Canoes, Rafts and Ships

John L. Sorenson claims that the ships Hagoth built were little more than large canoes or rafts. In which case there would have been no sail, and the vessel’s motive power would have been oars manned by the occupants. However, it should be understood that the Nepihtes who entered these ships were men with their wives and children intending to relocate to another land. This means, they would have taken not only provisions but also supplies, both seeds for planting as well as tools for agriculture, weapons for hunting, and living materials, such as tents for initial colonizing, and building tools for later construction.
    All of this would take up considerable space along with the people and crew. Most canoes, which by design are slender and rafts have minimal space for people, either because of its design, or because trading supplies being carried. After all, these early dugouts were small, narrow, and without outriggers and with minimal excess space. The outrigger came later, as did the sail.

A double-hulled Polynesian sailing vessel

Not until much later, did the Polynesians develop 24-man double-hulled catamaran outriggers capable of carrying more people and additional supplies, such as the ones Captain James Cook saw in Honaunau Bay on the island of Hawaii, and described in 1779.
    In fact, he reported seeing at least 1500 canoes! At the time, Hawaii must have numbered between 6,000 and 12,000 canoes for a population of 175,000 to 225,000. Here was a culture, who, dependent on the ocean, lived their life around the ocean's vehicle, the ancient canoe.
    It should be noted, as important as the canoe itself were to these ancient people, its many accessories, including the well-known, balancing outrigger booms for the single canoe, were equally important. Specialized artisans worked on these parts with carefully selected woods.
    Throughout the early history of these islanders, the canoe meant fishing to supply food to the community. No other culture in history has its roots, its existence and its survival, so intricately linked to the ocean's demands, to the waves, and the current of the sea about them. In fact, paddlers listened to the voice of the ocean, building their canoes, while never ceasing to sharpen strength and stamina. The bottom line was always speed, stamina and safety in plying the waters that made up their world.
    Finely plated lauhala matting created powerful sails, although the Hawaiians, like the Tahitians and other Polynesians, relied mostly on their paddling, where several men, working in perfect unison with strong and powerful disciplined strokes propelled strong and powerful the canoe. Those paddles were customized to each owner and each owner cherished his paddle as a sacred extension of himself.
    Being a fisherman (poe lawaia), to these islanders was an honorable profession, one that grandparents handed down to the boys in a family. It was a profession that anyone would practice for the sake of survival, but the more expert the fisherman, the more tools of the trade-long canoes, short canoes, large and small nets, various poles, woven fish traps, bone hooks, he possessed.

Most outriggers were only wide enough to accommodate a single person sitting in single row from front to back

In these slender canoes, reaching 60 to 70 feet in length, were especially useful in warring among the islands, and not designed or large enough for peaceful purposes. After all, no family man is going to relocate with his family without taking along the necessary survival equipment and supplies. As an example, the colonists arriving on the Matflower listed the following items involved in their journey:
• Food and Drink: Biscuit, beer, salt, (dried) beef, salt pork, oats, peas, wheat, butter, sweet oil, mustard seed, ling or cod fish, "good cheese", vinegar, aqua-vitae, rice, bacon, cider;
• Clothing: Monmouth cap, falling bands, shirts, waistcoat, suit of canvas, suit of cloth, Irish stockings, 4 pairs of shoes, garters.  Slippers, plain shoes, little shoes, French soles.  Sewing needles;
• Bedding: Canvas sheets, bolster "filled with good straw," rug and blankets;
• Arms: Light armor (complete), fowling piece, snaphance, sword, belt, bandoleer, powder horn, 20 pounds of powder, 60 pounds of shot (Nephites would have had bows, arrows, fishing lines, swords, spears, slings, etc.);
• Household: Iron pot, kettle, frying pan, gridiron, two skillets, spit, platters, dishes, spoons of wood, napkins, towels, soap., hand mill, mortar and pestle; 
• Tools: Broad hoes, narrow hoes, broad axe, felling axe, steel handsaw, whipsaw, hammers, shovels, spades, augers, chisels, gimlets, hatchets, grinding stone, nails, locks for doors.

