Pacific Northwest canoes

Last updated

Masterfully designed canoes of many sizes and forms were made on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. They were the main form of transportation for the indigenous people of the area until long after European colonization. In recent years, the craft of canoe-making has been revived, and a few have been built by a number of the native nations, Like those made in traditional times, they have proved eminently seaworthy.

Contents

Construction

A seagoing dugout canoe Imm023 14.jpg
A seagoing dugout canoe

The canoes are made by carving solid logs, usually of red cedar but in some areas of Sitka spruce or cottonwood. The boats were typically widened beyond the original diameter of the log by spreading the sides after a steam-softening process. Spreading does more than widen the canoe; it also introduces major changes of form throughout the hull which the canoemaker must anticipate when carving the log. The straight and level gunwales bend smoothly out and down, while the ends rise, forming a graceful sheer and transforming a rigidly narrow, hollow trough into an elegant watercraft.

In order to spread without splitting, the walls of the hull are made remarkably thin. When the hull is completely carved, water is poured into it to a depth of six inches or so, and heated to boiling with red-hot rocks. The resulting steam is confined by covering the open hull with mats. The hot rocks are replaced as needed to keep the water at a boil. The softened sides, heated through by the steam inside and fires outside, begin to move outward, aided by the weight of water and rocks pressing down in the centre. Spreading sticks are tapped into place between the gunwales, and are moved towards the ends and increased in length in the centre as the sides flare outward. When the planned beam and form are reached, the canoe is allowed to cool, the water is removed, and the thwarts, bow and stern blocks, and gunwale caps are fitted and fastened in place.

Large travelling and war canoes were often painted with designs associated with the names of the canoes or the crests of the owners.

Uses

The canoes were used for transport up and down the coast. They were used for trading, as war canoes, in competitions, and for fishing. Emily Carr, who grew up in the early days of Victoria, British Columbia, describes a regatta in which the Indian races were the highlight. The canoes, of ten paddlers and a steersman acting as coxswain, "flash[ed] through their races like running fire." The Kloochman ("wife" in Chinook Jargon) was "an even grander race" than the men's, with the women giving "every scrap of themselves to the canoe", working in complete unity. [1]

Historical examples

The Haida of Haida Gwaii reputedly made the biggest ones - some 60 feet (18 metres) long. [2]

Modern examples

In 1937 Betty Lowman Carey became the first white woman to row single-handed the Inside Passage of British Columbia in a dugout canoe.

In 1978 Geordie Tocher and two companions sailed a 3½ ton, 40 foot (12 metre) dugout canoe (the Orenda II), made of Douglas Fir, and based on Haida designs (but with sails), from Vancouver, Canada to Hawaii to add credibility to stories that the Haida had travelled to Hawaii in ancient times. Altogether they travelled some 4,500 miles (7,242 km) after two months at sea. [3] [4]

In 1986 Bill Reid created Loo Taas, a 15.2-metre-long red cedar ocean-going canoe commissioned for Expo 86 in Vancouver. [5] After Reid designed the canoe, it was built in Skidegate by a group of carvers led by Tucker (Robert) Brown during the winter of 1985/86. The bow and stern of Loo Taas have a killer whale design conceived and painted by Haida artist Sharon Hitchcock (1951–2009). [6] In addition to its presence at Expo 86, Loo Taas was brought to Rouen, France, in 1989, and was paddled by a Haida delegation up the Seine River to be exhibited at the Musée de l’homme in Paris. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boat</span> Vessel for transport by water

A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kayak</span> Light boat that is paddled

A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word qajaq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Reid</span> Haida carver

William Ronald Reid Jr. was a Haida artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is regarded as one of the most significant Northwest Coast artists of the late twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canoe</span> Light boat that is paddled

A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term canoe can also refer to a kayak, while canoes are then called Canadian or open canoes to distinguish them from kayaks. However, for official competition purposes, the American distinction between a kayak and a canoe is almost always adopted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pirogue</span> Small boat, particularly dugout and native canoe

A pirogue, also called a piragua or piraga, is any of various small boats, particularly dugouts and native canoes. The word is French and is derived from Spanish piragua, which comes from the Carib piraua.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dugout canoe</span> Boat made from a hollowed tree

A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed-out tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. Monoxylon (μονόξυλον) is Greek – mono- (single) + ξύλον xylon (tree) – and is mostly used in classic Greek texts. In German, they are called Einbaum. Some, but not all, pirogues are also constructed in this manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outrigger boat</span> Boat with one or more lateral support floats

Outrigger boats are various watercraft featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull. They can range from small dugout canoes to large plank-built vessels. Outrigger boats can also vary in their configuration, from the ancestral double-hull configuration (catamarans), to single-outrigger vessels prevalent in the Pacific Islands and Madagascar, to the double-outrigger vessels (trimarans) prevalent in Island Southeast Asia. They are traditionally fitted with Austronesian sails, like the crab claw sails and tanja sails, but in modern times are often fitted with petrol engines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waka (canoe)</span> Māori watercraft, usually canoes

Waka are Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes used for fishing and river travel to large, decorated war canoes up to 40 metres (130 ft) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tepukei</span>

A tepukei, tepuke or TePuke is a Polynesian boat type, characterized by its elaborate decking, its submerged hulls and symmetrical "crab claw" sail slender foil or radically extended tips claw sail. Tepukei boats are produced primarily by the Polynesian-speaking inhabitants of Taumako, and have been occasionally borrowed by other Polynesian and Melanesian societies.

