Amatasi

[john sefton]

Amatasi. A swift single‑sail vessel still found in the Samoa‑Tonga area. It varies in size from 30 ft. to 60 ft. in length and can carry as many as 25 men. It has a completely modern‑looking cut‑away stem, and has an outrigger. The V‑shaped sail is supported by two masts joined at the foot. The craft's stem and stem are decorated with shells. The amatasi is used for deep sea fishing. Given a double hull instead of an outrigger it voyaged for hundreds of miles to other islands.
Sea Breezes November 1973 by Ernest Argyle.
Detail from Cook Islands Post Office.
Cook Islands SG442

[Anatol]

The amatasi was as a plank canoe with the typical flanged edges made like a bonito boat but larger and with three outrigger booms. The amatasi was very fast and was used in catching masimasi (dolphin) which were trolled for with a baited. The fore deck was decorated down the middle line with large white Ovula (marine shells) attached to a row of pegs. This part formed the seat of honor upon which the chief easily sat with safety. Short middle boom with 2 diagonal pieces of timber crossing diagonally from the hull to outer ends of the 2 outrigger booms.Above the crossed diagonals and below the outrigger booms,a number of spaced planks form a platform which reaches to the outer ends of the booms.The float is cut off square behind the attachments to the aft boom,but it does not project far forwards. Having both a prow and stern, these canoes cannot be manoevred without tacking; consequently the outrigger that constitutes their safety is, in using their sail alternately to leeward and windward, and does not, when to leeward, add much to the stability of the canoe. They carry less sail than the canoes of the other natives of Polynesia and to guard against the danger of upsetting, the natives rig a sprit or boom ( suati ) projecting from the opposite side to that on which the outrigger is fitted. The boom is secured with guys to the top of the mast. When the wind blows fresh, some of the men go out upon it and thus balance or counteract the force of the wind. Those on the other side of the canoe are kept ready to go out on the outrigger when that becomes necessary.The mast was stepped to a raised rim on the bottom of the hold and lashed to the middle boom. The triangular sail had a spar along each of the long sides. The apex of the sail was held back to the stern and on a tack, the apex was swung around to the bow. The sail is made of mat; some of these are ten feet high. Wilkes (42, vol. 2, p. 150) states that the longest canoes were 30 to 60 feet in length. They had a deck fore and aft and could carry 10 to 12people. The stamp 32c in the title canoe "amatasi" written "tongiaki"-this is a mistake.
Marshall Islands 1998; 32c; SG968. Marshall Islands 1999; 33c; SG?. Source :/nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BucSamo-t1-body