) and the earliest printed surfriding illustration. (104)

While Ellis's report of surfriding at Huhaine certainly preceeds the Hawaiian account, the publication dates appear to imply the reverse.
Interpretation is further complicated by Ellis' comments that compare and contrast elements of the two Polynesian cultures, no doubt written later in preparing his notes for publication. (105)
Ellis writes:

"One of their favourite sports is the 'horue' or 'faahee', swimming in the surf, when the waves are high, and the billows break in foam and spray among the reefs.
Individuals of all ranks and ages and both sexes follow this sport with great avidity.
<...>
I have often seen along the border of the reef forming the boundary line to the harbour of Fare in
Huahine, from fifty to a hundred persons of all ages, sporting like so many porpoises in the surf that
has been rolling with foam and violence towards the land; sometimes mounted on the top of the
wave, and almost enveloped in spray, at other times plunging beneath the mass of water that has
swept like mountains over them, cheering and animating each other; and by the noise and shouting
they made rendering the roar of the sea and the dashing of the surf comparatively imperceptible." (106)

The surfriding breaks are located at the channels through the surrounding coral reefs:

"They usually selected the openings in the reefs or entrances of some of the bays, where the long
heavy billows rolled in unbroken majesty upon the reef or the shore." (107)

Ellis's account, apart from the naming of the board, closely corresponds with the previous report by James Morrison at Matavai Bay:

"They used a small board, which they called papa faahee- swam from the beach to a considerable
distance, sometimes nearly a mile- watched the swell of the wave, and when it reached them, resting
their bosoms on the short, flat-pointed board, they mounted on its summit, and amid the foam and
spray rode on the crest of the wave to the shore; sometimes they halted among the coral rocks, over
which the waves broke in splendid confusion." (108)

The Tahitian name for the surfboard, "papa faahee", is similar to the Hawaiian "papa he'e nalu", transcibed by Rev. Ellis circa 1824 as "papa hi naru". (109)
He records variatrions of the island pull-out, originally noted by Banks and also reported by Morrision, and notes the relative lack of danger for skilled riders:

"When they approached the shore, they slid off the board, which they grasped with the hand, and either fell behind the wave or plunged towards the deep and allowed it to pass over their heads.
Sometimes they were thrown with violence upon the beach, or among the rocks on the edges of the
reef.
So much at home, however, do they feel in the water, that it is seldom any accident occurs." (110)

As previously noted, Ellis compares Tahitian and Hawaiian surfboards and the respective surfriding populations:

"Their surf-boards are inferior to those of the Sandwich islanders, and I do not think swlmming in the sea as an amusement, whatever it might have been formerly; is is now practiced so much by the natives of the South, as by the North." (111)

The inferiority of the boards perceived by Ellis probably refers to the larger dimensions and/or the fine polished and stained finish that he noted of the the Hawaiian boards. (112)
The comparison of the popularity of surfriding between the two island groups, "not ... now practiced so much by ... the South (Tahiti), as by the North (Hawaii)", may reflect a recent rapid deterioration in the traditional culture under the impact of divergent European influences, but this discrepancy in numbers was probably always the case given the Hawaiian islands larger population, larger landmass with greater natural resources and the superior quality and quantity of the Hawaiian surf.

Ellis relates the danger of shark attack to surfriders from both locations:

"Both were exposed in this sport to one common cause of interruption; and this was, the intrusion of
the shark.
The cry of a 'mao' among the former (Tahiti), and a 'mano' among the latter (Hawaii), is one of the most terrific they ever hear; and I am not surprised that such should be the effect of the approach of one of
these voracious monsters.
The great shouting and clamour which they make, is principally designed to frighten away such as
may approach.
Notwithstanding this, they are often disturbed, and sometimes meet their death from these formidable
enemies. (113)

The danger of shark attack is reported by other 18th century commentators, however in most cases they detail attacks as the result of vessels breaking up at sea, the sharks progressively consuming the survivors.
Such an account is provided by Ellis himself. (114)
Statisically, in modern times the number of fatal sharks attacks on surfriders in the surf zone is small compared to the danger in the open ocean or enclosed bays and rivers.
Athough shark numbers were significantly reduced during the twentith century by fishing and, in some places, by a policy of extermination (115), Ellis possibly exaggerates the danger to surfriders for dramatic effect.

3.14 J. A. Moerenhout, circa 1834.
J. A. Moerenhout was a merchant and diplomat who travelled from Valparaiso, Chile, at the end of 1828 to the Pacific islands, spending most of his onshore residence in Tahiti.

His book (116)  is a thee part treatise on Polynesia. composed following a return to France in 1834 and only occassionally quotes directly from his journal entries.
The formating of the work, with a myriad of sections and sub-sections, is sometimes confusing.
The text makes it clear that Moerenhout is familiar with the works of the early European explorers and the author's preface notes that he had read "the works of the missionaries", including the Rev. William Ellis (who reported surfriding at Fare, Huahine circa 1820).

"I had at my disposal scarcely anything more than the works of the missionaries, some of which, it is true, offer interesting facts.
Mr. Ellis's, among others, has often indicated to me most significant points of my research." (117)

The First Part details the geography of a large number of Polynesian islands, with the noteable exception of the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands.
These reports include some accounts of Polynesian surf skills and some descriptions of Polynesian canoes.
While the book makes several comparative references to the Sandwhich Islands, Moerenhout does not specifically record his landing there. (118)
The Hawaiian references may be derived from Moerenhout's written sources, especially Ellis.

Moerenhout first encounters the power of the Pacific swells at Pitcairn Island, the current residence of some of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions, in 1829:

" 'On that day there was a strong gust from the north, which could be felt even in our water; the sea, rolling in long waves, also broke with such a din on the rocks with which the island is surrounded on all sides that it seemed unapproachable to us, even for the smallest boats.
We finally arrived at the watering place, but without being able to make out the little bay on account of the violence of the waves.' " (119)

Polynesian aquatic skills in these conditions were demonstrated by one of the Tahitians successfully steering the longboat to a landing (see a later account, below) and their calm conrol in extreme conditions, although the estimated wave height, "more than twenty feet", may be an exaggeration..
After landing the longboat on the shore, Moerenhout (quoting from his journal) writes:

" 'I had left the boat, seeing around me only rocks almost like peaks, looking for some indication of a route or some kind of path and not being able to find one, when I heard the two islanders who accompanied us cry to the sailors: Save yourselves, Save yourselves!, and, turning around, I saw a horrible wave of more than twenty feet in height rollover them.
The natives held the boat with a long rope.
Our sailors were saved, but not without taking on part of the wave, which broke on the rock with the noise of thunder, hit, them, and caused them to be swept away.
I was a witness then of one of the most singular sights that I have seen in my life.
These two islanders, fixing themselves on the rock with their sinewy arms, held the boat's rope, looked calmly at the coming sea, and at a signal which they gave to each other crouched down simultaneously to let the mass of water rollover them.
I believed them to be lost when, a moment later, to my great astonishment, I saw them get up as if nothing had happened, a maneuver which they repeated up to three times; but then the sea, a little more calm, let them recall the sailors and let them leave with the boat from that little bay, which they then said was not safe on that day.' " (120)

The swimming skill of the Tahitians at Pitcairn in the surf zone is beyond Moerenhout's powers of description:

" 'One of the natives again seized the helm to allow the boat to clear the pass, and as soon as we were led out he wished us good day and jumped into the sea.
He swam in the midst of waves and breakers with a skill which you would have to see to get a true idea of, and in a few minutes we saw him safe and sound on land.' " (121)

On the 29th February 1829, the skill of shooting a wave in a longboat is demonstrated in the vincinity of Lord Hood Island by one of the "Pitcairn people":

" 'In approaching the land our pilot had the boat stop for more than a quarter of an hour, not far from the reef, beaten by the sea with a rage which seemed not to be going to let us land, while a number of enormous sharks surrounded our boat, appearing to look at us as assured prey if the waves capsized us or broke us on the rock.
The men in the little dugouts had, however, already reached land and stayed on the reef, ready to receive us.
Seizing a favorable moment our pilot cried to the sailors to row, and finally carried by the crest of a wave which took us at a frightful speed, we landed in a few seconds on the reef, amid floods of foam.' " (122)

Later, writing about Tiooka and Oura (Taaroa and Taapouta of the Indians) and the neighbouring islands, Moerenhout's account shows advanced surf-swimming skills are also practised in the Marquesas Islands:

"Since the sea was too high to be able to land on the reef and the noise of the waves did not allow us to be heard from that distance, I gave them a signal to come, but they refused.
Then my servant, born on the Marquesas, threw himself into the sea and, crossing the surf by swimming, arrived on the reef in a few minutes, where he was covered with caresses by the Indians, so gentle and simple when circumstances do not make them depart from their true character." (123)

On Moerenhout's second voyage in 1832 he visited Matavai Bay, the anchorage of Wallis, Cook and Bligh (see above), that had been superceded as a port by Papatee by this time.
While not recorded as a location for surfriding, Dolphin Reef and its exposure to summer swells is noted.

"Before arriving at Point Venus we drew back a distance from the coast because of a reef which extends to the east of this point nearly two miles from land, being the more dangerous in that it is still hidden under the water.
A whaling ship had almost been lost there about two years before.

After having doubled this point we again hugged the land, skirted the reef indicated in all its north-west part by the waves which break over it continually.
We were close enough to see Matavia distinctly and the bay where in 1766 Wallis came to anchor, to the great astonishment of the islanders.
It was also in this bay, or rather in this roadstead, that Cook cast anchor each time he visited Tahiti.

On entering the pass Wallis touched on a rock or part of the reef which he called Bolphin's (sic, Dolphin) rock.
The reef exists today and has scarcely increased since, which can be explained, in my opinion, by its position in the center of the pass.
There is in fact a continual current there occasioned by the river, quite large at this spot, and by the sea water, which, dashed over the reef in all the eastern part, returns to the sea following the pass of Matavai.

This unsafe bay is used only by warships, which are in danger there from November to May.
I spoke in the tale of my first voyage to Tahiti of the serious damage which the Russian warship the Croky experienced there in 1830." (124)

This First Part records further examples of the skill of Polynesian canoe paddlers (125), the effectiveness of their observations at sea (126) and several descriptions of Polynesian canoes (127).

The Second Part, Ethnography (which contains the surfriding report), is based on the totallity of Moerenhout's readings and observations across Polynesia.

"The second will present, under the title of Ethnography, all the remarks which my long stay in these countries and my relations with the inhabitants have allowed me to gather relative to their language, their religion, and their customs." (128)

In this part, the various Polynesian settlements are treated as one culture, therefore determining the chronolgy or location of the reports is usually impossible, except where some special variations are reported as in the discussion of canoe racing noted below.

