The speaker on this tape is Ikirhep, a relatively young man from Satawal who passed
away in 1987. He was a navigator, having taken command of his first voyage in 1969.The tape contains two stories and one song.
The first story is about Chief Agurub from Satawal and the initial colonization of Saipan by people from Satawal. It tells of contact with the Spanish on Guam and the origination in Carolinian folklore of the meanings for the names of Saipan, Guam, Tinian, and Rota.
The second story relates the exploits of the navigator and crew of a canoe from Satawal who voyaged from Satawal to Okinawa in November/December, 1975, stopping in Saipan and passing through other islands in the Northern Marianas. The contents of the story are particularly significant as Ikirhep was a crewman on the canoe navigated by one of his relatives, Reppuanglug.
The song at the end of the tape is about righting a capsized canoe and is of the type of “wur” called “wurun pwang”, the “pwang” in this case being the ability to right a
capsized full-size canoe at sea.
Angelina Nesepailug McCoy
Mike A. McCoy
September, 1988
