that the number of hides used could not be determined, but it probably
is comprised of three sea-lion skins sewn together. New skin covers
are made by removing the hair and fat from the skins and then sewing
them together by the method illustrated on page 186, to obtain proper
dimensions. Green skins are generally preferred, since they stretch
into shape better than partly or wholly cured ones. Once stretched
to shape and cured, the cover can be readily removed and replaced,
without resewing. In fitting a new skin cover the skins are first
thoroughly soaked in seawater. The cover is then stretched over the
frame and worked taut by lacings. It is wide enough to reach from
gunwale to gunwale and a little down inside the boat on each side, and
is laced to the rising batten with turns of rope spaced 3 to 5 inches
apart amidships and closer together in the ends of the hull. At the
headboards the cover is laced around the gunwales and through holes
in the headboards, two independent lacings of two turns each being
used on each side. At the extreme bow and stern the cover is laced
to the gunwale lashings. Where the cover will not stretch smooth in
fitting, gores appear to have been cut out and the skin resewn. After
being laced, the cover is allowed to shrink until it becomes smooth
and tight, then it is heavily oiled and the seams rubbed with tallow
or blubber. This treatment is repeated at regular intervals. While the
boat is in service care is taken to dry out the skin cover once a day,
if possible.
[Illustration: Figure 169
UMIAK, WEST COAST OF ALASKA, King Island, 1886. Taken off umiak at
Mariner's Museum.]
[Illustration: Figure 170
MAKING THE BLIND SEAM: two stages of method used by the Eskimo to join
skins together. The edge of the skins are placed flesh side to flesh
side with one overlapping the other about 2 inches. Then, by means of
a thin needle and slender sinew, the skins are sewn together, with an
over-and-over stitch, care being taken not to penetrate through the
lower skin. When this is completed the skins are opened out and the
second seam made on the grain side to complete a double seam without
penetration of either skin. The width of the seam varies somewhat.]
The sequence of construction described is not followed universally;
sometimes spreaders are fixed between the gunwales, which are then
sheered by thongs to the keelson, after which the side frames are put
in and the side and rising battens, and finally the thwarts, are added.
Judging by the numerous models seen, the small hunting umiaks varied a
good deal in the rake and sweep of the bow and stern, even in the same
village. These hunting umiaks worked with kayaks in Aleutian walrus and
sea-lion hunting; a practice that seems to have once been common along
the Western Alaskan coast and among the islands.
[Illustration: Figure 171
NORTH ALASKAN WHALING UMIAK of about 1890. Drawn from damaged frame,
formerly in a private collection, now destroyed.]
The drawing on page 186 represents a large Alaskan umiak from King
Island. Two boats of this model, but with modern metal fastenings, are
in the Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia, but the drawing shows
the methods of fastenings used in 1886. The plan is of a burdensome
model, such as is used for travel or other heavy cargo work. The boat
is 34 feet 2½ inches over the gunwales, 8 feet ½ inch extreme beam, 2
feet 3⅜ inches deep and 2 feet 10 inches beam on the bottom over the
chines. The construction follows the general plan of the small umiak
just described, except that another method of fitting the floor timbers
to the chines is employed. Due to the size and use of the umiak, two
side battens are employed with a single riser. The thwarts are not
notched over the frames, but instead fall between them. As diagonal
thong braces from gunwale to keelson would be ineffective in this
situation, two sets of wooden braces that resist not only tension but
also compression are used to take the thrust off the thwart lashings.
These brace-frames are staggered slightly to allow room to fit them at
the keelson. The drawing, which requires no additional explanation,
shows the plan of construction and the important lashings, and the
method of fitting oars with thong thole loops.
Boats such as these carried a square sail lashed to a yard, the mast
being stepped in a block on the keelson. No mast thwart is used;
instead stays and shrouds of hide rope supported the mast, a method
that made it easy to step or unstep the mast in a seaway. Early umiaks
in this area are said to have had mat sails; later ones used sails of
skin and drill. Modern umiaks of this class often have rudders hung on
iron pintles and gudgeons and the floors fastened to the keelson with
iron bolts or screws. The scarphs are also bolted, but the remaining
fastenings are lashings in the old style, to obtain flexibility in the
frame.