In the Second Part: Ethnography, Chapter Three: Customs, II: Private Customs, A. Education, Moerenhout writes:

"... what pleased them the most was to play in the water.
In that fiery climate water was for them a second element, in which they spent at least a quarter of their lives.
Scarcely had it been born when the mother carried her child to the river, and from that moment on until he could take care of himself she washed him several times a day; as a result children in general knew how to swim almost as soon as they knew how to walk." (129)

In the Second Part: Ethnography, Chapter Three: Customs, II: Private Customs, C. Domestic Life, Section Thee: Pleasures, 3. General Festivities (Taupitim or Oron), Moerenhout writes of the popularity of canoe racing and notes some of the inter-island variations.:

"It was the areois and the fatou note paupa which were most in favor and attracted the greatest crowd, although in several places there were a great number of other diversions, the principal ones of which were:
...
4. The fatiti achemo vaa, a dugout race."
This was the favorite amusement of the inhabitants of Tongatabou and other Friendly Islands, and the superior performance of their dugouts made them just as formidable in sea fights as their swiftness in running in land battles.
Dugout races were not the custom at all in the Society Islands, and they were not held except in the great festivals and in the public merry-making.
For a purpose, as in the foot races, they had some flag, which the victor took away.
All the dugouts, whatever their size, could enter the contest, but never more than two at a time, from the smallest paddled by only two persons, to the double dugouts, which often had twelve to twenty.
Once the signal for departure was given the rivals' craft were followed by a great number of others, which had to keep behind them all the time; the people who were in them uttered cries and tried to encourage them, each one the backer of his side, along with the crowd, which kept on the shore or endeavored to follow the direction of the dugouts in their course.
The tumult continued to increase from the moment of their arrival, the moment in which a piercing cry from the conquerors was heard and from all those on their side, which they repeated up to three times, raising their arms and waving their flags and other objects in the air.
These demonstrations were repeated for each of the couples engaged in the contest; and from the pleasure which they seemed to take in this amusement, it was astonishing that it was not more generally extended.
In the Friendly Islands the dugouts also met with sails.
These games were so much the more brilliant in that they took place in a calm and serene time and in that the spacious bays formed by the coral reefs which surrounded all the islands were moreover natural bays, the most suitable in the world for that type of exercise. (18, Footnote)

(Footnote) 18. The inhabitants of the Friendly Islands attached such an importance to the construction of the dugouts intended to meet in these public contests that, after they had been launched and tried out, those which did not respond to their expectations and the speed of travel were immediately condemned and destroyed." (130)

In the same section, General Festivities, other activities are noted:

"There were still a number of other common amusements, some of them daily, which didn't stop them from devoting themselves to them during solemn festivities." (131)

Included in these "other common amusements" is surfriding:

"3. The horoue or goroue, which consisted in letting themselves be carried by the ocean waves, keeping on the top.
The most agreeable amusement for them of all those which had been created for the water.
For its theater this exercise had openings in the reefs, places where the sea broke with the greatest furor.
Among all the feats or skills which men in different countries have succeeded in doing I know of none which surpasses this one or which causes more astonishment at first sight.
Generally they have a plank three to four feet long with which they take to the sea at a certain distance, waiting for the waves, diving under those which are not strong enough, and letting several of them roll over their heads until a very high one comes along, which cries from the spectators on the shore announce to them, always gathered in great numbers along the shore.
Lying on their plank they wait for their wave, and at the instant when it approached them they give themselves a movement which lets them reach the crest, from which they are seen immediately carried with the rapidity of an arrow towards the shore, which you would think they would be thrown upon in tatters, but when they are very close, a little movement returns them and gets them to leave the wave, which at the same instant breaks with a crash on the sand or on the rocks, while the Indian afloat, and without ever leaving his plank, leaves while laughing to start his terrible play over again. Men and women love this diversion with a furor and practice it from their youngest years; some of them gain a skill which goes beyond all belief.
I have seen some of them in very bad weather jump to their knees on their plank and hold themselves so in equilibrium while the flood carries them with a terrifying speed." (132)

The text certainly indicates the Moerenhout saw surfriding, however it is unclear if his observations were confined to Tahiti (the island of longest residence) or if surfriding was also noted on other islands.
The inclusive format adopted in Part II would tend to imply the activity was widespread.

Moerenhout gives a description of basic surfriding activity (the paddle-out, wave selection, the take-off, the ride and the dismount) and, echoing Banks and Ellis, locates the activity at  "openings in the reefs, places where the sea broke with the greatest furor".
He also reports that surfriding was practised by both sexes of all ages and was a community event with "spectators ... always gathered in great numbers along the shore."

Importantly, Mereonhout records some advanced surfriding skills, the riders "jump to their knees on their plank"  on, apparently, large swells ("in very bad weather").
He estimates the length of the Tahitian boards as "three to four feet long", substantially longer than the only other specific account ("about two feet and a half long") by James Wilson in 1789.

As previously noted, Moerenhout credits the journals of the early missionaries in the Preface and there are some similarities, noteably the use of the indigenous name,  with the surfriding account at Fare on Huahine by Rev. William Ellis, above.

3.15 C. F. Gordon-Cummings, c 1883.
Continuous outbreaks of internal conflict, Chrisian evangelism, commerical exploitation and the ravages of introduced diseases on the native population preciptated a rapid decline in traditional culture and the old religion. (133)
At the time of Cook's first visit in 1769 the population of Tahiti was probably about 40,000.
By 1800 it plummeted to less than half that; by 1840 the native popuation was 9,000 and continued to decline even  further. (134)
With the increasing challenge to Brtish power by France and the Roman Catholic church in the late 1830s, the situation deteriorated into another war, culminating in the surrender of Tahitian political power to France in 1847. (135)

Towards the end of the 19th century many traditional activities had virtually disappeared.
Several visitors to the Society Islands who had some knowledge of surfriding, probably from Hawaii, and were aware of the earlier surfriding accounts there, failed to observe the activity.

In the early 1880s, C. F. Gordon-Cumming, no doubt reflecting on Rev. Ellis' account of the numerous riders at Fare, commented:

"Surf-riding was formerly a characteristic sport in most of these groups, and especially at Tahiti, where fifty years ago it was the favorite pastime of men, women and children.
There, however, it has fallen so entirely into disuse, that during the six months I remained in the Society Isles I never once saw it." (136)

Her "negative report" is similar to the account of Henry Adams, below.

3.16 Henry Adams, 1891.
Henry Adams, indicating the domination of Christian worship over the traditional culture, reported from Tahiti circa 1891:

"If they have amusements or pleasures, they conceal them.
Neither dance nor game have I seen or heard of; nor surfing, swimming, nor ball-playing nor anything but the stupid, mechanical himene (hymn-singing)." (137)

3.17 Tueria Henry, 1928.
The only indigenous writing on Tahitian surfriding is by Tueria Henry,  published by the Bishop Museum Press in 1928.
The work was based on material collected by John M. Orsmond, a contemporary of fellow missionaries John Williams and William Ellis.
Unfortunately, her entry for surfriding in a retrospective of Tahitian sports essentially replicates Rev. Ellis' report circa 1820 and offers no substantial insights, apart from contradicting Gordon-Cumming and Adams in noting that it is still practised:

" 'Fa'ahe'e", surf-riding, was much indulged in, mostly by young men and women in favorable places where the sea rolled in breakers over sunken rocks.
The board used was called 'papa-fa'ahe'e' (board-for-surfriding).
The pleasure in this sport would have been unalloyed but for sharks that sometimes came and wounded or carried away someone out of reach of timely help.
Surf-riding is still practised to a small extent." (138)

More interesting is the, previously unrecorded, entry for high-diving:

" 'Neue or naue'.. plunging into water, has always been a favorite pastime of children and grown people.
They plunge off high cliffs into the deep sea or off rocks and trees into deep fresh-water pools, and they swim and dive like fishes.
Diving is called 'titi-aho-roa' (holding-long-breath), and swimming is called 'au'." (139)

While underwater diving and swimming are obviously part of surfriding activity, high diving parallels surfriding in the elements of "thrill' and "style".
Some commentators on Hawaiian culture, noteably John 'Ii, also detail high diving activities. (140)

3.18 Ben Finney, 1956.
In preparing material for his master’s thesis in anthropology at the University of Hawai’i, Ben Finney travelled throughout the Pacific.
In a paper on Tahitian surfriding (141), one of several deriving from the thesis (142), he discussed several of the accounts noted above and wrote:

"In 1956 I had the occasion to visit Tahiti and several other islands of French Oceania.
I saw young people surfing at Takapoto, Tuamotu islands, and at Hiva-Oa, in the Marquesas Islands,
but I did not observe surfing on Tahiti." (143)

Finney does not indicate if the "young people surfing" appeared to be maintaining a traditional activity or whether the widespread publication of surfriding images and articles had to some extent revived the sport.
If the former, it may be that Tahiti experienced a more emphatic and extensive exposure to European values whereas those island of less commercial or political importance retained some remnants of traditional culture.

Interestingly, in a footnote to the paper, Finney canvassed a direct historical connection between Tahitian and Hawaiian surfriding:

"Considering the probability of colonization of Hawaii by Tahitians, I suggested in my thesis that 'surfing' became an important sport initially in Tahiti, which was later brought to Hawaii where it reached its highest development." (144)

On the current available evidence, this would seem a reasonable proposition, however in his later works, Ben Finney reassessed and moderated this view.
Ben Finney's work on the origins and spread of surfriding is examined in Chapter One: The development of a Polynesian Aquatic Culture, in preparation.

In the 1960's, with the widespread adoption of the modern fibreglassed Californian and Hawaiian surfboard, surfriding began a return to popularity in Tahitian waters, despite the fact that by then it was well known "There is no surf in Tahiti." (145)

3.18 Tahitian Surfboard Design and Construction.
In the accounts examined above, there are only two empirical descriptions of a Tahitian surfboard.
James Wilson reported in 1798:

J. A. Moerenhout, who observed riders kneeling on their boards (circa 1883), reported the craft as substantially longer:

The other descriptions are less informative, indeed Joseph Banks' report of 1769  is possibly misleading, although there may be a connection between his accountand Wilson's "like the fore part of a canoe".
See the discussion of Banks' Surfcraft, above.

James Morrison's "peices of Board of any length"  (1788) probably indicates some boards were longer than Moerenhout's estimate, given he reports they were able to be ridden in a standing position.

Rev. William Ellis' "short, flat-pointed board" (c1820) confirms the pointed nose indicated by Wilson and probably a flat cross-section, common in most examples of ancient Hawaiian surfboards.
See Chapter 4, and following. (in preparation)

Not unsuprisingly, there are no accounts of how these boards were constructed; however Samuel Wallace, Joseph Banks, Sydney Parkinson and James Morrison wrote extensively of the skill of Tahitian carpenters and canoe builders.

