 He had hid the bailer somewhere onshore prior, and as soon as they were far enough he unplugged a preformed hole on the canoe flooring, drowning all members aboard - apart from who recited an incantation invoking his ancestor Tangaroa, or the goddess Moakuramanu, to call forth a whale (usually considered to be a southern humpback whale -  to carry him ashore.was the sole survivor of his brother's evildoing and assumed the name as a memorial of the assistance he received from the whale.In some versions, himself transformed into the whale.