Sitting in a single row from front to back, gave little room for supplies

While the colonizing Nephites who went to “a land which was northward,” may not have had all those items, they certainly would have carried similar items for similar purposes with them. In addition, the Nephites traveling to a distant, unoccupied land would have taken “all manner of seeds of every kind, both grain of every kind and also of the seeds of fruit of every kind” (1 Nephi 8:1; Ether 2:3).
    When we start factoring in such matters, it is easy to see that any group of emigrating Nephites would have required much more space than that provided by a canoe or raft, or even what a large catamaran with outriggers could have provided.
    As Mormon wrote: “there were many of the Nephites who did enter therein and did sail forth with much provisions, and also many women and children; and they took their course northward” (Alma 63:6). In addition, Mormon says that Hagoth “built him an exceedingly large ship” (Alma 63:5).
    Now the word “Ship” was defined in 1828 as: “A vessel of a peculiar structure, adapted to navigation, or floating on water by means of sails. In an appropriate sense, a building of a structure or form fitted for navigation, furnished with a bowsprit and three masts, a main-mast, a fore-mast and a mizen-mast, each of which is composed a lower-mast, a top-mast and top-gallant-mast, and square rigged. Ships are of various sizes and are for various uses; most of them however fall under the denomination of ships of war and merchant's ships.” Today, “ship” is defined about the same, as “a vessel larger than a boat for transporting people or goods by sea” and “a sailing vessel having a bowsprit and usually three masts each composed of a lower mast, a topmast, and a topgallant mast.”
    The word “exceedingly” in 1828 meant “to a very great degree; in a degree beyond what is usual; greatly; very much.” Today, its definition is similar, meaning: “To a very great degree; in a degree beyond what is usual; greatly; very much; to an extreme degree; extremely.”

A “Ship” is very different from a canoe or raft and far more useful for transpation of people and supplies

Thus, we can only conclude that the ships Hagoth built were large ships, not a canoe, outrigger or raft as many theorists claim. This leads us to John L. Sorenson, who despite all this logic and information available to us today, including the scriptural record, he claims that “The “ship” of Hagoth, if it was like craft known later on the Pacific coast, was either a very large dugout canoe with built-up sides or a log raft with sails. Whatever its form, it could hardly have been a complex planked vessel at all resembling European ships.”
    When talking about canoes, we need to keep in mind how a canoe was made. In a study regarding canoe building, Veronica S. Schweitzer, of Kaual Hawaii, in “A Legacy of Paddling,” states that a new canoe started with the search for the perfect healthy tree that was at least one hundred years old for it to be large enough. After felling the tree it was hauled to the shore, the log at times weight 20,000 pounds and measuring up to 70 feet. During this time, the ropes hauling it never slacked as it was dragged the distance to the shore where it was to be fashioned. Safely on shore, the hull was finished in a special halau. A black paint, made out of plants and charcoal, added a waterproof finished layer to the wood. And for the ali'i, the addition of hens' eggs to the paint resulted in a glossy exterior.
    Samuel Kamakau, historian and newspaper columnist in the years 1869 and 1870, and often the only remaining source of information on old islander techniques, wrote: "Sacrificing the pig symbolized the 'rooting' of the canoe into the open sea, and sacrificing the dog 'the tearing apart' the billows of the ocean.” Thus, these sailing experiences were major events not an activity people randomly performed. 
    As important as the canoe itself were its many accessories, including the well-known, balancing outrigger booms for the single canoe. Specialized artisans worked on these parts with carefully selected woods. Finely plated lauhala matting created powerful sails, although the Hawaiians relied mostly on their paddling. Those paddles were customized to each owner and each owner cherished his paddle as if it were a lover. It lived inside the house.

Obviously, it was large enough that “there were many of the Nephites who did enter therein” (Alma 63:6). To think that this meant simple, slender canoes like those Cook saw, is simply out of the question.
    When it says that Hagoth built exceedingly large  ships, we should understand that this meant the ships were big enough to carry large numbers of emigrating men, women, and children some distance northward to settle elsewhere including large quantities of provisions and supplies to start new colonies.