Overview:
Palau is mourning the loss of Master Navigator Sesario Sewralur, who died July 10 in Taiwan, just hours before his 57th birthday. Son of the legendary Mau Piailug, Sewralur spent his life carrying forward one of the Pacific’s most treasured traditions — and now leaves that legacy in his son’s hands.
By: Eoghan Olkeriil Ngirudelsang
KOROR, Palau — Grandmaster navigator Sesario Sewralur, who carried on his father’s mission to preserve traditional Pacific wayfinding, died July 10 in Taiwan due to heart complications, hours before his 57th birthday, according to a GoFundMe account set up by a student and family friend on behalf of his family.
Known widely as Master Navigator Sesario, he was the son of Grandmaster Navigator Mau Piailug of Satawal Island, internationally credited with rescuing the ancient art of non-instrument, or “wayfinding,” navigation from near extinction.
The GoFundMe account said Sewralur began training as a navigator at age 4. He started sailing with his father at 5 and, by 14, was sailing alongside him with the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
In 2007, the Alingano Maisu, a 56-foot double-hulled sailing canoe Sewralur would sail for decades, made its first voyage from Hawaii to Satawal. The vessel was gifted to his father, Piailug, in gratitude for teaching Hawaiians traditional navigation and for guiding the Hokule’a on its maiden voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976 — a voyage that sparked a renaissance of traditional navigation across Polynesia.
That same year, the Alingano Maisu sailed to Palau for the first time. Under an agreement between the Micronesian Voyaging Society and Palau Community College, Sewralur began teaching courses in traditional wayfinding and non-instrument navigation at PCC.
PCC President Patrick Tellei said Sewralur had worked at the college for 19 years. He recently completed his 20th voyage aboard the Alingano Maisu, sailing from Palau to Taiwan, Okinawa, Saipan and parts of the Federated States of Micronesia between February and May of this year.
According to the GoFundMe post, Sewralur suffered a heart attack shortly after returning from that voyage in May and began treatment. On July 2, he was flown to Taiwan to see a specialist. He died eight days later, on July 10, just hours before turning 57.
News of his death prompted an outpouring of condolences online, with many saying Sewralur touched countless lives through his teaching and deep knowledge of the ocean and traditional navigation.
Sewralur trained his own son, Landon Kionie Sewralur, who earned his navigator certification in December 2024 and is expected to carry on his father’s legacy. Tellei said the Alingano Maisu will be passed down to the younger Sewralur.
Sewralur is survived by his wife, Florentina; six children, Sky, Natalie, Melodylynn, Landon, Trudy and Dylan; and six grandchildren.
