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Drua, also known as na drua, n'drua, ndrua or waqa tabu ("sacred canoe", ), is a double-hull sailing boat that originated in the south-western Pacific islands. Druas do not
tack TACK is a group of archaea acronym for Thaumarchaeota (now Nitrososphaerota), Aigarchaeota, Crenarchaeota (now Thermoproteota), and Korarchaeota, the first groups discovered. They are found in different environments ranging from acidophilic ...
but rather shunt (stern becomes the bow and vice versa). Both ends of each hull are identical, but the hulls are of different sizes and the smaller one is always sailed to windward. The main differences, compared to
proa Proas are various types of multi-hull outrigger sailboats of the Austronesian peoples. The terms were used for native Austronesian ships in European records during the Colonial era indiscriminately, and thus can confusingly refer to the ...
s, are that the hulls have a symmetric U-form profile, and a second hull is used instead of an
outrigger An outrigger is a projecting structure on a boat, with specific meaning depending on types of vessel. Outriggers may also refer to legs on a wheeled vehicle that are folded out when it needs stabilization, for example on a crane that lifts ...
. When a float (''cama'') is used in place of the smaller hull, the craft is called a
camakau Camakau (, sometimes spelled thamakau) are a traditional watercraft of Fiji. Part of the broader Austronesian tradition, they are similar to catamarans, outrigger canoes, or smaller versions of the drua, but are larger than a takia. These vessel ...
.
The Fijian double canoe (''wangga ndrua'', spelt ''waqa drua'' in Fijian) was the largest and finest sea-going vessel ever designed and built by natives of Oceania before contact with Europeans. :— ''Canoes of Oceania Volume I: The Canoes of Polynesia, Fiji, and Micronesia (1936)''
Druas were large, up to long, and could carry more than 200 people. Despite being called "canoes", they were not dugouts, but plank-built ships.


Origins

No written record exists of the diffusion of the drua design, but most
anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...
s assume its origin in
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, ...
, and it probably came to Fiji through the islands of
Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...
and
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northea ...
. The only shunting boat type of Polynesian design is the pahi of the
Tuamotu The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extendin ...
archipelago, but it uses equal hulls and does not appear to be related to other proas. From Fiji, druas spread to
Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
(where they are called ''Kalia'') and
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
(where they are called '''Alia'').
Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...
visited Tonga in his second and third voyages, and noticed that druas were rapidly displacing the Polynesian
catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-sta ...
design. Tongan chiefs taking part in Fijian wars would bring them back as prizes of war. Drua construction eventually became a monopoly of Tongan shipbuilders living in the Fijian
Lau Islands The Lau Islands aka little Tonga (also called the Lau Group, the Eastern Group, the Eastern Archipelago) of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about sixty islands and islets, about thirty ...
.


War canoes

Druas were sacred canoes in the sense that only aristocrats could own one. Their main role was as war ships, taking part in naval battles and transporting warriors during raids. They also had a representative role, and were used to collect taxes. Following Fijian custom, it was an insult to cross her bows, or to sail to her windward, where the mast stay could be easily cut bringing down the sail. It was also custom to paddle and not to sail in sight of another chief's territory. Launching a drua required a bloody ritual, including human sacrifices. With regard to the human sacrifice associated with the launching ceremonies, Wilkes in the 19th century records that when the
Vunivalu of Bau Turaga na Vunivalu na Tui Kaba is the Paramount Chief of the Kubuna Confederacy, loosely translated the title means ''Warlord of Bau'' or Root of War. The succession to the title does not follow primogeniture, but the candidate must be a high- ...
Tanoa Visawaqa Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa (pronounced ) (died on 8 December 1852) was a Fijian Chieftain who held the title 5th Vunivalu of Bau. With Adi Savusavu, one of his nine wives, he was the father of Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, who succeeded in unifying Fiji w ...
launched a canoe 10 or more men were slaughtered on the deck in order that it might be washed with human blood. Wall (1916) also says:
A new canoe was launched over men's bodies that mana might enter into it and make it swift and safe, but I can find no trace of living men ever having been used for this purpose; they were clubbed first. Certain small islands and districts enjoyed by hereditary right the doubtful honour of supplying the victims for these occasions, as for instance the island of Laucala for the launching of the vessels of the Cakaundrove chiefs.


Sailing performance

The speed of druas became a legendary topic for western sailors, who sometimes confused "Fijian canoes" with "flying
proa Proas are various types of multi-hull outrigger sailboats of the Austronesian peoples. The terms were used for native Austronesian ships in European records during the Colonial era indiscriminately, and thus can confusingly refer to the ...
s" (the latter being the original Micronesian design). The low freeboard of the hulls outside the central platform predates the "wave-piercing" bows of modern racing designs. The one course that could not be sailed, was with the wind directly aft; otherwise her bows would be driven underwater. Her performance upwind is unclear, with some authors claiming it to be fast and close to the wind, and others describing it as making too much leeway with the wind in the quarter. The steering oars were massive, and big canoes would carry one at each end because they were too heavy to transport to the other side while shunting. The steersman (or men) risked being crippled or killed when hitting big waves. The chief used to stand on the platform's top, being responsible for cutting the sheet to avoid capsizing.


Heritage

"The disappearance of the double canoe of Fiji coincided with the close of the nineteenth century. Few if any were constructed after 1883, the year of the death of King Cakobau, for his grandson, Ratu Popi, informed me that the king's sons two or three years later broke his double canoes to pieces and buried them in a swamp that they may be preserved and kept from being used by anyone else" According to some sources, the last Fijian ''ndrua'' was built in 1943 on the island of Ongea and was intended to carry
copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...
. Only two original druas appear to have survived, both of them small. One, named ''Sema Makawa'', is in the
New Zealand Maritime Museum The New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui A Tangaroa is a maritime museum in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on Hobson Wharf, adjacent to the Viaduct Harbour in central Auckland. It houses exhibitions spanning New Zealand's maritime hist ...
. The second one is ''Ratu Finau'', at the Fiji Museum in
Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Div ...
. A new Drua, the ''i Vola Sigavou'', was completed in 2016 and launched at Navua in Serua province on Viti Levu Fiji's main island. Today, drua are still a symbol of Fiji, and Fiji's telephone booths are decorated with the characteristic mast-tops of drua.


See also

*
List of multihulls Types * catamaran = two symmetric hulls * proa = two asymmetric hulls, reverse-shunting (interchangeable bow/ stern) * trimaran = three hulls * quadrimaran = four hulls * pentamaran = five hulls Pre-modern Austronesian * ʻalia * Amatasi * B ...


References


External links


articleSema MakawaNew Drua
{{Austronesian ships Sailboat types Multihulls Outrigger canoes Indigenous boats