The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North AmericaChapelle, Howard Irving
History
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America
Chapelle, Howard Irving
Canoes and canoeing -- North America; Indians of North America -- Boats; Skin boats -- North America
Ross found that the Greenland Eskimos north of Cape York had ceased to
use kayaks in 1818. Not until about 1860 was the kayak reintroduced
here, by Eskimos from Pond Inlet, north Baffin Island, who walked over
the sea ice. This fact probably accounts for the various sharpie and
modified sharpie forms used along the northern and Polar coasts of
Greenland.
[Illustration: Figure 202
DECK OF GREENLAND KAYAK from Disko Bay (USNM 72564). (_Smithsonian
photo 15726-C._)]
The model of the kayak used on much of the central and southern coasts
of Greenland has changed rather extensively since 1883, and this
change has apparently affected the kayaks used on the east coast as
well. In this part of the Arctic, the Eskimo are notable kayakers and
the boat is not only well designed but also carries highly developed
equipment and weapons for its work. The basic model used is a graceful
~V~-bottom one, with raking ends and rather strong sheer. In the old
boats represented by the drawings of figures 206 and 207, the sheer
is strong at bow and stern, but this form has been gradually going
out of favor. The kayaks are narrow but their shape gives them much
stability. Pegged to the bow and stern are plates of bone to protect
them from ice; in rare cases these bone stem bands, or bang plates, are
lashed in place. The first drawing shows the construction used: light
strong gunwales and a 3-batten longitudinal system with bent transverse
frames. The keelson and chines--light, rectangular in section and
placed on edge--are shaped slightly to fair the sealskin covering. The
cover passes under the manhole rim. Bow and stern are made of plank
on edge, shaped to the required profile. The gunwales are strongly
tapered in depth fore and aft. Eight to twelve thwarts, or deck beams,
are used in addition to the two heavy thwarts supporting the manhole;
usually there is one more forward of the manhole than there is aft,
and all are very light scantlings. The thwart forward of the manhole
stands slightly inside the cockpit and is strongly arched; the after
one is clear of the cockpit opening and has very little arch. Two
light, short battens, or carlins, 24 to 36 inches long support the
deck, where it sweeps up to the raked manhole, and usually there are
two abaft the manhole as well. Lashings are used as fastenings except
at the ends of the hull, where pegs secure the keelson to the stem and
stern; at this point, on some kayaks examined, sinew lashings are also
found. The whole framework is strong, light, and neatly made. In a few
instances the gunwales do not flare with the sides the whole length
and, thus, near the stern, a knuckle is formed in the skin cover, as
in figure 207, opposite. The exact amount of flare and deadrise varies
village to village. The old kayaks used in eastern Greenland had more
rake in the bow than the examples illustrated, and also were marked
by a sheer almost straight from the bow to within a foot or so of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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