In a previous post, I mentioned some building characteristics of the HIKIANALIA seem to have been inspired from those on the Tahitian and Samoan canoes.
Let’s take the example of the rearward edge of the stern of Hikianalia and all of the other identical vessels built by Salthouse boatbuilders in Auckland, New Zealand, like the Samoan GAUALOFA, the Tahitian FA’AFAITE, and a few others constructed to revitalize traditional Polynesian celestial navigation, it is similar to the one illustrated in the watercolor by Capt. Henry Byam Martin, drawn around 1846-47, a senior Royal Navy officer and a watercolor artist, while stationed in Tahiti and the Society Islands during that year
Watercolor by Capt. Henry Byam Martin, 1846-1847. Note the shape of the stern on this Tahitian canoe.
The stern of the Hikianalia
The cutwater or forward-most , vertical edge of bow on this Gaualofa canoe, which is identical to the Hikianalia
The cutwater on this old Samoan fishing canoe