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
The other member of the gunwale structure was the cap; its thickness
was usually ¼ to ⅜ inch, reduced slightly toward the ends. Its inboard
face and the bottom were flat, but the top was somewhat rounded, with
the thickness reduced toward the outboard edge. The cap was fastened
to the main gunwales with pegs and with short lashing groups near the
ends, but in late examples nails were used. The ends of the caps were
bevelled off on the inboard side, so that they came together in pointed
form. The cap usually ended near the end of the gunwale but in some
canoes, particularly those that were nail-fastened, the cap was let
into the gunwale (see p. 50) so that the top was flush with end of the
gunwale.
[Illustration: Figure 51
MICMAC 2-FATHOM PACK, OR WOODS, CANOE with normal sheer and flat
bottom.]
The ends of the gunwales were supported by headboards that were bellied
outboard to bring tension vertically on the bark cover. The heel of the
board stood on a short frog, laid on the bottom with the inboard end
touching or slightly lapping over the endmost rib. The frog supported
the heels of the headboard and also the forefoot of the stem-piece,
which otherwise would have but partial support from the sewing battens
outside the ends at these points. The headboard was rather oval-shaped
and the top was notched on each side to fit under the gunwale; the
narrow central tenon stood slightly above the top of the main gunwales
when the headboard was sprung into place and was held in position by a
lashing across the gunwales inboard of the top of the headboard. The
heel was held by the notch in the frog. Cedar shavings were stuffed
into the ends of the canoe between the stem-piece and the headboard
to mold the ends properly, as no ribs could be inserted there. All
woodwork in these canoes was white cedar, except the headboards and
thwarts, which were maple, and the stem battens, which were usually
basket ash but sometimes were split spruce roots.
The more recent Micmac canoes usually had no more than five thwarts;
this number was found even on small woods canoes. However, old records
indicate that canoes 20 to 28 feet long on the gunwales were once built
with seven thwarts. The shape of the thwarts varied, apparently in
accordance with the builder's fancy. The most common form was nearly
rectangular in cross-section; in elevation, it was thick at the hull
centerline and tapered smoothly to the outboard ends; and in plan it
was narrowest at the hull centerline and increased in width toward
the ends, the increase being rather sharp at the shoulders of the
tenon. In some, the tenon went through the main gunwales and touched
the inside of the bark cover; in others the ends of the thwarts were
pointed in elevation, square in plan, and were inserted in shallow,
blind tenons on the inboard side of the main gunwales. A single 3-turn
lashing through a hole in the shoulder and around the main gunwale was
used in every case.
[Illustration: Figure 51
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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