A North Alaskan whaling umiak, supposed to have been built about 1890,
is represented in the drawing of figure 171. The remains of the boat
were sufficient to permit reconstruction of the frame. This umiak is
about the size of, and in profile greatly resembles, a New Bedford
whaleboat. However, the model is that of the umiak, rather sharp-ended
and strongly sheered. The boat is 29 feet 4¾ inches over the
headboards, 5 feet 10½ inches extreme beam, and 2 feet 1¾ inches deep.
Umiaks of this model were used at Point Barrow and vicinity in offshore
whaling, and were also used for travel and cargo carrying. Paddles were
used in whaling, but in more recent times sail, oars, and outboard
engines have been employed. The boats of this class appear to have been
marked by a very graceful profile and strongly raking ends. Despite
the resemblances of this type of umiak to the whaleboat, it is highly
doubtful that its model was influenced by the white man's boat. In
fact, it might just as well be claimed that since the whaleboat appears
to have been first employed in the early Greenland whale fishery, the
latter had been influenced by the umiaks found in that area. However,
one might also point to the fact that the model of the early European
whaleboat is much like that of a Viking boat, from which will be seen
the danger in accepting chance similarities in form or detail as
evidence of relationship, particularly when it is not impossible that
similarities in use and other requirements have produced similar boat
types, the users never having come into contact.
[Illustration: Figure 172
BAFFIN ISLAND UMIAK. Drawn from model and detailed measurements of a
single boat.]
The whaling umiak has been much used in the western Arctic by explorers
and Arctic travellers, who regarded highly its lightness and strength,
and its ability to be easily driven. It is much wider than the Chukchi
umiak and has far more flare. From a study of models and numerous
photographs it can be said that the amount of fore-and-aft camber in
the bottom varies greatly between individual umiaks, some of which
are almost straight on the bottom. The light framework and elastic
construction often cause these umiaks to camber a good deal when
heavily loaded; when sledged, they are sometimes fitted amidships with
a support for a line from bow to stern, that forms a "hogging-brace,"
to prevent the boat from losing its camber. It is also apparent
that there is no standard practice in fitting floors to the chines;
Murdock[4] shows a rough sketch that indicates the floor ends are
often tenoned into the chines, as in the small umiak. Tree-nailing of
the floors and chines, and the keelson, is common, and sometimes both
treenails and lashings are used in scarphs. In some umiaks both the
single side batten and the riser are at the same height, but only the
riser has its ends secured to the posts, the side battens being cut
short and their ends lashed to the riser a few inches inside the posts.
[4] See bibliography.
The skin cover of the north Alaskan whaling umiak is made of bearded
seal or of walrus hide, which has to be split, because of its weight.
Occasionally polar-bear skins are used. Lashings of the frame are of
whalebone, sinew, and hide. The skins are treated with seal oil and
caribou fat, and when the whaling umiak is taken ashore it is usually
stored on a stage to keep dogs from destroying the skin cover. In
travelling, however, it is sometimes propped upside down on one edge
and used as a shelter. In winter the skin is removed and stored; when
it is necessary to be replaced on the frame, the skin cover is soaked
in sea water for three to five days, after which it is laced on in
the usual manner, dried, and then thoroughly oiled. Low, rather wide
sledges are sometimes built to carry the umiak overland, or on the
ice, but often the regular sledge is used. The boats cannot be sledged
against a strong gale because of their windage.
The north Alaskan umiak is usually propelled by paddles, like the
Chukchi umiak. These paddles range in length from about 50 to 76
inches, and as a rule have a rather long narrow blade, though a short
and wide blade is occasionally found, particularly at Kotzebue Sound
and Point Hope. Oars for the Alaskan umiaks range in length from 6 feet
3 inches to 8 feet 6 inches, and also have rather long narrow blades, 3
to 4 inches wide.
The three examples of Alaskan umiaks serve to show the features that
are most common in the area. However, models in the U.S. National
Museum suggest that there was a greater variety of form and appearance
in the past. One model shows the gunwale ends lengthened by pieces
shaped very much like the projecting gunwales of the Malay prah. Some
show extreme rake at the bow like that of the Koryak umiak but without
the rounded gunwale ends. It is impossible to estimate how far the
western Alaska umiak model has been affected by the early Russian
traders in this area, but it is quite certain that the use of oars can
be traced to this influence. The full-sized umiaks, and models and
photographs, from the Bering Strait area give no real clues to the
possible parentage or direction of spread of the Alaskan umiak types.
