The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 28

The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 28

In Newfoundland there was very fine birch but no cedar. There was,

however, excellent spruce which would take the place of cedar. It seems

certain, then, that all the framework of the Beothuk canoes was of

spruce. It seems likely that they were never built of a single sheet

of birch but were covered with a number of sheets sewn together, as in

other early Indian birch-bark canoes. The canoe birch of Newfoundland

grew to a diameter of 2 to 2½ feet at the butt, which would produce a

sheet of birch of 6 to 7 feet width; the length would be decided by how

far up the tree the Indian could climb to make the upper cut. As has

been stated, the prehistoric Indians seemingly made little attempt to

build birch-bark canoes of long lengths of bark, preferring to use only

the bark obtainable near the ground and above the height of the winter

snows.

 

The form of the Beothuk canoes, particularly the lack of bilge and the

marked ~V~-form, has caused much speculation. One writer assumed that

the form was particularly suited for running rapids. Actually, the

Beothuk appeared to have used canoes for river travel very rarely, as

few rivers in their country were suited for navigation. Instead, they

seem to have been coast dwellers and to have used canoes for coastal

travel and for voyages from island to island.

 

Their canoes were undoubtedly designed for open-water navigation, and

the ~V~-form was particularly suitable for this. The draft aided in

keeping the canoe on its course with either broadside or quartering

winds, and if the Beothuks knew sail, the hull-form would have served

them well. It is quite evident that the Beothuk canoes used ballast

in the form of stones or heavy cargo. Stones would have been placed

along the keel piece and covered with moss and skins. The strongly

hogged sheer was useful in protecting cargo amidships from spray and,

in picking up a seal or porpoise, the canoe could be sharply heeled

without taking in water. The ~V~ sections fore and aft were suitable

for rough-water navigation; because of its form and the weight of

ballast, the canoe would pass partly over and through the wave-top

without pounding. If a wave of such height as to overtop the gunwales

just abaft the stem were met, the strongly flaring sides would give

reserve buoyancy, causing the canoe to lift quickly as the wave reached

up the sides.

 

The small sticks in the ends, mentioned by John Gay, served not only

for lifting the canoe but also as braces to support the canoe at a

given angle when turned over ashore to serve as a shelter. The Beothuk

canoe, because of its form, was not well suited for portaging, and it

must be concluded that little of this was done. In coastal voyages, the

canoe would be unloaded and brought ashore each night to serve as a

shelter.

 

It is believed that the gunwale lashing of these canoes was in groups,

as in the Malecite. Howley questioned an old Micmac who had seen the

Beothuk lashing; he likened it to the continuous lashing used by his

own people, indicating some form of group wrapping, at least. It is

probable that the group lashings were let into the gunwales by shallow

notching at each group, a common Indian practice when no rail cap was

used, to prevent abrasion from the paddle or from loading and unloading

the canoe. The lacing of the ends appears to have been in the common

spiral stitch, judging by the grave models. These, however, show a

continuous wrapping at the gunwales, a common simplification found in

Indian canoe models, representing either group or continuously wrapped

gunwales indiscriminately.

 

The paddle of the Beothuks had a long, narrow blade, probably with a

pointed tip and a ridged surface. The shape is nearly spatulate. The

handle is missing from the grave model but was perhaps of the usual

"hoe-handled" form without a top cross-grip.

 

From these descriptions and on the basis of common Indian techniques

in birch-bark canoe construction, the form and methods of building the

Beothuk canoe can be reconstructed. The drawing on page 97 shows the

probable shape and appearance of the finished canoe. It seems likely

that a level building bed was first prepared. The keel, probably

rectangular in cross section, was then formed of two poles placed

butt-to-butt, worked to shape, and scarfed. The fastening of the scarf

was probably two or more lashings let into the surface of the wood.

These lashings are assumed to have been of split-root material but may

have been sinew. Possibly to strengthen the scarfs, pegs were also

used, a technique consistent with the state of Beothuk culture. The

keel probably had its ends split into laminae to allow the sharp bend

required to form the bow and stern pieces; and it was probably treated

with hot water and staked out to the desired profile. The main gunwales

were similarly made and worked to the predetermined sheer which, in

staking out, was hogged to a greater degree than was required in the

finished canoe. The ends of the gunwales were apparently split into

laminae to allow the shaping of the sharp upsweep of the sheer close to

bow and stern. The outwales were probably formed in the same manner,

after which the three thwarts were made and the material for ribs and

sheathing prepared. The ribs were apparently bent to the desired

shape, using hot water, and were either staked out or tied to hold them

in form until needed.