Canoe sailing refers to the practice of fitting an Austronesian outrigger or Western canoe with sails.

<i>Spirit of Haida Gwaii</i> Sculpture by Bill Reid

The Spirit of Haida Gwaii is a sculpture by British Columbia Haida artist Bill Reid (1920–1998). There are two versions of it: the black canoe and the jade canoe. The black canoe features on Canadian $20 bills of the Canadian Journey series issued between 2004 and 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walap</span> Type of canoe

The Walap is a traditional ocean-going sailing outrigger canoe from the Marshall Islands.

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a visual artist, author, and public speaker. His work has been seen in public spaces, museums, galleries and private collections across globe. Institutional collections include the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Humboldt Forum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditional fishing boat</span>

Traditionally, many different kinds of boats have been used as fishing boats to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Even today, many traditional fishing boats are still in use. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), at the end of 2004, the world fishing fleet consisted of about 4 million vessels, of which 2.7 million were undecked (open) boats. While nearly all decked vessels were mechanised, only one-third of the undecked fishing boats were powered, usually with outboard engines. The remaining 1.8 million boats were traditional craft of various types, operated by sail and oars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Formline art</span> Feature of indigenous North American art

Formline art is a feature in the indigenous art of the Northwest Coast of North America, distinguished by the use of characteristic shapes referred to as ovoids, U forms and S forms. Coined by Bill Holm in his 1965 book Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form, the "formline is the primary design element on which Northwest Coast art depends, and by the turn of the 20th century, its use spread to the southern regions as well. It is the positive delineating force of the painting, relief and engraving. Formlines are continuous, flowing, curvilinear lines that turn, swell and diminish in a prescribed manner. They are used for figure outlines, internal design elements and in abstract compositions."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haida Heritage Centre</span>

The Haida Heritage Centre is the premier cultural centre and museum of the Haida people. It is located in Skidegate, a community on Graham Island in Haida Gwaii off the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada. The centre is situated just south of the site of a historical village in Kay Llnagaay. The Centre was built and is managed by Gwaalagaa Naay, an economic development branch of the Skidegate Band Council, the owners of the site. It is one of the major aboriginal cultural tourism attractions in Haida Gwaii and has been described as "a place for the Haida voice to be heard." Educational programs are offered in partnership with School District 50 Haida Gwaii, the University of Northern British Columbia, and with the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hlk'yah G̱awG̱a</span>

Hlk'yah G̱awG̱a, also known as Windy Bay, is located on Athlii Gwaii in southern Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. The site was historically the location of a Haida village named Hlk'yah Llnagaay, meaning Peregrine Falcon Town in English. In the 1980s, Hlk'yah G̱awG̱a was the focus of a series of lawsuits and protests opposing clearcut logging on the island. These demonstrations were the impetus for the signing of the Gwaii Haanas Agreement of 1993 and the creation of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepa (ship)</span> Boats of the Southeast Asian Sama-Bajau people

Lepa, also known as lipa or lepa-lepa, are indigenous ships of the Sama-Bajau people in the Philippines and Malaysia. They were traditionally used as houseboats by the seagoing Sama Dilaut. Since most Sama have abandoned exclusive sea-living, modern lepa are instead used as fishing boats and cargo vessels.

<i>The Raven and the First Men</i>

The Raven and the First Men is a sculpture by Haida artist Bill Reid. It depicts the Haida creation myth. It was carved from a single block of laminated yellow cedar, beginning in the fall of 1978, and took two years to complete, with work completing on April 1, 1980. Raven and the First Men is depicted on the reverse of the former Canadian twenty dollar bill of the Canadian Journey series.

References

  1. The Book of Small, Emily Carr, 1942. Several reprints. Chapter: "Regatta".
  2. "Pacific Northwest Coastal Indians website". Archived from the original on 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  3. Robert Stall, "A man, a tree and an ocean to cross." Maclean's magazine, March 5, 1979, pp. 4-6.
  4. Peter Speck. "Orenda recalled." North Shore News. November 22, 1978, pp. 2 and 12.
  5. McMaster, Gerald (2020). Iljuwas Bill Reid: Life & Work. Toronto: Art Canada Institute. ISBN   978-1-4871-0242-5.
  6. McMaster, Gerald (2020). Iljuwas Bill Reid: Life & Work. Toronto: Art Canada Institute. ISBN   978-1-4871-0242-5.
  7. McMaster, Gerald (2020). Iljuwas Bill Reid: Life & Work. Toronto: Art Canada Institute. ISBN   978-1-4871-0242-5.