In Polynesian tradition, natural resources (like timber) were provided by a host of gods, spirits and departed ancestors.
Harvesting was often accompanied by a variety of religious rites, often including an element of sacrifice, usually proscribed by a priest or master craftsman.
See Chapter 1 (in preparation)
Natural resources were also subject to control by a ruling elite that was complex synthesis of secular and religious power. (148)

"One aspect of their power was their authority to impose a taboo: they could forbid the harvesting of certain plants, the killing of certain animals, or the fishing of sections of a lagoon.
And while this power was usually only exercised fer a brief period to ensure ample supplies for forthcoming feasts on ritual occasions, it gave them strong powers of conservation - essential to island living." (149)

Like many European marineers who followed him, Samuel Wallis studied Polynesian canoes and described their construction, rigging and use in Tahiti:

"The boats or canoes of these people, are of three different sorts.
Some are made out of a single tree, and carry from two to six men: these are used chiefly for fishing, and we constantly saw many of them busy upon the reef: some were constructed of planks, very dexterously sewed together: these were of different sizes, and would carry from ten to forty men.
Two of them were generally lashed together, and two masts set up between them; if they were single, they had an out-rigger on one side, and only one mast in the middle.
With these vessels they sail far beyond the sight of land, probably to other islands, and bring home plantains, bananas, and yams, which seem also to be more plenty upon other parts of this island, than that off which the ship lay. " (150)

Discussing the second design, Wallis observed:

"The plank of which these vessels are constructed, is made by splitting a tree, with the grain, into as many thin pieces as they can.
They first fell the tree with a kind of hatchet, or adze, made of a tough greenish kind of stone, very dexterously fitted into a handle; it is then cut into such lengths as are required for the plank, one end of which is heated till it begins to crack, and then with wedges of hard wood they split it down: some of these planks are two feet broad, and from 15 to 20 feet long.
The sides are smoothed with adzes of the same materials and construction, but of a smaller size.
Six or eight men are sometimes at work upon the same plank together, and, as their tools presently lose their edge, every man has by him a cocoa nut-shell filled with water, and a flat stone, with which he sharpens his adze almost every minute." (151)

The timbers favoured for canoe construction are identified as "the apple tree" and the breadfruit. (152)

"The wood which they use for their large canoes, is that of the apple tree, which grows very tall and strait.
Several of them that we measured, were near eight feet in the girth, and from 20 to 40 to the branches, with very little diminution in the size.
Our carpenter said, that in other respects it was not a good wood for the purpose, being very light.
The small canoes are nothing more than the hollowed trunk of the bread-fruit tree, which is still more light and spongy.
The trunk of the bread-fruit tree is six feet in girth, and about 20 feet to the branches." (153)

Both timbers were subsequently similarly identified by Sydney Parkinson, one of two artists employed by Joseph Banks on the Endeavour voyage, in 1769.
Parkinson lists seven species used for canoe construction in his catalogue of plants. (154)
The breadfruit (Tahitian: uru, Hawaiian: ulu) is recorded as one of the species suitable for Hawaiian canoes and surfboards. (155)

Joseph Banks records an inventory of Tahitian stone-age tools for carpentry:

" ... an axe of Stone in the shape of an adze, a chisel or gouge made of a human bone, a file or rasp of Coral, skin of Sting rays, and coral sand to polish with, are a sufficient set of tools for building a house and furnishing it with boats ...
Their stone axes are made of a black stone not very hard but tolerably tough; they are of different sizes, some that are intended for felling weigh 3 or 4 Pounds, others which are usd only for carving not so many ounces.
Whatever these tools want in goodness is made up by the industry of the people who use them." (156)

J. C. Beaglehole's footnote identifies the stone (a variety of basalt) and the quarry location:

"These adzes (and other stone tools very often) were made from a black dolerite found on the island of Maurua (modern Maupiti) 24 miles west of Borabora, where there was a sort of quarry which
supplied the whole of the Society Islands with the valued material. " (157)

Tommy Holmes' (1993) account of Hawaiian canoe building tools (Chapter 4) also indicates their adzes were made from basalt and the quarrying  paralleled the Tahitian case, on a substantially larger scale:

"Most Hawaiian stone adzes came from one of the quarries on Hawai'i, Kaho'olawe, Moloka'i, O'ahu, or Kaua'i.
...
The most important of these quarries was on the southern flank of Mauna Kea.
It was not only the largest in Hawai'i but the largest in the entire Pacific region, covering some 7 1/2 square miles, at an elevation of between 11,000 and 12,400 feet" (158)

Clearly the harvesting of timber, usually from the hinterland, required a major community effort.
Joseph Banks notes:

"Felling a tree is their greatest labour, a large one requires many hands to assist and some days
before it can be finishd, but when once it is down they manage it with far greater dexterity than is
credible to an Europrean."  (159)

James Morrison was intimately acquainted with native carpenters.
In early 1790, under his direction, some of the Bounty mutineers remaining at Tahiti planned to build a schooner with the intention of returning to England. (160)
A journal entry in January 1790 records the first steps in construction:

"On the 4th the Weather being fair, I set out to the Hills accompanied by some of Poenos Men, & one
who lived with myself Constantly, in quest of timbers, and returned with several, the Poorow being
plenty in the Mountains; but Mostly at a Good distance as they always take the first at hand for their
own Use- these We sided as usual and laid them to dry" (161)

The timber Morrison harvested, "Poorow", is currently unidentified.
Significantly, note that Morrison includes a period of seasoning  in the harvesting process ("these We sided as usual and laid them to dry"), necessary to produce stronger and lighter timber that is less partial to splitting or warping.(162)

For Tahitian canoe construction the largest trees were used in their entirety, Banks writes:

However, in most cases timber was required in smaller dimensions and to this end Banks reports the log was split into billets (164):

"If it is to be made into boards they put wedges into it, and drive them with such dexterity (as they have told me -for I never saw it) that they divide it into slabs of 3 or 4 inches in thickness, seldom meeting with an accident if the tree is good." (165)

Banks may not have witnessed the splitting process, but Wallace did (see above) and Morrison observed:

In November 1788, William Bligh had no difficulty in commissioning supplies of timber:

"I had no want of my own People to cut Wood, for the Trees were felled and cut up with the greatest ease and readyness by the Natives, who also with much chearfulness carried every billet of it to the Tents altho near half a Mile distant." (167)

The reduction into billets, if the log was not required whole, probably occurred at the logging site, significantly reducing the labour in transporting the timber to the coast.
James Morrison's experience is representative:

"And here I may also observe that a deal of Labour might have been saved by workmen, who
understood their business, by trimming the Timber in the Mountains, which would have made a
Considerable Odds in the Weight" (168)

Alternatively, on one occasion Bligh noted the transportation of complete logs from the forest to the shoreline, as must be the case for canoe hulls.

The billets were trimmed to the required surfboard dimensions and shape, no doubt after a period of seasoning.
Banks writes of the speed and dexterity of Tahitian carpenters:

"These slabs they very soon dubb down with their axes to any given thinness; in this work they certainly excell; indeed their tools are better adaptd for it than any other performance; I have seen them dubb of the first rough coat of a plank at least as fast as one of our carpenters could have done it; and in hollowing, where they have liberty to raise large floors of the wood, they certainly work quicker, owing to  the weight of their tools: those who are masters of this business, will take of a surprizing thin coat from a whole plank, without missing a stroke; they can also work upon a peice of wood of any shape as well as they can upon a flat one, for in making their canoes every peice is formd first into its proper shape, bilging or flat: for as they never bend a Plank all the bilging peices must be shap'd by hand which is done intirely with axes."    (170)

Of the canoe builders on Raiatea, one of the Leeward Islands, he notes:

Banks was not impressed with the examples of fine carving he examined, but notes the fine finish evident on Tahitian woodwork:

"All their work however acquires a certain neatness in the finishing for they polish every thing, even the side of a canoe or a Post of a house, with Coral sand rubbd on in the outer husk of a Cocoa nut and rays skin, which makes them very smooth and neat." (172)

Sydney Parkinson observed Tahitian canoes under construction and also recorded the use of abrasives:

"This day we also saw them polishing their canoes, which was done with the madrepora fungites, a
species of coral, or sea mushroom, with which they also polish the beams of their houses." (173)

The splitting of logs into boards was widespread and culturally ingrained across the Pacific.
From 1865, Kanakas from the South Pacific Islands were brought to Queensland and northern New South Wales as agricultural labourers, principally in the sugar cane industry. ,
Johnny Iltong, an Australian born decendant from tne New Hebrides, recalled life on the banks of the Tweed River in the early twentith century:

"When the Islanders built their houses they used to cut their timber down at the scrub and hall it up by horses and then they would trim them and make their own floor boards.
They had wedges made and their own mattocks to split the timber.
They even made their own fishing boats.
They had a big shed built on the Kingscliffside of where the caravan park is now.
It was a lock up shed where they used to ketch the boats.
They used to take their boat out to sea to catch fish." (174)

The above analysis clearly suggests a method of construction of Tahtian surfboards (and probably paddles).
Harvesting was usually accompanied by specified religious rites.
Trees of the required dimensions, likely one of the species identified for canoe construction, were felled at inland locations with heavy stone adzes.
The fallen trees were trimmed of the branches and cut to length into logs.
The logs were then split, sometimes by heating one end to crack the timber, into billets about  four inches thick with timber (possibly stone) wedges.
After and/or before a period of seasoning, for probably at least 12 months, the billets were transported to the coast.
Billets of suitable dimensions were shaped into surfboards with a selection of progressively smaller and finer stone adzes. (175)
A smooth finish was produced with various natural abrasives.

Note that this method does not parallel, indeed contradicts, significant elements of the most detailed and widely quoted account of Hawaiian surfboard construction published by Thomas Thrum in 1896. (175)
See Chapter 7 (in preparation).

2. For screen clarity, the text is presented in my standard online format.
Each sentence takes a new line and paragraphs are indicated by a spaced line (replacing indentation), thus:

Reproduced text  is in "bold italics", enclosed in double apostrophes.
Reproduced text in the Endnotes is in "italics", enclosed in double apostrophes.
The font is Arial 12 point, but this may be adjusted by the reader's browser settings.

3. Wallis, Samuel in
Hawkesworth, John: An Account of the Voyages in the Southern Hemisphere by Commodore Byron, Captain Carteret, Captain Wallis and Captain Cook.
Drawn up from the Journals which were kept by the several Commanders and from the Papers of Joseph Banks, Esq.
In Three Volumes
Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell in the Strand,1773.
Volume II ?, page 438.
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/hv23/contents.html

4. Wallis in Hawkesworth: Voyages (1773), page 438.
As experienced ocean voyagers, the Tahitians were obviously familiar with the immediate needs of marineers and, on occassions, probably supplied their own crews with this method.

5. In 1990, Bengt Danielson wrote (in English):

"While the accounts by the discoverer of Tahiti, the British Navy captain Samuel Wallis, and other European explorers who called at Tahiti at an early date contain much information about most other native sports, nothing is said about surfing."

Danielson,Bengt: "Surf Polynesian: Une Glisse Historique / The Fall and Rise of Polynesian Surfing."
Tahiti Magazine
79, Centre Vaiama, B.P. 20725, Papeete, Tahiti, Number 20, 1990,  page 16.

Note that only the ships of Bougainville's expedition visited Tahiti (1768) between the visits of Wallis (1767)  and Cook (1769).
Danielson appears therefore, by implication, to include the journals of Bougainville as reporting "nothing ... about surfing."
See 3.2

Also note that the article is printed in French and English versions; the French text reads:

"Dans man etude <<Jeux et sports anciens dans Ie Pacifique>>, publiee a I'occasion des le Jeux du Pacifique, qui eurent lieu a Tahiti en 1971, j'ai reuni les temoignages les plus importants des premiers navigateurs europeens, dont les recits ne contiennent cependant que tres rarement des renseignements sur Ie surfing"

This does not appear to correspond to the English version noted above, a rough translation (assisted by google translation) reads:

"In a previous study 'Games and Sports in the Pacific', published in conjunction with the Pacific Games  Festival, which took place in Tahiti in 1971, I joined together the most important testimonies of the first European navigators, whose accounts, however, contain only very little information on surfing".

Danielson in Tahiti Magazine, (1990), Number 20, page 14.

6. Roussel, Nolwenn: Jardin de Recif: Sur la trace des premiers surfeurs tahitiens.
(Reef Gardens: Tracing the First Tahitian Surfers.)
Atlantica, Biarritz. 2005, page 17.
The quotation was translated into English with the assistance of google translation and revised courtesy of M. Jean-Louis Boglio, see below.

Unfortunately, the reference to Bougainville is not included in Roussel's Bibliographie (Bibliography).
As Bouganville spent only 11 days on Tahiti and recorded the visit in a mere four dozen pages of his journal, the existence of such an account must be considered remarkable.

Bougainville, Louis de: A Voyage Around the World
Translated from the French by John Reinhold Forster.
T. Davies, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London 1772.

