Captured at the Auckland Maritime Museum. This model is shared for educational purposes only. All copyrights and intellectual property are reserved by the creators of this canoe.
The sign at the museum reads:
Model Tongiaki. Sailing canoe from Tonga. A tongiaki is a large Tongan double-hulled canoe used for inter-island voyaging. The vessels in which the Polynesian ancestors of Maori migrated to Aotearoa (New Zealand) were probably of a similar type. These vessels were up to about 21 metres long and could carry about 150 passengers. They were in use until the late 18th century, when Tongan navigators adapted the double-hulled kalia from the Fijian drua. The tongiaki’s two hulls were of equal size and bridged by a raised, planked deck. The tongiaki was rigged with an Oceanic ‘lateen’ sail and id not reverse direction when going about. Modelmaker: Tuione Fehoko. Gifted by the Kingdom of Tonga.
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