Occasional details in fittings or construction, such as the gunwale
extensions mentioned, seem to duplicate details in primitive Asiatic
craft, but the evidence is too scanty to allow a hypothesis based on
design and construction alone.
[Illustration: Figure 173
EAST GREENLAND UMIAK, drawn from measurements taken off by a U.S. Army
officer in 1945.]
No models or photographs have been found of the extinct types of umiaks
once used in the northern part of Hudson Bay and the sketches of early
explorers are too crude to allow useful discussion. From such slight
evidence it is impossible to say whether the umiaks in this area were
of the western or eastern type.
The drawing of a Baffin Island umiak on page 188 is based on measured
dimensions of a single boat and upon a small model in the U.S. National
Museum. This model conforms in most respects with the drawings and
sketches made by Boas.[5] The umiak is a small one, 24 feet 7¼ inches
long, 5 feet 8⅜ inches extreme beam, 3 feet 10 inches wide over the
chines, and 1 foot 10½ inches deep. These measurements show that the
bottom of this type of umiak is wider than that of western types. The
bottom is flat, and sheer and camber are both slight. The stem and
stern are practically upright and are not formed of knees; rather,
they are made by fitting the post into the keelson with an open tenon.
Instead of the carved block headboards seen in the Alaskan umiaks, the
Baffin Island boat has very wide headboards, and these are tenoned over
the posts as in the Asiatic Koryak umiaks. The details of the rest of
the framing are not dissimilar from those of the Alaskan umiaks, except
that the Baffin Island umiak does not employ any short frames in the
end of the hull. The framework is rather heavy and the square-ended
appearance of this class of umiak makes it appear more clumsy than is
actually the case. The side battens and risers stop short of the posts,
and the risers used in this umiak are notched into the side frames,
whereas in the Alaskan umiak only the lashings of the riser are let
into the frames. The Baffin Island umiaks carry a square sail lashed
to a yard, and the mast is placed right up in the eyes of the boat.
Boas shows that some of these umiaks have rudders hung on metal pintles
and gudgeons, a result of the influence of the white traders, whalers,
and sealers who had operated in these waters long before Boas made his
investigations. The umiak is rowed in the usual manner, using thong
loops as tholes, and is usually steered with an oar or long paddle.
[5] See bibliography.
The ends of the gunwales of the Baffin Island umiak are cut off a
little inside the forward edges of the headboards, making this the
only American type that does not have projecting gunwales at bow and
stern. The projection of the gunwales undoubtedly serve a practical
purpose in lifting the boat out of water, but obviously this is of
minor importance. Probably the real reason for these projections is
that they originally made building easier by providing space for a
retaining lashing when the gunwales were being bent. As the headboards
became wider and the spring of the gunwales, in plain view, became
less acute, less strain was put on the lashings of the gunwales at the
headboards, but by then the projecting gunwales and their retaining
lashings were being utilized in lashing on the skin covering at bow and
stern. Thus, beginning as a practical solution of a building problem,
the projecting gunwales may have eventually become a traditional tribal
feature of the umiak in many localities.
The drawing of an eastern Greenland umiak on page 189 was made from
measurements taken off during World War II and checked against
dimensions, photos, and descriptions of boats from the same territory.
In general design and in construction this umiak differs little from
umiaks of the southwest coast of the same island. The eastern Greenland
boats are, on the average, much smaller than those on the southwest
coast due to the more severe ice conditions met in the east. Some of
the Greenland umiaks have flat bottoms like the Baffin Island boats,
but the ~V~-bottom appears to be more common. The chief characteristics
of the Greenland umiaks are the slight rake in the bow and stern, the
moderate sheer and camber, and the conservative flare of the sides.
The drawing shows the important structural details seen in most of the
Greenland umiaks. The floor timbers are on edge instead of on the flat
as in Alaskan boats and this seems to be characteristic of all eastern
umiak construction, as is the arching of the underside of the floors.