Fascimile edition published by:
N. Israel, Keizersgracht 539, Amsterdam C.
and
Da Capo Press, 227 West 17th Street, New York 10011, 1967.
Bougainville's account of Tahiti is from page 220 to page 274.

Mlle. Roussel has been contacted by email, currently awaiting a reply.

7. Maritime book specialist, Jean-Louis Boglio, in response to my enquiries arising from the work of Nolween Rousell, above, reported by email in July-September 2007:

re:" The Pacific Journal of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville 1767-1768,
I just read the parts dealing on the short call in Hitia'a in April 1768:
-  by Bougainville himself who was commanding the expedition of 'Boudeuse' and 'Etoile',
-  by Jean-Louis Caro second in command of 'Etoile',
-  by Francois Vivez surgeon on 'Etoile',
-  by Charles Felix-Pierre Fesche volunteer on 'Boudeuse'
-  by Prince Nassau-Siegen, a passenger
-  by Philibert Commerson, naturalist of the expedition
They mention excellent swimming by both men or women, canoes (paddles or sails), but not SURFING."

The relevant editions and page numbers are yet to be established.
Many thanks to Jean-Louis at http://www.maritimebooks.com.au, for his invaluable contribution and assistance with the translations.

8. Alan Moorehead writes:
"Banks ... gives us the first known description of surfing in the Pacific."

Moorehead, Alan: The Fatal Impact - The Invasion of the South Pacific 1767-1840.
Mead and Beckett Publishing
139 Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia, 1987, page 41.
First published:
Hamish Hamilton Ltd
27 Wrights Lane, London, W8 5TZ, 1966.

As of 2007, the status of the reports from Tahiti are not recognised in any English book that ventures to detail the history of surfriding.
The first report is widely attributed to "Captain James Cook in Hawaii in 1789", and to list said works here would be excessive, tedious and unlikely exhaustive.
In fact, Cook himself never wrote of surfriding in Polynesia.
In the works that provide a quotation, the text is often Dr. Douglas' edited version (1784) based on Lt. James King's journal and written after Cook's death.
See Chapter 4 (in preparation).

In a series of 1990 magazine articles, Bengt Danielson credits, alternatively, Cook (in French) then Banks (in English) with the first report of Polynesian surfriding.
Only the Engish version includes an extensive quotation from Banks.

Danielson in Tahiti Magazine (1990), Number 20, pages 14-15. (French)
Danielson in Tahiti Magazine (1990), Number 20, pages 16-17. (English)

In 2005, Nolwenn Roussel, writing in French, noted that Cook observed surfriding in Tahiti in 1769:

"en 1769, James Cook, le commandant anglais du vaisseau du roi l'Endeavour, a clairement vu et compte « dix ou douze indiens » qui surfaient."

Roussel: Jardin de Recif (2005), page 16.

Circa 2006, Banks' account is noted online at:
Chris Jones: Captain Cook
http://www.herriotcountry.com/content/captaincook/captaincook.php

Peter Robinson: British Surfing Museum
http://www.thesurfingmuseum.co.uk/history_1899.asp#

Geoff Cater: surfresearch
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1769_Banks_Surfing_Tahiti.html

9. Campbell, I.C.: A History of the Pacific Islands.
Canterbury University Press
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 1, New Zealand, 1992, page 51.
First edition: 1989.

For online resources for the life and voyages of James Cook see:
The Captain Cook Society
http://www.captaincooksociety.com/

10. Lumis, Trevor: Pacific Paradises - The Decline of Tahiti and Hawaii.
Pluto Press Australia.
7 Leverson Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, 3051, 2006, pages 16-17.
www.plutoaustralia.com

11. Banks, Joseph: The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks 1768 - 1771.
Edited by J. C. Beaglehole
The Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales in Association with Angus and Robertson
89 Castlereagh Street, Sydney.
Second Edition 1963. First published February 1962. Two Volumes
Volume 1, page 281.

The overnight stay was not uneventful.
Sydney Parkinson, one of two artists engaged by Banks to record the voyage, reported:

" in the morning, some missed their stockings, others their jackets and waistcoats, amongst the rest, Mr. Banks lost his white jacket and waistcoat, with silver frogs, in the pockets of which were a pair of pistols, and other things: they enquired for them, but could get no account of them, and they came away greatly dissatisfied, having obtained but one pig."

Parkinson, Sydney:  A Journal of a Voyage to South Seas in His majesty's Ship, the Endeavour.
Edited and published by Stanfield Parkinson, London 1773.
Entry for 11th -19th June 1769, pages 30-31.
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/parkinson/title.html

 J. C. Beaglehole notes "Cook had his stockings stolen from under his head while still awake" and in a footnote, quotes Parkinson's description of Banks' attire and comments: " so Banks cut an elegant figure, even in Tahiti."

Beaglehole, J.C. : The Life of James Cook.
Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. 1974, page 181 and Footnote 3.
Original publisher : A. & C. Black, Ltd. London, 1974.

12. Banks: Journal (1963), page 283.

Bank's surfriding report, although transposed to Cook's voice, was first published in:
Hawkesworth, John: An Account of the Voyages in the Southern Hemisphere by Commodore Byron, Captain Carteret, Captain Wallis and Captain Cook.
Drawn up from the Journals which were kept by the several Commanders and from the Papers of Joseph Banks, Esq.
In Three Volumes
Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell in the Strand,1773.
Pages 135-136
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/hv23/contents.html

Alan Moorehead (1966) assessed the merits of the various publications arising from the Endeavour voyage:

"The fact was that Cook had been much embarrassed by Hawkesworth.
He had not been able to correct the text before publication (though Hawkesworth said he had), and many of the observations and descriptions that had been ascribed to him were not his own at all.
Now that Dr Beaglehole has produced for us Cook's own journal, few people will bother to read Hawkesworth's volumes; the rough sailor's account is incomparably the better of the two.
Banks suffered just as much.
His fresh and lively journal was not published until long after his death and then in a form so bowdlerized by the editor, the eminent botanist Joseph Hooker, that Dr Beaglehole has been moved to comment that the work was not so much a journal as a scene of carnage."

Moorehead: Fatal Impact (1987), page 65.

13. Bengt Danielson (1990) locates the surfbreak "at Vaiatu river in Pae", however this is not obvious in Cook's or Banks' journals and Beaglehole indicates it is unclear where the pinnace was beached and the journey on foot started.

Danielson in Tahiti Magazine (1990), Number 20, page 17.
Beaglehole in Banks: Journal (1963), Footnote 3, page 281.

14. Banks: Journal (1963), page 283.

15. The basic elements of surfriding activity are:
1. Onshore analysis of the surf conditions.
2. The paddle out.
3. Wave selection, usually incorporating a period of waiting.
4. The take-off.
5. The ride.
6. The pull-out.
7. Return to shore.

16. Banks: Journal (1963), page 283.
Bank's original manuscript shows he originally wrote that the surfcraft was "swam" out, but the word was crossed out and substituted with the very different "towd" out.
See Endnote 20.

17. If surfriding can be said to have "Rules", Rule #2 is probably "Don't let go of the board".
Since circa 1977, this rule has been substantially relaxed with the near universal adoption of the leg rope (USA: surf leash).
Attaching the rider to the board with an elastic cord, this invention proved an effective safety device, significantly advanced surfriding performance and reduced the potential of board damage; which further encouraged the development of lighter surfcraft.

The first rule of surfriding is "Don't Panic".
This advice is also written in large red letters on the cover of :

Prefect, Ford; et. al: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Megadodo Publications, Ursa Minor Beta, continously updated.

18. Beaglehole: Cook (1974), page 181.
J.C. Beaglehole's personal experience of surfriding dynamics is unknown.

19. The Endeavour arrived on 13th April, Banks' surfriding narrative is dated 28th May and the detailed overview of Tahitian canoes on 14th August, 1769.
There is an earlier report on canoes dated 21st July 1769 at Opoa on the island of Raiatea, north west of Tahitia.

20. Banks, Joseph: Endeavour Journal Manuscript, 1768-1771,  page 259.
Held by the NSW State Library, Sydney.
http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/ebindshow.pl?doc=safe1_13/a1193;seq=160

21. Banks: Journal (1963), page 283.

22. Wallis in Hawkesworth: Voyages (1773), page 486.

23. Banks: Journal (1963), page 365.

24. Hodges, William: War Galleys at Tahiti, circa 1774.
National Maritime Museum, London, C3409.

The painting is reproduced in:
Cameron, Ian: Lost Paradise - Exploration of the Pacific.
Century Hutchinson Ltd.
Brookmount House, 62-65 Chandos Place Covent Garden, London WC2N 4NW, 1987, page 141.
and
Moorehead: Fatal Impact (1987), page 78.

One of the photograhic reproductions is inverted or flopped.

25. Banks: Journal (1963), page 365.

26. Banks: Journal (1963), page 367.

27. Banks: Journal (1963), page 319.

28. Unsigned: Construction of Canoes.
British Museum Department of Manuscripts, Add. MS 23921, f.23b.

Reproduced in:
Banks: Journal (1963), Plate 20.
Beaglehole's notes read:
" Construction of Canoes Add. MS 23921, f.23b.
Pencil drawings of various details of canoe construction, 27.4 x 22.3 cm., unsigned.
Hulls with cross-sections, 'deck-house', paddle, mast and rigging.
Annotations in Banks's hand."

29. Sporing, H.D.: Purea's Canoe.
British Museum Department of Manuscripts, Add. MS 23921-23a.

Reproduced in:
Cook, James: The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768-1771.
The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery.
Beaglehole, J. C. (editor)
The Boydell Press, Sydney, 1967, Volume 1, Figure 31 (between  pages 112-113).
Also published by:
Hakluyt Society, The Cambridge University Press, 1967.

30. Beaglehole: Cook (1974), page 179.

31. John Gore was masters mate on the Dolphin under Byron (1764-1766) and Wallis (1766-1768) and served as one of Cook's lieutenants.
Other members of the Endeavour's crew who seved with Wallace included Robert Molyneux, Richard Pickersgill and Francis Wilkinson.

Beaglehole: Cook (1974), pages 138 and 139.

32. Wilson, James: A Missionary voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean, Performed in the Years 1796, 1797, 1798. 1799, ... in the Ship Duff.
T. Chapman, 1799. (1813), page 72.

33. Sporing, H.D.: Breaking Wave Dynamics, 1769.
Detail from  Purea's canoe.
British Museum Department of Manuscripts, Add. MS 23921-23a.
Reproduced in:
Cook: Journals (1967), Volume 1, Figure 31 (between  pages 112-113).

It is highly unlikely that this is a representation of one individual wave, but rather a composite of a number of similar successive waves breaking towards the beachfront while Sporing was drawing the canoe.
Sporing's wave is reminesent of the famous wave portrait by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, "Under the wave off Kanagawa" circa 1825; see top of this page.

34. From the Introduction (in preparation): "The unique spatial and temporal transience of the individual ocean wave is elemental to the unique activity of surfriding."
The photographic image of the unridden wave (a wave portrait) is a common staple of most surfriding magazines, books and films.
For one example, see:
Hawk, Steve : Waves.
Chronicle Books.
85 Second Street, San Francisco, California, 94105, 2004.

For film, see the very long, multi-sectioning, hollow right-hander in the opening sequence of:
Falzon, Alby: The Morning of the Earth, 1972.
The location is possibly Winki Pop, Bells Beach, Victoria.
 

35.Anderson visited Tahiti and briefly Hawaii, but died in the northern Pacific on 3rd August 1778 before the expedition's return to Hawaii in 1779.

Beaglehole: Cook (1974), page 614.

