The process we call discovery and exploration is a fluid one, whereby different societies in different eras may accelerate their exploration, especially as they adapted to and overcame the challenges faced when dealing with the watery realms to which they were strangers.   Across the globe, Indigenous peoples adapted to their marine environment as they pushed the boundaries of their known world.  Sometimes this process was slow, as people fished or hunted new grounds in boats made of skin or wood as they cautiously probed nearshore waters hoping not to be consumed by large creatures lurking beneath the surface.  Other times, it was more dramatic, like the great Polynesian outrigger canoes that sailed to the lonely reaches of the Pacific Ocean and beyond.

We use the term watercraft in the broadest sense of the word, not just Indigenous peoples paddling canoes, kayaks, or seagoing dugouts, but later adaptations European explorers used as they adapted vessels better suited to deal with environmental conditions encountered in new lands, such as the French voyageurs and the large birch-bark  canoes upon which they relied to build their fur trading empire to the far reaches of North America.  We are interested in submissions from different eras and parts of the world.

Article length should be from 4000 to 9000 words in length.

Please contact journal editor Gayle K. Brunelle (gbrunelle@fullerton.edu) or associate editor John Hairr (jhairr@aol.com ) if you are interested in submitting an article, or in participating in the peer review of submissions.