Another common structural detail is the passing of the risers through
the side frames; in some, however, the risers lie in deep notches
fashioned in the inside of the frames. The eastern Greenland umiaks
generally have rather wide headboards and somewhat more projection
to the gunwales. Like the Baffin Island umiaks, the side battens and
risers of the Greenland boats are cut short of the posts, but the ends
of these members are commonly supported by frames placed very far fore
and aft, and often these frames form brace-supports to the headboard,
as in the drawing. The headboards of these umiaks are always tenoned
over the top of the posts. Some of the Greenland umiaks have curved
side frames which cause the side battens to form knuckles in the skin
cover. The eastern Greenland umiaks rarely if ever carry sail, but this
is common on the western and southwestern coasts, where a square-sail
on a yard is popular, with the mast usually well forward. Hans Egede in
1729[6] found Greenland umiaks fitted with sails of seal intestines and
also saw boats about 10 fathoms (60 feet) long; another early writer,
Crantz[6] states that umiaks were commonly 36, 48, and even 54 feet
long. In the larger umiaks two side battens were employed. The thongs
and brace-frames seen in many Alaskan umiaks do not seem to have been
used in eastern waters, the use of bracing-frames from stem or stern
post to the gunwales probably serving the purpose, but it is noticeable
that pictures of Greenland umiaks preserved in some European museums
show that the hulls have a tendency to twist not seen in Alaskan
boats. The old Greenland umiaks were built with lashed joints combined
with pegging, or treenailing. In recent times the use of pegging has
increased and iron fastenings are now quite common. Rigid fastenings
of the peg and metal types are used only in scarphs and in securing
the chines and keelson to the floors timbers, as in the modern Alaskan
umiaks.
[6] See bibliography.
_The Kayak_
The Eskimo hunting boat, the kayak, is more widely employed in the
Arctic than the umiak, and its variations in model, construction, and
appearance are more distinct and numerous. The kayak is a long, usually
narrow, decked canoe and is commonly very well finished. In Alaska a
few undecked skin-covered canoes, used in rivers, are built on kayak
proportions, but the model of these is quite different from that of the
Alaskan sea-kayaks; the river canoes are ~V~ or flat bottomed, much
like the Greenland kayaks. A similar kayak-type canoe, flat bottomed
but birch-bark covered, is used by the Yukon Indians. Undoubtedly a
number of such types once existed but most of these became extinct
before any attempt was made to preserve models or canoes in museums.
Few Eskimo tribes are without kayaks, only those living inland or where
the sea is rarely open are unacquainted with these hunting craft. In
very recent times some tribes have ceased to use kayaks, employing
purchased canoes instead. The kayaks of the Asiatic Eskimos, and those
from the Mackenzie to Hudson Bay, are now crudely built and of inferior
design. Both the Greenland and the Alaskan kayaks are highly developed.
The Greenland kayaks are undoubtedly given more intricate equipment in
the way of weapons and accessories than the Alaskan craft, but it would
be difficult to decide which is superior in construction and design.
[Illustration: Figure 174
FRAME OF KAYAK, Nunivak Island, Alaska, with young owner beneath.
(_Photo by Henry B. Collins._)]
The basic models used in Eskimo kayaks are the multi-chine, the
~V~-bottom and the flat bottom. The multi-chine models, except for the
river kayak-canoe just mentioned, which probably should be classed as
a true open canoe rather than a kayak, are employed throughout Alaskan
waters. The geographic boundaries of each basic hull form are rather
ill-defined. The multi-chine kayak appears as far eastward as the
northwest coast of Hudson's Bay. In this area, however, a ~V~-bottom
kayak, now extinct, seems to have been in use on Southampton Island.
A flat-bottom kayak, with the chines snied off much like a Japanese
sampan, is in use in Hudson Strait, along the shores of Baffin Island
and Labrador; a flat-bottom kayak shaped like a sharpie is used on
the northwest coast of northern Greenland; and a ~V~-bottom hull is
employed on the eastern, southwest, and south coasts of Greenland.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| According to the Danish classification of the coasts of |
| Greenland, "Polar" is north of Cape York, "Northern" is above |
| Disko Island, "Central" is from Frederikshaab to north of |
| Disko Bay, "Southern" is from Julianhaab to Cape Farvell, and |
| "East" is Angmagsalik and vicinity. |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
There are variations in each of the basic models, of course, as the
tribal designs used vary a good deal. On the whole, the kayak is very
carefully built to meet the local conditions of hunting, sea, and
land or ice portaging. As a result, some types are far more seaworthy
than others and the weight of hull varies a great deal, even within
a basic model. The appearance of all the kayaks models, by tribal
classifications, show the influence of tradition and, in many cases
display, in either shape or decoration, a tribal totem or mark.