36. Quoted in:
Warshaw, Matt: The Encyclopedia of Surfing.
Viking
Penguin Books Australia Pty Ltd
250 Camberwell Road
Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia, 2004, pages 134 - 135.
The  location is not identified and the quotation is possibly incomplete.

Warshaw credits the quote to James Cook, as does Dela Vega et. al, who note on page 15:
"In (Cook, 1784) Vol. II, Chapter 9, 1777, Capt. Cook describes canoe surfing in Tahiti."

Dela Vega, Timothy T. et al: 200 Years of Surfing Literature - An Annoted Bibliography.
Published by Timothy T. Dela Vega.
Produced in Hanapepe, Kaui, Hawaii. 2004.
Initially based on Daved Marsh's online database (The Water Log- not currently available), the book was compiled from contributions of a worldwide group of over twenty surfriding historians and collectors.

In a personal email, July 2006, Patrick Moser, Drury University, noted (amoungst other important  information):
"the famous description of Tahitian canoe riding by William Anderson (not James Cook) on Cook's third voyage".

Sincere thanks to Patrick Moser for his substantial contribution to this subject.

I am currently unable to determine the complete quotation and the original reference beyond that as noted by Dela Vega et. al.

37. The Mutiny on the Bounty has been covered in numerous historical and fictional works, including several feature films, and hopefully requires no exhaustive annotation here.
Set adrift in the Bounty's 23 feet launch with 18 members of the crew, Bligh's 3600 mile voyage in an open boat following the mutiny is less recognised in popular culture, but celebrated by naval historians.

For a concise account of the the events surrounding the Mutiny, see:
State Library of NSW: Mutiny on the Bounty: The Story of Captain William Bligh seaman, navigator, surveyor and the Bounty mutineers.
State Library of NSW, 1991.
A richly illustrated exhibition catalogue with a selection of essays.

At the first attempt,  Bligh's mission on the Bounty terminated with the intervention of the mutiny.
While he succeeded in the task of transporting the breadfruit plants to the West Indies on the second voyage, 1791 to1793, their cultivation there as a commerical crop was initially a failure.
Egan, Elizabeth: Introduction
State Library of NSW: Mutiny on the Bounty (1991), page 15.

Both expeditions were largely instigated by Sir Joseph Banks (knighted following his celebrated success on Cook's first Pacific voyage), as was the founding of a penal colony at Botany Bay in New Holland in 1788 (subsequently Australia).

38. Glynn Christian: Mutineer Who Made History.
State Library of NSW: Mutiny on the Bounty (1991), page 31.

39. Bowker, R.M. and Bligh, Lt. William: Mutiny!! Aboard HM Armed Transport 'Bounty' in 1789.
Bowker and Bertram Ltd.
Old Bosham, Sussex, England, 1978, page 256.
Selections from the official log of H.M.S. Bounty.
Page 3 notes:
"this log being written up daily by the clerk, John Samuel, under the directions of the Commander."

40. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 260.

41. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 262.
Given the size and duration of these swells is is probable that they were not generated locally, but originated in the far Northern Pacific.

42. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 266.

43. Bowkerand Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 267.

44. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 267.

45. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 269.

46. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 275.

47. Morrison, James: Journal on HMS Bounty and at Tahiti, 1787-1792.
Mitchell Library, Sydney.  pages 20-21.
Journal of James Morrison on the ‘Bounty´ and at Tahiti, bequeathed to the Public Library of N.S.W.
by will of the late Rev. A.G.K. L´Estrange, through the medium of Messrs Church, Adams, Prior and Palmer, Solicitors, 11 Balford Rd, London, W.C.
http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/Ebind/cy515/a1221/a1221000.html

First published as:
Morrison, James: The Journal of James Morrison, Boatswain's mate on the 'Bounty', describing the mutiny & subsequent misfortunes of the mutineers, together with an account of the island of Tahiti.
The Golden Cockerel Press, London,1935.

Noted and quoted in Dela Vega et al. (2004),page 24:
"1st descriptions of surfing in Tahiti 'at this diversion all sexes are excellent... the children also take their
sport in the smaller surfs'. "

The surfriding content  of the 1936 edition is on pages 226 and 227.
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/morrison/101.html

The quotation may be slightly misleading, despite the conditions some Tahitians were able to reach the ship indicating substantial swimming and surfing skills.
Morrison continues on page 21:
"However several of the Natives found the way off through it, and brought bunches of Cocoa Nuts with them that were full as much as one of us could haul up the side tho they had swam off with them through a tremendous surf."

48. Bowkerand Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 275.

49. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 291.

50. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 295.

51. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 301.

52. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 302.

53. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 293.

54. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), Plate 10, between p 260 and 261.

55. Bascom, Willard : Waves and Beaches.
Anchor Books
Doubleday and Company Inc. Garden City, New York 1964,  pages 159 -160.

All wave sizes are based on Bascom's method of estimating breaking wave height.
Bascom: Waves and Beaches (1964), page 173.

56. Bligh, William: A Voyage to the South Sea.
Facsimile of the 1792 edition.
Hutchinson group (Australia) Pty Ltd
30-32 Cremorne Street Richmond Victoria, 3121. 1979
First facsimile reprint by the Libraries Board of South Australia, edition no. 121, Adelaide, 1969, from a copy held by the State Library of South Australia.
Originally published by George Nicol, London, 1792.
Cropped and the compass bearing added, from the map between pages 104 and 105.

57. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 274.

58. Tahiti Tourtime
http://tahitinow.com.au/about-tahiti/faq/

59. Banks: Journal (1963), page 368.
The method detailed by Banks, if he transcribed it correctly, does not appear to conform to modern meteorological principles:

"but one only that I know of which I never heard of being practisd by Europreans, that is foretelling the quarter of the heavens from whence the wind shall blow by observing the Milky Way, which is generaly bent in an arch either one way or the other: this arch they conceive as already acted upon by the wind, which is the cause of its curving, and say that if the same curve continues a whole night the wind predicted by it seldom fails to come some time in the next day"

60. As previously noted: "The unique spatial and temporal transience of the individual ocean wave is elemental to the unique activity of surfriding." (From the Introduction, in preparation).

Certainly, Finney and Houston's contention that "Good surfing waves are not unusual; they occur frequently in many parts of the world" is true only in the most general sense.

Finney, Ben and Houston, James D.: Surfing – A History of the Ancient Hawaiian Sport.
Pomegranate Books
P.O. Box 6099 Rohnert Park, CA 94927 1996, page 19.

Point Venus is rated as suitable for advanced riders in The World Atlas of Surfing (2007):

"An extremely hollow right-hander breaks off the western end of the barrier reef at Pointe Venus.
This is a very intense wave with a heaving takeoff and bowling tube section right off the peak.
It's very shallow, so protection from the coral is a good idea.

WAVE TYPE  WAVE HEIGHT BREAK TYPE BEST SWELL BEST WIND BEST TIDE BEST TIME HAZARDS

Right 3-1 0 ft (0.9-3.1 m) Reef NE S Mid-high November-February Shallow, sharp coral

DIRECTIONS From Papeete, drive east on the coast road to Mahina and turn right to Pointe Venus Beach.
It's a ten-minute paddle to the western end of the reef."

Surfrider Foundation: The Altas of World Surfing
 Harper Collins Publishers
 25 Ryde Road, Pymble, Sydney, NSW, 2073, Australia, 2007, page 114.

For a current (2007) overview of surfriding at Point Venus, Matavai Bay, see:
http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Australia_Pacific/Polynesia/Tahiti/Point_Venus/index.html

61. James Morrison spent the intial five months with Bligh in Tahiti 1788-1789, but following the mutiny he elected, along with fifteen others, to remain in Tahiti when the Bounty returned there on the 21st September 1789 to reprovision before seeking a secure refuge, eventually Pitcairn Island.
Morrison and the other crew members of the Bounty  were arrested by Captain Edwards who arrived in March 1791 on HMS Pandora.
In total, Morrison spent two years in Tahiti: five months with Bligh and nineteen months after the Mutiny.
After an horrific return voyage to England he was condemed to death, reprieved and pardoned.

In the introduction to his overview of Tahitian culture, Morrison's journal notes on page 207:

"Mean while I shall endeavour to give some account of the Island of Taheite or King Georges Island and of the Manners and Customs of the Society Isles in General with an account of their Language such as I was able to procure during my stay on shore there of Nineteen Months, exclusive of Near five Months which elapsed while the Bounty lay there under Lieutenant Blighs Command and five Months More which we expended after the Taking of the Ship before we landed most part of which time We were conversant with the Natives."

62. Morrison: Journal (1792), pages 358.

63. Morrison: Journal (1792), pages 357-358.

64. Ellis, Rev. William: Polynesian Researches: Hawaii
 A New Edition, Enlarged and Improved
 Charles E. Tuttle and Company
 Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo Japan,1969, pages 370-371.

The works of William Ellis relating to Polynesian culture are fully detailed in part 3.9 and below.

65. Finney and Houston (1996) write:

"True surfing requires a full-sized board, usually six feet or longer and at least around eighteen inches wide, that can support the rider entirely, allowing him or her to ride prone, kneeling or standing."

Finney and Houston: Surfing (1996), page 24.

In the modern era there are exceptions, that is boards ridden in a standing position smaller than the dimensions prescribed by Finney and Houston.
Also note such dimensions are rudimentary without reference to volume or weight, the defining characteristics determining a surfboard's floatation.
Furthermore, for any particular board, waveriding in a upright stance is also a function of the rider's mass, skill and the individual wave characteristics.
Finally, the definition of "True surfing" as stand-up surfriding is questionable.
Circa 1966-1969, the (innermost) extremes of surfriding performance for Australian stand-up boardriders were defined by Californian kneeboarder, George Greenough.
See Chapter 1 (in preparation).

66. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 357.

67. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 358.

68. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 358.

69. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 358.

The spectactular "very Coarse landing" , or "wipe-out",  is often viewed with a perverse pleasure by experienced observers.
To the uninitiated, the "pleasure" as reported by the wiped-out surfrider appears even stranger.

70. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 262.

71. The surfriding success of members of Hawaiian royalty features in several oral legends and is occassionally reported by post-contact commentators.
Their skill was probably the result of several factors, not the least a lifestyle unconstrained by labour.
Finney and Houston: Surfing (1996), page 40.
A superior diet, beach-front accomodation, inter-island mobility and access to the finest craftsmen and materials probably also helped.
For an account of a royal Hawaiian surfing lifestyle, see Chester S. Lyman's report from Waikiki in1846.

Lyman, Chester S.:Around The Horn To The Sandwich Islands And California 1845-1850.
Yale University Press, New Haven,1924, Chapter II, page 73.
Noted and quoted in:
Dela Vega et.al: Surf Literature (2004), page 22.

Also see Chapter 5 (in preparation).

72. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 358.

73. While Bligh's relationship with Tinah (previously Otoo, alternatively Tu and Tynah) and Iddeah displayed some affection, the commericial and political advantage to their clan further altered the existing Tahitian power structure.
Critically, on departure Bligh presented Tinah with "two muskets, a pair of pistols, and a good stock of ammunition".
Bligh: Voyage (1792), page 140.

The situation continued to deteriorate with the return of the Bounty mutineers in 1790.
See:
Barclay, Glen: A History of the Pacific - From the Stone Age to the Present Day.
Futura Publications Limited
110 Warner Road, Camerwell, London SE5, 1979, pages 70 to 72.
First Edition:
Sidgwick and Jackson Limited, Great Britian, 1978.

