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The Last Navigator

The Last Navigator

A Young Man, an Ancient Mariner, the Secrets of the Sea

By (author) Steve Thomas

£25.95

Publishing 22nd Apr 2025
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    • The classic, adventure-filled account of traditional Micronesian navigation—by none other than Steve Thomas, who would go on to fame as the host of This Old House and other shows
    • In the early 1980s, Thomas, then a professional sailor, travelled to the remote island of Satawal to learn traditional star navigation from Mau Piailug, the "last navigator."
    • This highly readable book is both a compelling human story and an important ethnographic account (which you can use to navigate your outrigger canoe across the Pacific!)
    • This 40-anniversary edition of The Last Navigator is illustrated throughout with Thomas's own colour photos
    Full Description

    The classic account of traditional Micronesian navigation and “the last navigator,” Mau Piailug, who fought to preserve it.

    For thousands of years, the peoples of Oceania have sailed unerringly across the Pacific without compass or charts, guided only by natural signs—stars, waves, and the flight paths of birds. In search of this secret knowledge, a young sailor, Steve Thomas, travelled to the tiny island of Satawal in Micronesia, home to Mau Piailug, one of the few surviving paliuw, or navigators. In The Last Navigator, Thomas tells how he convinced Piailug to accept him as his student and teach him the closely guarded Talk of Navigation. It is a remarkable book, offering at once a clear and precise account of Micronesian way-finding and the moving story of one man trying to preserve his culture against the tide of modernity.

    Now, 40 years after his original journey to study under Mau Piailug, Thomas has worked with a new generation of researchers, including natives of Satawal, to prepare this revised edition of The Last Navigator. All Satawalese words are rendered in the now-accepted orthography, and the islanders, originally identified by pseudonyms, appear under their true names. And throughout, Thomas has added a generous selection of colour photographs from his time on Satawal. The result is a lasting tribute to the spirit of the Satawalese, and to the Talk of Navigation.

    About the Author

    Steve Thomas is the two time Emmy award–winning host of This Old House, Renovation Nation, and Save Our History. He is also an experienced home builder and sailor. David Barrie, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, is the author of the award-winning books Sextant and Supernavigators.

    Specifications
    Publisher
    Abbeville Press
    ISBN
    9780789215079
    Publish date
    22nd Apr 2025
    Binding
    Hardback
    Territory
    World excluding USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Australia
    Size
    228 mm x 152 mm
    Pages
    336 Pages
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