The basic requirements in nearly all kayaks are the same; to paddle
rapidly and easily, to work against strong wind and tide or heavy head
sea, to be maneuverable, and to be light enough to be readily lifted
from the water and carried. The low freeboard required makes decking
a necessity. In general, the kayak is designed to carry one paddler,
but in Alaska are kayaks that can carry two or three paddlers, each in
a manhole or cockpit, or a paddler and one or two passengers. It is
generally conceded that the kayak built to carry three in this fashion
is the result of Russian influence. Nunivak Island kayaks had large
manholes that carried two people back-to-back. Where it is desirable
to portage the kayak over ice or land for a great distance the boat
is very light and is capable of being carried like a large basket, by
inserting one arm under the decking at the manhole or cockpit, but
where such a requirement is not an important factor, the kayaks are
often rather large and heavy. In the majority of types, the degree of
seaworthiness obtained is very great. Some types are built very narrow
and sharp-ended; these usually require a skillful paddler. Others are
wide and more stable, requiring less skill to use. In areas where
severe weather is commonly met, the kayaks are usually very strong and
well-designed. Where ice or other conditions do not allow a heavy sea
to make up, the kayaks are often light, narrow and very low sided--more
like racing shells than working canoes. Most Alaskan kayaks come stern
to the wind when paddling stops, but most of the eastern craft come
head to the wind. Nearly every type has been developed by long periods
of trial and error, to produce the greatest efficiency in meeting the
conditions of use in a given locality. This has made the kayak a more
complicated and more developed instrument of the chase than is to be
found in any other form of hunting canoe, due in part, perhaps, to the
great craftsmanship of the Eskimo.
The construction of the kayak follows a basic plan. In all kayaks the
gunwales are the main strength members, longitudinally. A few designs
employ, in addition, a stiff keel member, but most have rather slender
and light longitudinal batten systems having little longitudinal
strength value, but which in combination with very light frames, give
transverse support to the skin cover. Even in the flat-bottom models,
the kayaks, unlike the umiaks, depend entirely upon the gunwales for
longitudinal strength. The frames are bent and in one piece from
gunwale to gunwale in all but a few flat-bottom kayaks, of the sampan
cross section; these employ bent frames. The longitudinal batten
systems show great variety. The eastern kayaks of the flat-bottom and
V-bottom models have three longitudinal battens (including the keel
or keelson) in addition to the heavy and often deep gunwale members;
these are supported at bow and stern either by stem and stern post
of shaped plank on edge as in the Greenland ~V~-bottom kayaks, or
by light extensions of the keelson and small end-blocks as in the
northern Greenland, Baffin Island, and Labrador types. The multi-chine
types of the western Arctic have from seven to eleven longitudinals
(including the keelson) in addition to the gunwales. In some of these
kayaks there are no stem and stern posts, the battens and keelson
coming together at a blunt point in small head blocks; but many types
have rather intricate stem-pieces, carved from blocks of wood, and
plank-on-edge stern posts. The Asiatic kayaks, curiously enough,
exhibit the construction of both eastern and western Arctic kayaks,
the crude, small Koryak kayak having a 3-batten ~V~-bottom, while the
Chukchi kayak is built like the kayaks on the east side of the Bering
Strait. The decking of kayaks is of very light construction; usually
there are two heavy thwarts to support the manhole and from one to
three light thwarts afore and abaft these. The Alaskan kayaks from
Kotzebue Sound southward have ridged decks supported by fore-and-aft
ridge-battens from the ends of the hull to the manhole. Elsewhere the
deck of the kayak is flat athwartship except at the manhole, where
there is some crown or ridging to increase the depth inside the boat,
particularly forward of the manhole. In the majority of these kayaks
short fore-and-aft battens are laid on the thwarts forward of the
manhole to support the skin cover in its sweep upward to the manhole.
The transverse frames do not come into contact with the skin cover,
to avoid transverse ridges being formed in it; and the longitudinal
battens which support the skin cover form longitudinal ridges, or
chines, in it.