Tinah and Iddeah's descendants, Pomare I and Pomare II, would play a major role in the ongoing decline of traditional Tahitian culture.
See
Taaroa,Marau and Adams, Henry: The Memoirs of Arii Taimai, a History of Tahiti.
Paris, 1901
HTML edition by Ray Davis
Chapter 11.
http://www.pseudopodium.org/repress/tahiti/11.html

As an illustration of the Mutiny's status in modern culture, Tinah and Iddeah were depicted in:
The Simpsons:"The Wettest Stories Ever Told".
Episode Number: 374    Season Number: 17    First Aired: Sunday April 23, 2006.
Part 2 Bart's Tale: "The Mutiny on the Bounty."
Cast
Captain William Bligh: Seymor Skinner
Fletcher Christian: Bart Simpson
Tinah: Homer Simpson
Iddeah: Marge Simpson

74. Bligh: Voyage (1792), page 66.

75. Bligh: Voyage (1792), page 121.

76. Bligh: Voyage (1792), page 89.

77. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 256.
While a discussion of natural childbirth is outside the parameters of this paper, Bligh's recollection of the conversation is noted here as a possible insight into Iddeah's vibrant personality.

"Ideeah, Tynah's Wife began a Strange conversation, which was how the Women of England were delivered of their Children, and as I complied readily with the knowledge I had of the matter, I was led to the same curiosity with respect to the Otaheite Women.
In this particular I was fully satisfied, and Iddeeah represented the Woman in labour.
...
From her enquiries she found our English Women suffered much and had Assistance in the moment
of labour, at which she laughed heartily.
'Here,' she said (placing herself in the posture already described) 'let them do this & not fear and the Child will be safe.'
I was now asked if our Women had more than one Child at a birth, I told her frequently two, and sometimes three; three she said was 'eeno' or bad, that some Otaheite Women had three Children, but that the Woman generally died and some of the infants."

Her final comment on the undesirability of multiple births is possibly an oblique reference to the Polynesian practice of infantacide as an a method of population control, although how wide-spread the practice was amoungst the general population is disputed by historians.

For one appraisal, see:
Lumis: Pacific Paradises (2006).
A number of Tahitian and Hawaiian references to infantacide are listed in the Index, page 208.

78. Bligh: Voyage (1792), page 133.

79. Bligh: Voyage (1792), pages 100 -101.

80. Wilson: Voyage in the Duff (1813), page 73.
Commenting of a draft  version of this paper Patrick Moser noted, August 2007:

"My sense of the Wilson text was that it essentially copied Morrison's.
I know that Morrison's journal was made available to Wilson, and much of it (as I recall) was a straight 'cut and paste' from Morrison's account."

This may not be immediately obvious, given that Morrison's journal was not published till 1935.
This information is critical in establishing historical accuracy and, thanks to Patrick, the text has been adjusted.

The "contamination" of reports by writers obviously influenced by reading previous accounts obviously questions their historical accuracy.
In this case it is impossble to know  if Wilson is simply transcribing (and post-dating) Morrison's account of Iddeah's surfriding skill or he has confirmed Morrison by independent enquiry and/or reporting the contemporary oral tradition.

Other elements of Wilson (3.12) are, fortunately, slightly clearer.
The narrative context and the information supplementary or in contradiction to Morrison (the board dimensions, cocked-leg riding style, body surfing, no stand up riding and the response to shark attack) indicates he independently observed the activity.
For the majority of the text that corresponds with Morrison (but not in the case of Iddeah discussed above) it is possible that these elements were confirmed by Wilson's observations and he has adopted Morrison's "terminology" for his narrative.

81. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 262.

Daved Marsh, in a personal email May 2007, confirmed the original reference as:

Bligh, William, (1754-1817):
The log of the Bounty; being Lieutenant William Bligh's log of the proceedings of His Majesty's
armed vessel Bounty in a voyage to the South Seas, ...  Now published for the first time from the
manuscript in the Admiralty records, with an introduction and notes by Owen Rutter, comments on
Bligh's navigation by Rear-Admiral J. A. Edgell ... and four engravings on wood by Lynton Lamb.
London: Golden Cockerel Press, 1937. Two volumes.
The entry is in  Volume 1, pages 408-9.
The edition was limited to 300 copies.

Many thanks to Daved for his contribution.

82. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 262.

83. Banks: Journal (1963), page 366 and Footnote 1. by J. C. Beaglehole.

Beaglehole includes a sketch of a Tahitian canoe paddle (unfortunately not to scale) in a selection of illustrations at the end of Voulme I. (Plate 20), detailed on page xxi and reproduced below.

"20. Construction of Canoes
Add. MS 23921, f.23b.
Pencil drawings of various details of canoe construction, 27.4 x 22.3 cm., unsigned.
Hulls with cross-sections, 'deck-house', paddle, mast and rigging.
Annotations in Banks's hand."

---

84. The recycling of damaged paddles (or canoes, as previously suggested above) into surfboards may have been one possible method of construction for ancient Polynesians.

Consider the image right, Hawaiian paddles, circa 1800,  Bishop Museum Collection. (i) The paddles (hoe) held by the Bishop Museum  have an average blade (laulau) length of 23 inches and a width of 12 inches. The large bladed paddle to the right (b) is a steering paddle (hoe uli). It is 7ft 4'' long with a blade 38 inches x 16 inches. (ii) Note that the paddles were shaped from on piece of timber and a broken shaft would render the paddle unusable. Any of the illustrated paddle blades would make a suitable prone board. i. Buck, Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa): Arts and Crafts of Hawaii. Section VI Canoes. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 45. Bishop Museum Press. 1525 Bernice Street PO Box 19000-A Honolulu, Hawai’i, 1957, page 279. Reprinted in separate sections in1964. ii. Buck: Canoes (1957), pages 277 to 280.

For a detailed acount of Hawaiian paddles, see:
Holmes, Tommy: The Hawaiian Canoe - Second Edition.
Editions Limited, PO Box 10558 Honolulu, Hawaii 96816.
First Edition 1981. Second Edition 1993. Second Printing 1996.
Holmes devotes a fully annotated and chapter to paddles, pages 58 to 63.
The second edition adds a further chapter, pages 203 to 205.

85. McGinness, Laurie: Wildwater - The Surfriding Way of Life.
Jack Pollard Publishing Pty Ltd. Rigby Ltd Sydney 1977.

McGinness' quotation from Bligh reads:

"The heavy surf which has run on the shore for a few days past has given great amusement to many
of the Natives, but is such as one would suppose would drown any European.
The general plan of this diversion is for a number of them to advance with their paddles to where the
Sea begins to break and placing the broad part under the Belly holding the other end with their Arms
extended at full length, they turn themselves to the surge and balancing themselves on the Paddles
are carried to the shore with the greatest rapidity."

McGinness: Wildwater (1977), page 1.

86. McGinness: Wildwater (1977), page 1.

87. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 262.

88. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 262.

89. Tobin, George: Journal on HMS Providence, 1791-1793.
State Library of New South Wales, 2003, pages  211-212.
Call No.: ML A562, CY 1421
http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/Ebind/cy1421/a1220/a1220000.html
.
Two hundred years after composition (1797), Tobin's journal was published in 2007:

Tobin, George: Captain Bligh's Second Chance.
An Eyewitness Account of his Return to the South Seas by Lt. George Tobin.
Edited by Roy Schrebier.
University of NSW Press Ltd.
University of NSW, Sydney, NSW 2055, Australia, 2007.
The surfriding report is on page 122 of this edition.

90. Wilson: Voyage in the Duff  (1813), page 66.

Patrick Moser, August 2007 has noted that James Wilson had access to a copy of James Morrison's journal and significant sections of his account replicate elements of Morrison.
See Endnote 80, above.

91. Wilson: Voyage in the Duff  (1813), page 72.

92. Wilson: Voyage in the Duff  (1813), page 72.

93. Wilson: Voyage in the Duff  (1813), pages 72-73.

94.Wilson: Voyage in the Duff (1813), page 73.

95. Wilson: Voyage in the Duff  (1813), page 73.

96. Pagan values: Some elements of Polynnesian culture were in direct contravention of the missionaries' beliefs, notably human sacrfice, infantacide, homosexuality and the worship of idols.
See:
Moorehead: Fatal Impact (1987), page 98.

97. Lumis: Pacific Paradises (2006), Chapter 13.

In the introduction to George Tobin's journal, Roy Schrebier writes:

"From their first contact with Europeans some twenty years earlier, they (Tu/Pomare and Iddeah/'Itia) recognised the superiority of western technology over Tahitian, especially in the area of weapons.
As a result, they plotted and schemed with each successive European ship's appearance to obtain the fire power necessary to dominate Tahiti and the surrounding Society Islands.
<...>
As part of this plan, Tobin became 'Itia's 'tiao' and on departing presented her with a firearm.
He never realised that this final gift had been the object of her plan from the first."

Schrebier in Tobin: Bligh's Second Chance (2007), pages 10 and 11.

98. Barclay: History of the Pacific (1978), page 83.

99. WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ellis_(author)

Reference:
Ellis, John Eimeo and Allon, Henry: Life of William Ellis, 1873.

100. Ellis, Rev. William: A Journal of a Tour Around Hawaii, the Largest of the Sandwich Islands.
J.P. Haven, New York and Crocker, Boston,1825.

Noted in:
Dela Vega et. al: Surf Literature (2004), page 18.
Reports the surfriding content at:
"page 65.
Mentions the heiau 'Pakiha'...when the King was playing in the surf...'
Does not contain the chapters and descriptions of the Narrative." (noted below).

Given the Boston publisher, this work may have been printed in the USA before Ellis and his wife returned to England.

101. Ellis, Rev. William: Narrative of a Tour of Hawaii, or Owhyhee, with Remarks on the History, Traditions, Manners, Customs and Language of the Inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands.
H. Fisher & Son./ P. Jackson, London, 1825-1826.
Second Edition 1827.
Five editions by 1929.

Noted in:
Dela Vega et. al: Surf Literature (2004), page 18.
Reports the surfriding content as "pp. 276-8."

102. Ellis, Rev. William: Polynesian Researches, During a Residence of Nearly Six Years in the South Sea Islands.
Volumes I to III.
Fisher, Son and Jackson, London, 1829.

Noted in:
Dela Vega et. al (2004), page 18.
Reports:
"vol I, pp. 223, 305. Ellis descr!bes surf riding in Tahiti (sic, actually Huhaine) and compares them to Hawaiians.
(Short quotation illustrating the comparison).
Noted the Tahitian surf God was named Huaouri.
Does not include Hawaiian text."

The second edition, published by: Fisher, Son and Jackson, London, 1831 is online at
http://books.google.com/books
Search: "Polynesian Researches Volume 1"

Later edition
Ellis, William: Polynesian Researches: Society Islands, Tubuai Islands, and New Zealand
Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont, U.S.A.; Tokyo, Japan, 1969.

Ellis' account of surfriding at Huhaine is accredited and extensively quoted in:

Greenwood, James: The Wild Man at Home: or, Pictures of Life in Savage Lands.
Ward, Lock, and Co.,
Warwick House, Dorset Buildings, Salsbury Square, E.C. circa 1887.

103. Lumis writes:
"in May 1821 ... The revolt started on Huahine, an island whose people had had much less contact with Europeans,"
Lumis: Pacific Paradises (2006), page 160.

For a current (2007) overview of two surfriding locations at Fare, Huahine, see:
http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Australia_Pacific/Polynesia/Huahine/index.html

Note that several commentators, for example McGinness (1997) noted above, have implied that ancient surfriders "rode straight in to the shore".
A surfrider who rode straight to shore (and not transversely across the wave face) at either of the two locations identified at Fare above, could possibly end up with a face-full of coral reef.

