The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 46

The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 46

WESTERN ALASKAN UMIAK with eight women paddling, Cape Prince of Wales,

Alaska, 1936. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._)]

 

[Illustration: Figure 159

 

WESTERN ALASKAN UMIAK being beached, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska,

1936. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._)]

 

[Illustration: Figure 160

 

REPAIRING UMIAK FRAME at St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 1930. (_Photo by

Henry B. Collins._)]

 

[Illustration: Figure 161

 

ESKIMO WOMAN SPLITTING WALRUS HIDE to make umiak cover, St. Lawrence

Island, Alaska, 1930. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._)]

 

The fundamental difference between the construction of the curragh and

that of the umiak lies in the type of longitudinal strength members and

the transverse framing used. The curragh, like the birch-bark canoe,

depended entirely upon its gunwales for longitudinal strength, whereas

the umiak has a strong keel, or, properly, a keelson since the keel was

inside the skin cover. The curragh used longitudinal battens to support

the skin cover. The umiak, on the other hand, has in its chine timbers

rather strong longitudinal members that give additional strength to

the bottom. Its transverse frames, unlike those of the curragh which

were continuous from gunwale to gunwale, are in three sections, two

side pieces and a floor, or bottom, member and the frame members are

joined to gunwale, chines and keelson by lashings of sinew, whalebone,

or hide, a method that, together with three-part frames, gives great

flexibility to the framework. The frame of the early curragh may have

been lashed, but because of the other fundamental differences in design

and construction it was less flexible than that of the umiak.

 

The basic features of the umiak frame are not found in the kayak, the

structure of which in most types approaches that of the curragh. The

gunwale is the strength member in the kayak, and some types have a

rather extensive longitudinal batten system as well. In only a few

types of kayak is the keelson an important strength member, and even

here the gunwales are of primary importance. The hypothesis has been

offered that this indicates a different parentage for the kayak than

for the umiak, and that the umiak represents the earlier type, it being

argued that this type of boat was the one more required in migratory

periods, and so would be first developed. Such theories should be

accepted with caution, however, as the fundamentally different use

requirements for the two types of craft might readily explain the

variation in their principles of construction. Hunting would also have

been necessary during migrations, as existence depended upon food;

the earlier appearance of the umiak cannot be assumed on such limited

grounds.

 

[Illustration: Figure 162

 

FITTING SPLIT WALRUS-HIDE COVER to umiak at St. Lawrence Island,

Alaska, 1930. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._)]

 

[Illustration: Figure 163

 

OUTBOARD MOTOR INSTALLED ON UMIAK, Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, 1936.

(_Photo by Henry B. Collins._)]

 

[Illustration: Figure 164

 

LAUNCHING UMIAK IN LIGHT SURF, with crew of 12 men. (Note outboard

motor attached), Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, 1936. (_Photo by Henry

B. Collins._)]

 

Eskimo skin boats possess remarkable advantages for their employment

and conditions of use. Their hulls are light in weight, simple to

build, and relatively easy to repair, yet they are highly shock

resistant. They can carry large loads, yet are fast, they are capable

of being propelled by more than one means, and they are exceptionally

seaworthy.

 

Floating ice is considered a major hazard to craft of all sizes, but

the umiak, for example, can resist the shocks of ramming the ice to a

degree beyond the tensile strength of the skin covering, by reason of

the method of attaching the skin cover to the framework of the hull,

and to some extent the form of the boat itself. The skin cover of the

umiak is not rigidly attached to the frame in a number of places, but

rather is a complete unit secured only at the gunwales and to the heads

of stem and stern. This permits the skin cover to be greatly distorted

by a blow, so that the elasticity of the material at point of impact is

assisted by the movement of the whole skin cover on the frame. Also,

the frame itself is flexible and allows distortion and recovery not

only within the limits of the elasticity of the wooden frame but also

by the movement of the lashed joints in the transverse frames. Some

kayaks have similar characteristics, though their small size and the

light weight of both boat and loading make its resistance to shock of

far less importance than that of the umiak.

 

Light weight is a highly desirable characteristic for small craft in

the Arctic, since it permits the boat without the aid of skids or

other mechanical contrivances to be removed from the water and carried

over obstructions, and to be transported either by sledge or by manual

portage over long distances. Lightness is obtained in the Eskimo skin

boats by the small number and small size of the wooden structural

members used in their construction. The resulting light weight hull

permits heavy loading in proportion to the size of the boat, and it

allows building with a minimum of material, in a country where such

materials as wood are scarce and hard to obtain.

