David Henry Lewis - Study and Literary Career

Study and Literary Career

In 1967, Lewis acquired another boat, Isbjorn, to embark on further field studies of traditional Polynesian navigation. With a research grant from the Australian National University and with his second wife, two daughters and 19-year-old son, he set out for the Pacific again to study traditional navigation techniques. While there, he was welcomed into the cultures of various Pacific Islanders, who taught him their navigational lore, heretofore largely unrecognized by those outside Polynesia. Lewis chronicled this voyage and research in various articles and in his books We, the Navigators and The Voyaging Stars. Lewis’ voyages and resulting books gave inspiration to the revival in traditional Polynesian canoe building and voyaging, which was essentially extinct in many parts of the Pacific.

In 1976, Lewis joined Polynesian Voyaging Society's first experimental voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti on Hokule'a. But this voyage was marred by a clash of egos between David and the Hawaiian navigators. Nevertheless, the team successfully navigated using traditional methods to Tahiti. Lewis departed from Hokule'a in Tahiti and went on to work in his own research.

Along with Dr. Marianne (Mimi) George, he proposed that original Polynesian navigation is still alive in the Polynesian outlier Taumako.

Lewis’ next adventure in 1972 was an attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica single-handed. For this he acquired a small steel yacht, named Ice Bird. Facing treacherous conditions in the Southern Ocean after departing, Lewis was not heard from for 13 weeks but eventually managed to sail the Ice Bird to the Antarctic Peninsula under a jury rig after dismasting. Lewis was rescued by personnel from the Antarctic research outpost Palmer Station, who subsequently repaired the Ice Bird while Lewis spent the Antarctic winter in Australia. After returning eight months later, Lewis left Palmer station to complete the voyage, but that very same day was caught in a heavy ice field and had to be towed to open water by the R.V. Hero. Later, Lewis capsized again and eventually brought the boat to Cape Town, South Africa. Edited aspects of these events are described in his bestseller book, Ice Bird. His son, Barry, sailed the yacht back to Sydney from South Africa where it underwent extensive work to prevent further corrosion. In 1982, Dr. Lewis donated "Ice Bird" to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.

After the Ice Bird voyage, Lewis was involved in setting up the Oceanic Research Foundation with the aim of sending private expeditions to the Antarctic. In a 17.4 metre (57 ft) Alan Payne designed steel yacht named "Solo" with seven other crew, Lewis made a summer expedition to Antarctica and wintered over there, 1977-78. Lewis spent some of his later years conducting research into traditional navigation techniques of the Inuit on the Bering Strait region. One obituary said of Lewis that he “always brought his crews home intact. He was a typical Polynesian sailor, getting into trouble through haste and neglect, then, with near superhuman courage and seamanship, fighting his way out of it.”

Following this, he retired to New Zealand to write his autobiography, Shapes on the Wind; one of 12 books he wrote. In recognition of his various academic, adventure, sailing and anthropological endeavours, he was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He finally retired to Australia, and died at Gympie, Queensland.