104. Ellis, Rev. William: Polynesian Researches, During a Residence of Nearly Eight Years in the Society and Sandwich Islands, Volumes I to IV.
Fisher, Son and Jackson, London, 1831.

Noted in:
Dela Vega et. al: Surf Literature (2004), page 19.
Reports:
"vol. IV, pp. 368-72. Hawaiian surfing text from the Narrative.
This edition introduces, on its title page (See on pg. 8) the first published drawing of a man standing on a surfboard, by F. Howard.
Both Narrative and Polynesian Researches have been reprinted several times, and many do not have the surfing content and etching."

Volume IV was published separately in 1969:
 Ellis, Rev. William:  Polynesian Researches: Hawaii.
A New Edition, Enlarged and Improved
Charles E. Tuttle and Company
Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo Japan,1969.
Introduction by Edourad R. L. Doty, 471 pages.
Fourth printing 1979.
Surfriding text pages 368 - 372.
Surfriding illustration by F. Howard: frontpiece; fold-out map.

Ellis' account of Hawaiian surfriding is reproduced in:
Finney and Houston: Surfing (1996), Appendix C. Pages 98 to 99.
The illustration by F. Howard is reproduced on the frontpiece.

105. For example, Ellis not only compares surfriding in the Society and Hawaiian islands, but like-wise compares canoe construction across Polynesia:

"The double canoes of the Society Islands were larger, and more imposing in appearance, than most of
those used in New Zealand or the Sandwich Islands, but not so strong as the former, nor so neat and
light as the latter."

Ellis: Polynesian Researches (1831), Volume 1, page 164.
.
106. Ellis: Polynesian Researches (1831) Volume 1, pages 223 and 224.

107. Ellis: Polynesian Researches (1831) Volume 1, page 223.

108. Ellis: Polynesian Researches (1831) Volume 1, page 223.

109. Ellis, Rev. William (1794-1872):   Polynesian Researches: Hawaii.
 A New Edition, Enlarged and Improved
 Charles E. Tuttle and Company
 Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo Japan,1969, page 369.

110. Ellis: Polynesian Researches (1831) Volume 1, pages 223-224.

111. Ellis: Polynesian Researches (1831) Volume 1, page 224.

112. Ellis describes Hawaiian surfboards as:
"generally five or six feet long, and rather more than a foot wide, sometimes flat, but more frequently slightly convex on both sides.
It is usually made of the wood of the erythrina, stained quite black, and preserved with great care."

Ellis: Polynesian Researches: Hawaii (1831) Volume IV, pages 369 and 370

113. Ellis: Polynesian Researches (1831) Volume 1, page 224.

114. Ellis: Polynesian Researches (1831) Volume 1, page 224.

115. In Australia in the 1960's some beachside councils employed shark meshers to set deep water nets to substantially reduce shark numbers.
Concurrently, skindivers (notably, Ben Cropp) developed a spear with an explosive head specifically to improve the efficiency of shark extermination.
On the east coast, several species, including the Great White, are now protected.

116.Moerenhout, J. A.: Voyages Aux Iles Du Grand Ocean.
Adrien Maisonneuve, Paris, 1959.
Reprint of the 1837 original, in two volumes.
First edition 1944.

English translation:
Moerenhout, J. A.: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Translated by Arthur R. Borden, Jr.
University Press of America Inc.
4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland,  0706.
3 Henrietta Street, London,WC2E 2LU England, 1993.

117. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page xvi, Footnote 4.

118. This may be indicated in the "Map drawn by Moerenhout showing the routes of the three voyages", which although listed (page ix) as an illustration on the Endplate is not included in the 1993 edition at hand.

119. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 17.

120. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 18.

121. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 23.

122. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 55.

123. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 101.

124. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 145.

125. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 57.

126. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 85.

127. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), pages 78 and 88.

128. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page xvi.

129. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 318.

130. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), pages 356 to 357 and Footnote 18 on page 373.

131. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 359.

132. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), pages 359 to 360.

133. Lumis: Pacific Paradises (2006), pages 155-156.

134. Moorehead: The Fatal Impact (1987), page 107.

135. Lumis: Pacific Paradises (2006)., Chapter 19.

136. The text is listed and selectively quoted in DelaVega et al. Surf Literature (2004), page 16, as:
"Cumming, Gordon C.F.
A28_ Fire Fountains: The Kingdom of Hawaii, Its Volcanoes, and the History of its Missions.
2 Vol. (Edinburg & London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1883) vol. I, pp. 99-105.
Views surf-riding at Hilo."

DelaVega et al.also note a subsequent reprint of the surfriding account:
"
A29_ "Hawaiian Sports: Surf Riding at Hilo, Hawaii"
Paradise of the Pacific Magazine, vol. 4, no. 5, May 1891, p. I.
Text reprinted from Fire Fountains."

The correct accreditation is:
Gordon-Cumming, C. F.
Fire Fountains : The Kingdom Of Hawaii; Its Volcanoes And The History Of Its Missions
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1883, 1886, 1888.
Lightning Source Inc. and Kessinger Publishing, 2007

137. Adams, Henry (1838-1918): Letters of Henry Adams: 2 Volumes.
Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1930 . Volume 1, page 476.
Letter to Elizabeth Cameron, Tautira, Sunday 16th March 1891.

Noted in:
Dela Vega et al.: Surf Literature (2004) page 10.
Surfriding content: "Vol 1, page 476.
(Adams) Notes state of surfing in Tahiti in 1891".

138. Henry, Teuira.: Ancient Tahiti.
Based on material collected by J. M. Orsmond.
Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, Bulletin 48, 1928,  page 278.

139. Henry: Ancient Tahiti (1928), page 278.

140. A comparison of the elements of thrill and style between Polynesian surfriding and high diving is discussed in Chapter 1 (in preparation).
The Hawaiian accounts are examined and assessed in Chapter 5 and following (in preparation).

141. Finney, Ben R.: Fa'ahe'e: I'ancien sport de Tahiti. (Fa'ahe'e: Ancient Soprt of Tahiti.)
Bulletin de la Societe des Etudes Oceaniennes
Numbers 127 and 128, Papeete, Tahiti, June - September 1959, pages 53 to 56.

Note that the article is not included in the list of Finney's works in DelaVega et al. Surf Literature. (2004), pages 41 and 67 to 68.
Inexplicably, it is not cited by Ben Finney himself in either:

Finney, Ben and Houston, James D.: Surfing – The Sport of Hawaiian Kings.
Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc.
Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan, 1966, Third printing 1971, Bibliography (page

or in the expanded later edition:

Finney and Houston: Surfing – A History of the Ancient Hawaiian Sport (1996), Bibliography (page.

142. Ben R. Finney's other published papers on surfriding, as noted in DelaVega et al. Surf Literature. (2004), pages 41 and 67 to 68,  are:

Hawaiian Surfing: a Study of Cultural Change.
University of Hawaii, Honolulu,1959, page 135.

Surfboarding in Oceania: Its Pre-European Distribution.
Weiner Volkeerkundliche Mitteilungen (Viennese Ethnological Bulletin)
Vienna, Austria 1959, pages 2:23 to 36.

Surfing in Ancient Hawaii.
The Journal of the Polynesian Society
Volume 68 Number 4, December 1959, pages 327 to 347.

The Surfing Community: Contrasting Values Between the Local and California Surfers in Hawaii.
Social Process in Hawaii
Volume 23, 1959, page 73.

The Development and Diffusion of Modern Hawaiian Surfing.
The Journal of the Polynesian Society
Volume 69 Number 4, December 1960, pages 315 to 331.

Surfboarding in West Africa.
Weiner Volkerkundliche Mitteilungen (Viennese Ethnological Bulletin)
Volume 5, 1962, pages 41 to 42.

143.Finney: Fa'ahe'e: Ancient Sport of Tahiti (1959), page 55.

144.Finney: Fa'ahe'e: Ancient Sport of Tahiti (1959), page 55, Footnote 11.

145. "There is no surf in Tahiti."
The tag was used by Californian surf film producer, Bruce Brown, in his definitive The Endless Summer (1966) when narrating several surfriding sequences that are probably some of the earliest film shot in Tahiti.

In 1990, Jean-Pascal Couraud wrote (in French, English translation by Carolyn Visciano):
".(Surfriding) didn't reappear in Tahiti ... until 1954 when Hiro Levy brought back a board made of balsa from a stay in Hawaii.
...
The first surfing club, the "Tahiti Surf Club", wasn't founded until 1964 and only had 34 members."

Couraud, Jean-Pascal: "Surf - the Story of a Reconquest."
Tahiti Magazine
79, Centre Vaiama, B.P. 20725, Papeete, Tahiti, Number 20, 1990,  pages 10 and 11.

While Brown and his featured surfriders, Robert August and Mike Hynson, confined their riding to coastal locations adjacent to breaks in the outside reef, by the 1990s surfers were again riding waves breaking on the outside reefs.
One break, Teahupoo, has achieved international fame.
It is currently a venue on the professional competition circuit and the location is detailed in::

McKenna, Tim: Teahupoo: Tahiti's Mythic Wave.
Edizioni White Star, Vercelli, 2007.

146. Wilson: Voyage in the Duff  (1813), page 72.

147. Moerenhout: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1993), page 360.

148. Lumis: Pacific Paradises (2006), pages 52-55.

149. Lumis: Pacific Paradises (2006), pages 54.

150. Wallis in Hawkesworth: Voyages (1773), page 486.

151. Wallis in Hawkesworth: Voyages (1773), page 487.

152. Tahitian apple tree (Spondias dulcis)
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/ambarella_ars.html

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis)
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/breadfruit.html

153. Wallis in Hawkesworth: Voyages (1773), page 488.

154. Parkinson: Journal (1773), pages 37 to 45.
i."E marra. 'Nauclea-orientalis',
Of the timber of this tree they build their large canoes", page 37.

ii. "Tawhannoo. 'Guettarda-speciosa'.
The timber of this tree, which grows pretty large at Toopbai, and other low islands near Otaheite,
serves to make stools, chests, paste-troughs, and various other utensils; they also build canoes of it." , page 39.

iii. "E avee. 'Spondias-dulcis'.
This is a large stately tree, and often grows to the height of forty and fifty feet: ...The wood serves for building canoes, and for several other purposes.", page 39.

iv. "E aowiree. 'Terminalla-glabrata'.
This tree, which grows to a large size, is often planted in their Morais, and near their houses, for the
sake of its agreeable shade; the wood serves to build canoes, make chests, stools and drums: the
kernel of the nut which is in the fruit, though small, has a very pleasant taste.", page 40.

v.  "Tamanno. 'Calophyllum-inophyllum'.
... The wood is greatly valued by them on account of its beauty and duration. They
build canoes, make stools, and other utensils of it: it is most likely planted in the Morais, being sacred
to their god Tan_ecute", page 41.

vi. "E hootoo. 'Betonica-splendida'.
This beautiful tree grows to a considerable height, ... and of the wood they build small canoes." , page 41.

vii. "Tooneenna. 'Hernandia-ovigera'.
Of the wood of this tree they make a sort of very small canoes, and several other necessary utensils." , page 44.

viii. "E ooroo. 'Sitodium-altile'.
This tree, which yields the bread-fruit so often mentioned by the voyagers to the South-seas, may
justly be stiled the Staff-of-life to these islanders; for from it they draw most of their support. This tree
grows to between thirty and forty feet high, has large palmated leaves, of a deep grass-green on the
upper-side, but paler on the under; and bears male and female flowers, which come out single at the
bottom or joint of each leaf.
<...>
Of the wood they build canoes, and make several other sorts of utensils; and, of the bark of young
plants of it, which are raised on purpose, they make very good cloth, which is but little inferior to that
made of Eaowte, only somewhat more harsh and harder." , page 45.

