According to Bruce Sutton, it is easy to conceive of a connection between the people in the Americas and the Polynesian people. The Book of Mormon not only tells of Hagoth building ships (Alma 63:4-9), but also reveals that “Corianton had gone forth to the land northward in a ship” (Alma 63:10). Helaman also states, “a hundredth part of the proceedings of the people [who went forth into the land northward], yea, the account of … their shipping and their building of ships … cannot be contained in this work” (Helaman 3:14).
A tradition teaches that Hotu Matua and Machaa traveled to Rapa Nui with 300 of their people in two ships. Polynesians usually refer to oceanic craft as canoes. Certainly, these ships needed to be, as the Book of Mormon says, “exceeding large ships,” for Hotu Matua and Machaa had “exceeding large ships” (Thor Heyerdahl, American Indians in the Pacific, London, Geo. Allen & Unwin, Ltd. 1952, pp. 211-214). If Hagoth could build large ships, it is reasonable to assume that other groups of the Nephite nation could also have built large seafaring ships using as a pattern the ship built by Nephi, as commanded by the Lord some 350 years earlier (see 1 Nephi 17:1-55; 18:1-25). Certain examples of stone-age stone-age drawings have also been found in caves, and on cliffs, in the South Island of New Zealand. These paintings and petroglyphs are ancient. It is interesting to note that in one of the caves in the South Island of New Zealand, there is a drawing of a ship with three masts. In another section of this same cave, there is another painting of a three-masted ship. Some authorities feel they were made by the earliest Polynesian inhabitants of the island. (Stevenson, G. B. Maori and Pakeha in North Otago, Wellington, A.H. & A. W. Reed, 1947.)
When Polynesian explorers discovered and settled new lands, it was customary for them to have a priest (tohunga) on board their vessels. This was important for a couple of reasons: the priest was responsible for implementing and performing the religious rites and ceremonies of his people, and he also held the keys to the genealogies of the tribe. It is of great significance that the royal lineage be preserved to ensure the right of the tribe to officiate in its religious performances and duties. The tohunga of the tribe was the law giver. This is very interesting, as the Nephite nation was ruled in exactly the same way, with Corianton’s father being the first Chief Judge and religious head of state.
Thor Heyerdahl, in his treatise titled American Indians in the Pacific, devotes several pages to the subject of astronomy and the calendar system. He shows that the calendar year in nearly all Polynesian Islands, and among most of the Native American tribes of North, Central and South America, and its beginning with the rising of the Matariki stars (the Pleiades). [Bruce S. Sutton, Lehi, Father of Polynesia: Polynesians Are Nephites, pp. 61-63, 78, 80 ] [See the commentary on Alma 63:5, 63:8]