One cannot neglect to mention David Payne when researching Papua New Guinea's canoes.
David Payne is the former Curator of History Vessels at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Retired in 2020. He is a maritime historian and boat designer. He has extensively researched bark canoes in South-East Australia and outrigger canoes in Papua New-Guinea.
In 2017, David joined British and Australian anthropologists working in Southern Papua New-Guinea, researching cultural traditions along the south coast and offshore in the Louisiade Archipelago. His job was to document the canoes used in that area and to produce technical drawings of them.
When I first put my eyes on his exquisite drawings, I immediately made a connection to those of Francois-Edmond Paris, French Admiral and naval engineer known for his extensive sketches and studies of boats and canoes during voyages on his ships like l' Astrolabe and La Favorite.
Carolines Archipelago Proa by Francois-Edmond Paris
I was also thinking of Jules Dumont d'Urville, another French explorer and naval officer who explored the South and Western Pacific around 1825, leaving us with many canoe drawings.
A Kalia canoe by Jules Dumont d’Urville
The canoe drawings of David Payne are of a class on their own.
Tadobu canoe by David Payne.
Extremely detailed and beautiful, and some artistic.