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By Jill Senior
On March 4th, check early Monday morning, public safety officials in Palau received a distress call from Master Navigator Sesario Sewralur informing them that the traditional canoe he was captaining was partially sinking in waters between Palau and Yap.
The double hull canoe had taken in water in one of the hulls around midnight and started to slowly sink. The well-trained crew immediately gathered all emergency supplies, water and canned goods to the dry hull and waited hours till they were rescued.
The three women who were part of the crew were placed on a smaller boat for safety while the rest of the crew remained on the half sunken vessel.
The crew was safely rescued later that morning by a nearby cargo ship and the U.S. Coast Guard transported them back to Koror that evening.
The Alingano Maisu was retrieved and towed back to Koror on Wednesday, March 6th. Navigator Sesario stated that they plan to restore the canoe so that they may complete their original voyage to the three outer islands of Yap.
Back in 2007 the Polynesian Voyaging Society presented the Alingano Maisu to Sesario’s father, famous Master Navigator Mau Piailug, in Satawal as a gift for his contribution in reviving wayfinding navigation.
Sesario has been in Palau since 2008 teaching traditional non-instrumental navigation on the Maisu with support from Palau Community College and the Micronesian Voyaging Society.