Beaglehole, in his footnotes to Banks (1963), lists three timbers for canoe building:

"The timbers used for canoe-building were mainly Faifai ('Serianthes myriadenia') a large valley-growing tree, a favourite for "pahi"; the Uru or breadfruit, and the Hutu ('Barringtonia speciosa')"

Beaglehole in Banks: Journal (1963), page 319, Footnote 4.

Only the breadfruit appears in common with the species noted by Parkinson, although any discrepancy may be due to modern botanical reclassification.

155. Tommy Holmes details Hawaiian canoes made from breadfruit and notes:

"Of the light woods, breadfruit was apparently least used; not only was the breadfruit tree fairly rare and needed as a food source; the one variety available to the Hawaiians was usually unsuitable in girth and height for making canoes."

Holmes: Hawaiian Canoe (1993), page 23.

The Bishop Museum collection of ancient surfboards includes:
“a child’s board of breadfruit wood, 34.5 in long, weighing 2 pounds 10 ounces.”

Buck, Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa): Arts and Crafts of Hawaii.
Section VIII Games and Recreation.
Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 45.
Bishop Museum Press.
1525 Bernice Street
PO Box 19000-A Honolulu, Hawai’i, 1957, page 384.
Reprinted 1964, 1994.

Several writers record breadfruit used for Hawaiian surfboard construction, the earliest Rev. William Ellis, circa 1824, at Waimanu on the north-east coast of the island of Hawaii.

Ellis: Polynesian Researches: Hawaii (1831) Volume IV, page 370.

Three later reports span fifteen years (1873-1888) and all are located at Hilo, Hawaii, on the same coast as Waimanu.
While the individual detail of the respective accounts indicate the journalists personally witnessed surfriding, undoubtedly they had read previously published accounts; principally James King (1789, known to them as Cook) and Rev. Ellis (1824); and their writings indicate some of these influences.
See Chapter Five, and following (in preparation).
The common report of surfboards constructed from breadfruit, initially indicated by Ellis, maybe such an example.
However, as tourists and guests of local residents, their readings and observations may have been supplemented by commentary or discussion from their hosts and/or the local oral tradition (itself possibly based on Ellis) and account for the congruence.

Nordhoff, Charles : Northern California, Oregon and the Sandwich Islands.
Ten Speed Press
Box 4310 Berkeley, California 94704,1974, page 51.
The article was originally printed in
Nordhoff, Charles : "Hawaii Dei"
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, August 1873, Pages 382 to 402.
First published in book form by Harpers and Brothers, New York, 1874.

Bird, Isabella L.: Six Months in the Sandwich Isles - Amoung Hawai'i's Palm Groves, Coral Reefs and Volcanoes.
Mutual Publishing, 1215 Center Street, Suite 210
Honolulu, Hawaii 96816. 1988, 2001, 2004, page 69.
Originally published as
The Hawaiian Archipelago: Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands.
John Murray, London, 1875.

Knox, Thomas W. (1835-1896) :The Boy Travellers in Australasia.
Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to the Sandwich, Marquesas, Sociey, Samoan and Feejee Islands and Through the Colonies of New Zealand, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria,Tasmania and South Australia.
Charles Tuttle Co, Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan.
Paul Flesch & Company, Melbourne,1971, page 32.
Originally published by Harper & Brothers, New York,1889.

The probable derivative elements from Ellis in these accounts was noted by Patrick Moser after reading a draft copy of this paper, August 2007, and the text has been adjusted.
Again, many thanks to Patrick.

156. Banks: Journal (1963), page 363.
 

Beaglehole includes a drawing of a Tahitian adze in a selection of illustrations at the end of Voulme I. (Plate 23a), detailed on page xxii (below) and reproduced right. "23a. [Tapa Beater and Adze] Add. MS 15508, f.30.  Wash drawing 20.5 x 16.6 cm.  Unsigned.  Under the drawing is a pencil note by Banks, 'Tools of the South Sea Isles / a instrument with which they beat out their cloth / b. Hatchet or axe'.  A further note gives the size (height) of the beater as 1'3'' and of the adze as 1'11'' (58.5 cm)." The adze closely resembles Hawaiian examples. See: Holmes: Hawaiian Canoe (1993), pages 27 and 28.

157. Beaglehole in Banks: Journal (1963), page 363, Footnote 1.

158.Holmes: Hawaiian Canoe (1993), page 25 and photograph page 26.

159. Banks: Journal (1963), page 363.

160. Coleman, Ronald A.: Tragedy of the "Pandora."
State Library of NSW: Mutiny on the Bounty (1991), page 49.

161. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 113.

162. The seasoning of timber is a crucial process in successful carpentry.
British timber craftsman, Terry Porter writes :

"When wood is dry its dimensional stability is greatly increased.
Also, its weight may be considerably reduced with the loss of water, which makes it more convenient to handle.
Moreover, dry wood is not normally susceptible to sap stain and decay.
Wood greatly increases in strength when dry: its stiffness, hardness and overall strength can increase by 50% compared to its green state." - page 12.
and
"Normally; air-drying will only reduce the moisture content of wood - the normal equilibrium moisture content - to between 15 and 20%, but that can vary with climate and humidity.
A basic rule of thumb is that hardwood needs one year of seasoning for every inch (25mm) of thickness, and softwood half that time." - page 13.

Porter, Terry: Wood: Identification & Use.
Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd,
Castle Place, 166 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1XU, 2006.
First edition 2006.

Tommy Holmes (1993) quotes Fornander on the importance of drying logs to the successful construction of Hawaiian canoes:

"Of wiliwili, Fornander notes that 'it was also made into canoes, provided a tree large enough to be made into a canoe can be found; but it is not suitable for two or three people, for it might sink in the sea.
But it must not be finished into a canoe while it is green; leave it for finishing till it has seasoned,
then use it.' "

Holmes: Hawaiian Canoe (1993), page 23.

In a sidebar article "A Thoroughly Modern Olo: Greg Noll Builds Ancient Surfboards the Old Hawai'ian Way", Ben Marcus notes:

"Once the board is roughed out, the koa has to dry, sometimes for two years."

Marcus, Ben: Surfing USA!: An Illustrated History of the coolest sport of all time.
Voyageur Press
123 North Second Street, PO Box 338, Stillwater, MN 55082 U.S.A., 2005, page 31.
The article originally appeared in Hawaii Magazine (not dated in Marcus).

163. Banks: Journal (1963), page 319.

164. billet
"A small thick stick of wood"
The Macquarie Library: The Macquarie Dictionary
Macquarie University, NSW 2109 Australia, p173.

"Crude timber or polyurethane foam block from which a board is shaped."
www.surfresearch.com.au/glossary/B

165. Banks: Journal (1963), page 363.

166. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 113.

167. Bowker and Bligh: Mutiny!! (1978), page 262-263.

168. Morrison: Journal (1792), page 115.

169. Bligh: Voyage(1792), page 116.

170. Banks: Journal (1963), page 363-364.

171. Banks:Journal (1963), page 320.

172. Banks: Journal (1963), page 364.

173. Parkinson: Journal (1773), page 26.

174. Itong, Johnny: History and the South Sea Islanders of the Tweed.
Johnny Itong, P.O. Box 157, Coolangatta, Queensland 4225, 1994, pages 14-15.

175. For photographs illustrating the construction of a solid wood surfboard from a billet, see:
McAlister, "Snowy" and Pithers, Frank (Photographs): Sprint Walker (Design)
Tracks Magazinecirca 1972-1973.
Reprinted in The Best of Tracks,1973, page 119.

"Unfortunately some years back the Torquay club house burned down, destroying all records including Sprint Walker's original surfboard which the club had preserved and mounted in the clubhouse.
A new clubhouse is now built and opened recently at Torquay beach.
Well known Sydney surf boat builder Bill Clymer an ex-member of Torquay Life Saving Club, was commissioned to build a replica of Sprint Walker's original surfboard."

175. Thrum, Thomas G., Nakuina N. K. ,et.al:  "Hawaiian Surf-riding".
Thrum, Thomas G (editor) : Thrum's Hawaiian Almanac and Annual for 1896.
Thos. G. Thrum Publisher, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1896. pages 106 to 113.
In the introduction, Thomas G. Thrum notes the article was "prepared for the Annual by a  native of the Kona district of Hawaii, familiar with the sport"  and the translation assisted  by  "N. K. Nakuina, himself no stranger to the sport in earlier days".

The text of the article is essentially reproduced in:
Finney and Houston: Surfing(1996), Appendix E, pages 102 to 105.

Finney and Houston do not include a list of seven ancient surf breaks, "Names of some noted surfs", that concludes the article on page 113.
A photograph "Canoe surf riding at Waikiki" and two illustrations of surfboardriders that accompany the article  are not reproduced.

The complete copy of the original article was forwarded by Daved Marsh, August 2007.
Many thanks to Daved for his assistance and contributions.

Texts not included in the Endnotes.
John Robson's unique work provides a wealth of information in the form of maps that provides a geographical context to Cook's voyages that is simply not possible from the many written accounts.

Robson, John:Captain Cook's World -  Maps of the Life and Voyages of James Cook R. N.
Random House New Zealand
18 Polard Road, Glenfield, Auckland, New Zealand. 2000.

For the Endeavour's voyage to Tahiti, see Maps 1.05 to 1.10 and the text on pages 47 and 48.

For a general overview of global exploration, the book at hand is:

Debenham, Frank: Discovery and Exploration - An Atlas of Man's Journey into the Unknown.
Paul Hamlyn, London, 1968.
First published by:
Chr. Belser, Stuttgart, 1960.

Map 1 Matavai Bay and Surroundings, Tahiti. Image right: Banks, Joseph: The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks 1768 - 1771 Edited by J. C. Beaglehole The Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales in Association with Angus and Robertson 89 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. Second Edition 1963. First published February 1962. Two Volumes Volume 1, page 254. Maps by Miss valerie Scott and Mr. Bruce Irwin, adapted from the Hakluyt Society's edition of the Journals of Captain Cook.

---

Bligh, William: A Voyage to the South Sea
Fascimile of the 1792 edition.
Hutchinson group (Australia) Pty Ltd
30-32 Cremorne Street Richmond Victoria, 3121. 1979
First fascimile reprint by the Libraries Board of South Australia, edition no. 121, Adelaide,1969,
from a copy held by the State Library of South Australia.
Originally published by George Nicol, London, 1792.
Map between pages 104 and 105, cropped and adjustred.

Bligh's Explanatory Notes, page 3.
"To Exemplify my Log of the proceedings of the Ship it is to be Observed, That by Cloudy Weather is to be understood the Sun is not to be seen or but very seldom.
Fair Weather or Open Cloudy Weather is when the Sun can be frequently seen, but the Sky not free of Clouds.
Fine Weather is when the Sky is generally Clear and pleasant, but few Clouds and not Windy.
Hazey may be applied to either One or the other, and then it is to be understood the boundary of Sight is not so extensive as at other times.
All other expressions respecting the Weather will be generally understood without error." (page 3)
The temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit.
Compass Rose

The Compass Rose. Note: In the log, the word 'by' is written 'B'. Image left: Bowker and Bligh: Op. Cit., page 7.