 

[Illustration: Figure 87

 

BEOTHUK CANOE, APPROXIMATE FORM AND CONSTRUCTION]

 

The keel was then laid on the bed and a series of stakes, perhaps

4½ feet long, were driven into the bed on each side of the piece in

opposing pairs at intervals of perhaps 2 or 3 feet. The stakes and

keel piece were then removed and the bark cover laid over the bed.

This may have been in two or three lengths, with the edges overlapped

so that the outside edge of the lap faced away from what was to be the

stern. The keel was then placed on the bark and weighted down with a

few stones or lashed at the stem heads to the end stakes; then the bark

was folded up on each side of the keel, and the stakes slipped back

into their holes in the bed and driven solidly into place, perhaps with

the tops angled slightly outward. The heads were then tied together

across the work and battens placed along the stakes and the outside of

the bark to form a "trough" against which the cover could be held with

horizontal inside battens. These were secured by "inside stakes" lashed

to each outside stake in the manner used in building eastern Indian

canoes (see p. 45). The bark cover now stood on the bed in a sharp

~V~ form, with the keel supported on the bed, the ends of the bark

supported by the end stakes, and both held down by stones along the

length of the keel. An alternative would have been to fix heavy stakes

at the extreme bow and stern of the keel and to lash the stem-heads

firmly to these in order to hold the keel down on the bark.

 

Next the main gunwales, prebent to the required form, were brought

to the building bed and their ends temporarily lashed to stem and

stern. The bark was brought up to these, trimmed, folded over their

tops, and secured by a few temporary lashings. Then the outwales were

placed outside the bark with their ends temporarily secured, and a few

pegs were driven through outwale, bark, and main gunwales, or a few

permanent lashings were passed. The bark cover was next securely lashed

to the gunwales and outwales combined, all along the sheer to a point

near the ends. The excess bark was then trimmed away at bow and stern

and the cover was laced to the end pieces to form bow and stern. This

lacing must have passed through the laminations of the stem and stern

pieces in the usual manner, avoiding the spiral lashing that held

the laminae together. The ends of the gunwales and outwales were next

permanently lashed together with root or other material and to the stem

and stern pieces. This done, the gunwales were spread apart amidships,

pressing the stakes outward still more at the tops. At this point the

tenons may have then been cut in the main gunwales and the thwarts

inserted. This method, incidentally, was used in building some western

Indian bark canoes.

 

The usual steps of completing a birch-bark canoe would then follow--the

insertion of sheathing, held in place by temporary ribs, and then the

driving home of the prebent ribs under the main gunwales, with their

heads in the spaces between the group lashings along the gunwales and

against the lower outboard corner of the main gunwale member, which was

probably beveled as in the Malecite canoe. The sheathing may have been

in two or three lengths, except close to the gunwale amidships where

one length would serve. On each side of the keel piece a sheathing

strake was placed which was thick on the edge against the keel but thin

along the outboard edge, in order to fair the sheathing into the keel

piece.

 

At some point in this process, the bark cover was pieced out to

make the required width, and gores were cut in the usual manner. In

spreading the gunwales, the bow and stern would have to be freed

from any stakes, as these would tend to pull inboard slightly as the

gunwales were spread in the process of shaping the hull. The ribs

could have been put in while green and shaped in the bark cover by use

of battens and cross braces inside, as were those of the St. Francis

canoes.

 

The sewing of the bark cover at panels and gores would take place

before the sheathing and ribs were placed, of course. A 15-foot canoe

when completed would have a girth amidships of about 65 to 68 inches

if the beam at the gunwales were 48 inches, and a bark cover of this

width could be taken from a tree of roughly 20 inches in diameter.

Hence, there may have been little piecing out of the bark for width.

In the form of the Beothuk canoe as reconstructed there is nothing

that departs from what is possible by the common Indian canoe-building

techniques. The finished canoe would, in all respects, agree with most

of the descriptions that have been found and would be a practical craft

in all the conditions under which it would be employed.

 

These were the only birch-bark canoes supposed to have made long runs

in the open sea clear of the land. In them the Beothuk are supposed to

have made voyages to the outlying islands, in which runs in open water

of upward of 60 miles would be necessary, and they probably crossed

from Newfoundland to Labrador.

 

The ~V~-form used by the Beothuk canoe was the most extreme of all

birch-bark canoe models in North America, although, as has been

mentioned, less extreme ~V~-bottoms were used elsewhere. The Beothuk

canoe may have been a development of some more ancient form of bark

sea canoe also related to the ~V~-bottom canoes of the Passamaquoddy. The most marked structural characteristic of the Beothuk canoe was the keel; the only other canoe in which a true keel was employed was the temporary moosehide canoes of the Malecite.