 

For all small craft in Arctic waters, where distances between sources

of supply may be great and the time that the water is open to

navigation is relatively short, speed is an important and desirable

attribute that permits movement with a minimum of effort. The

exigencies of Arctic travel make it further desirable that small craft

be capable of propulsion under paddle, oars, sail, or low-powered

gasoline motors. The umiak, because of its form and weight, can be

modified to meet this requirement without loss of other desirable

attributes, and to a slightly lesser degree, the same may be said of

the kayak.

 

Simplicity in construction and repair are also basic requirements in

the Arctic, where an emergency may make it necessary to repair or

rebuild a damaged boat out of materials available nearby with the

minimum of tools and under adverse weather conditions. The Eskimo

has produced a boat construction that, as will be seen from the

descriptions that follow, to a high degree meets this requirement.

 

Exceptional seaworthiness is required, as most Arctic waters are

subject to violent storms; the Arctic skin boats have been developed

with forms and proportions to meet this condition. In this matter, the

light and flexible hull structure gives a special advantage. The kayak,

in its highest state of evolution and in skillful hands is perhaps

the most seaworthy of all primitive small craft. The umiak is a close

second, but of the two, the kayak is safer under all conditions of

Arctic travel.

 

The load-carrying capacity of skin boats has been mentioned. The Eskimo

umiak is notable in this respect, exceeding the curragh and even craft

produced by modern civilization. The umiak possesses this advantage

because of its very light hull weight in combination with a nearly

flat bottom and flaring sides. The resulting hull-form allows heavy

loading with relatively little increase in draft, as the flaring sides

cause the displacement to increase rapidly with the slightest increase

in draft. Though a similar form exists in the lumberman's drive boat,

the greater hull weight of this type makes it inferior to the umiak.

Light draft when loaded has very definite advantages in the Arctic,

for it allows loading and unloading on the beach or afloat, and allows

the boat to be beached at points where this would not be possible with

a deeper hull. The light draft also makes the umiak easy to propel

manually.

 

The imperative need for very efficient watercraft has made the Eskimo

seek improvements, and as his needs altered, so have his skin boats.

Consequently the designs of these craft have gone through numerous

changes since the first of the types were placed in American museums.

It is noticeable that, among other changes, the amount of freeboard of

umiaks has been altered as their owners met new conditions imposed by

longer voyages, heavier cargo, and the outboard motor. The high-sided

umiak, while suited for heavy loads and very seaworthy, was almost

impossible to paddle or even row against a strong gale. When this

condition had to be met, the freeboard and flare were reduced to

minimize the windage. In recent years umiaks have appeared with round

bottoms to give greater speed under paddle, the resulting boat being

an enlarged kayak in construction. These changes to meet differing use

requirements are not necessarily basic improvements, for they result in

the sacrifice of some of the other qualities of the type. Nevertheless,

they indicate the fluid state of primitive boat design in the Arctic,

a condition that has been accentuated in most areas by the increasing

influence of white men, their boats and their motors.

 

[Illustration: Figure 165

 

UMIAKS ON RACKS, in front of village on Little Diomede Island, July 30,

1936. (_Photo by Henry B. Collins._)]

 

 

_The Umiak_

 

The umiak was undoubtedly more widely employed by the Eskimo before

the coming of the white man than existing records indicate. It was

a type of boat most necessary for family migration by sea, and with

it the early Eskimos could establish themselves on islands far from

the mainland and could cross large bodies of water. From some areas

where early explorers mention having seen the type, the umiak has

disappeared; this suggests the possibility that tribes now unacquainted

with the umiak had at some time in the past reached a location where

such a boat was no longer necessary.

 

The umiak was common in open waters and was found from Kodiak Island

through the Aleutians and north and eastward along the west and north

coast of Alaska to the mouth of the Mackenzie River. On the Siberian

coast, opposite Alaska and for a short distance westward, the umiak was

also employed. From the Mackenzie eastward to Hudson Bay the umiak has

not been employed in recent times, though it is highly probable that it

was used in the migrations that populated this part of the Arctic coast

with Eskimo. Early explorers found umiaks in use along the northwestern

coast of Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin; the umiak disappeared from these

areas during the last century, but its use continued in Hudson Strait and in Greenland, where it became highly developed.