Table of Contents
Tales of the Olde World argues that Polynesian navigators reached Antarctic waters long before European ships. Ice hides almost any trace on the continent, so the case is built from oral history in New Zealand, Australia, and islands such as Tonga and the Cooks. Those stories, as the narration presents them, tell of cold water, huge land, and mountains of snow. A translated passage is read closely. Bare rocks in a frozen sea are taken as icebergs. A deep diving animal is identified as a walrus, a sea lion, or a sea elephant. Snow is likened to scraped arrowroot. The channel adds that star and tide skill had already located Easter Island, Hawaii, and Samoa, so a course toward the ice need not have been blind. No ancient object from the mainland is claimed. Maori pottery on the Antipodes and on Enderby is placed in the 1200s or 1300s, and a craft of old design found in 1810 on Macquarie is guessed to have been a Polynesian boat and a far southern stop.
Key points
- Oral histories from the Pacific, not mainland finds, carry the case for Antarctic contact.
- A translated tale of bare rocks, a frozen sea, and a deep diving animal is read as ice and seals.
- Snow is explained through the image of scraped arrowroot, familiar to tropical tellers.
- A written account of the voyages is placed in 1897, with a later Polynesian report as backup.
- Star and tide skill is said to make a deliberate course toward the ice plausible.
- Pottery on southern islands and an 1810 craft on Macquarie are offered as the nearby traces.
Short quotes
a sight of land these bold Sailors had explored the Antarctic seas and traversed the Pacific Ocean from end to
Olde World, Polynesian tales of Antarctic seas
The narration credits those sailors with Antarctic water and a crossing of the ocean. Watch at 5:59
type of situation and it's very possible that even earlier explorers could have made this journey
Olde World, Polynesian tales of Antarctic seas
He allows that travelers from a still earlier time may have managed the same route. Watch at 9:01
Video by Tales Of The Olde World. Watch on YouTube.