Paddlecraft Across Cultures
An exploration of the small, paddled boats that keep us close to the water, each other, and the past.
Human history is often divided between two time periods and ways of life: pre- and post-agricultural revolution. Before the widespread adoption of agriculture, most humans were nomadic hunter gatherers living in a world of much lower population density. They lived in a closer balance with the land, and didn’t strive to bend the natural world to their will. After the advent of agriculture, humans had to remain more stationary to tend their crops and livestock, abandoning much of the balance cultivated by their predecessors. One of humanity’s next leaps was from an agricultural society to an industrial one in the past few hundred years. Now we sit, in all likelihood, on the cusp of a digital revolution just as momentous.
Though much of our land has now been converted to agricultural or industrial uses, peoples in certain remote places continue to practice the livelihoods and traditions of their ancestors. Even individuals in urban environments may continue to practice these traditions to connect with their own past. These varying degrees of connectivity can probably be observed in your own life.
Nowhere can our ties to the natural world be more readily seen then along the coast, where urban development and rural tradition so often collide. The sea provides about 15% of 4.3 billion people’s high quality animal protein, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In addition to this, 10% of the world’s population relies on fisheries for their livelihood.
The story of humanity and the sea can be told in any number of ways, but today we will examine a small part of the multitude of man-made vessels that can be found around the world. Of course there are the towering, metal behemoths, cruise and cargo ships plying our seas and making the global economy run. But for every steel supership, there are countless personal craft designed for pleasure, subsistence, and commercial fishing, hunting, and gathering. How we access the water and its bountiful resources is something that changes from culture to culture. Ocean conditions, materials available, and intended use have led to a diverse range of small craft. Today, we focus on the humble paddlecraft.
Hawaiian Canoes
Native Hawaiian people built oceangoing canoes as part of a larger Polynesian heritage. Their canoes were built in the dugout fashion, often using outriggers and sails and used for long sailing voyages. They had significant cultural and spiritual significance, and great care was taken during their construction. This was outlined in the 1903 Hawaiian Antiquities by David Malo, a royal historian of Hawaii.
The Hawaiian wa'a, or canoe, was made of the wood of the koa tree. From the earliest times the wood of the bread-fruit, kukui, ohia-ha, and wiliwili was used in canoe-making, but the extent to which these woods were used for this purpose was very limited. The principal wood used in canoe-making was always the koa. (Acacia heterophylla.)
The building of a canoe was an affair of religion. When a man found a fine koa tree he went to the kahuna kalai wa'a and said, 'I have found a koa tree, a fine large tree.’ On receiving this information the kahuna went at night to the mua, to sleep before his shrine, in order to obtain a revelation from his deity in a dream as to whether the tree was sound or rotten…
...The kahuna alone planned out and made the measurements for the inner parts of the canoe. But when this work was accomplished the restrictions were removed and all the craftsmen took hold of the work (noa ka oihana o ka waa).
Then the inside of the canoe was outlined and the pepeiao brackets, on which to rest the seats, were blocked out, and the craft was still further hewn into shape. A maku’u, or neck, was wrought at the stern of the canoe, to which the lines for hauling the canoe were to be attached.
When the time had come for hauling the canoe down to the ocean again came the kahuna to perform the ceremony called pu i ka wa'a, which consisted in attaching the hauling lines to the canoe-log. They were fastened to the maku’u. Before doing this the kahuna invoked the gods in the following prayer:
"O Ku-pulupulu, Ku-ala-na-wao, and Ku-moku-halii! look you after this canoe. Guard it from stem to stern until it is placed in the halau." After this manner did they pray.
Further Reading:
Maori Canoes
The canoes of the Maori are very similar to and were built in a similar fashion to the dugouts of the American Pacific Northwest peoples. Their canoes like the canoes of the Haida had similarly intricate and use specific carved wooden figure heads and were used for many purposes, including war. Other canoes of the Maori were fashioned from a type of bulrush bundled and interwoven, some reportedly as long as 60 feet and capable of carrying 60 people.
Further Reading:
Canoes of Aboriginal Australians
The bark canoes of Australian Aboriginal people are similar to the birch bark canoes of eastern North America. Instead of birch however, they used the bark of the red rubber tree to form their canoes. They made both temporary and long-term vessels using similar construction methods. Construction started with cutting a single sheet of bark from the tree, shaping it over a fire to make it more pliable, and then by sewing or caulking the ends with mud. Canoes were used almost exclusively for transport on freshwater and for fishing in rivers. Other types of boat used by other groups of Aboriginal Australians range from large seagoing dugouts with outriggers, thought to have come from Polynesia, to simple logs paddled by hands and feet.
Further Reading:
Dugout Canoes of the American Pacific Northwest
Stretching from Northern California up into Alaska, the peoples of the Pacific Northwest built cedar dugout canoes of various designs to meet their varied purposes. They were mostly built by burning the inside of a large cedar log until the rough size of the cockpit was achieved. Then they were carved out with tools and stretched out to the proper size using steam and hot water. The purposes of the canoe determined its size and design. Some were made for making long sea voyages with large groups of people and had larger, sharper bows with which to pierce the waves. Others were flatter and squarer for navigating rivers and crossing over logjams. Some were used for war, and many of these were intricately decorated with beautiful figureheads.
Further Reading:
Umiaks and Kayaks of Siberia, Northern North America, and Greenland
The umiak is a type of boat used by many people in subarctic regions including the Koryak, Yupik, and Inuit, is an open boat composed of a wooden frame and a skin covering. They are used for fishing and transport, but also interestingly for the hunting of large sea mammals like seals, walrus, and whales. In some cases, the only wood available to the seagoing peoples of the North is driftwood, making each frame and boat unique. The skin covering also varies from place to place depending on what is available. Seal and walrus skins are most common. The skin of the walrus is preferred because it takes far fewer walrus skins than seal skins, meaning less seams and weak points. The design of this craft is unique due to how little it weighs. This decreased weight is necessary because these boats must be carried and dragged over ice for many miles at a time.
The kayaks of this region are constructed similarly to umiaks and have similar uses. Key differences between kayaks and umiaks are that kayaks have closed cockpits, are narrower, and are made for use by far fewer people. Kayaks are usually used by only one or two people and are paddled with double ended paddles as opposed to the single bladed paddles used on most other watercraft. A key advantage of kayaks is that if capsized, they can be righted using various maneuvers without exiting the cockpit, and are much faster than a lot of other boats due to their narrowness and length. The Russian name for umiak is baidar and baidarka for kayak. There is a huge list of names these boats go by, but they are most often referred to as kayaks and Umiaks or by their Russian names in the dominant culture.
Further Reading:
Coracles
A coracle is a very small boat made and used in the British Isles, composed of a wooden frame covered in animal skin. The word coracle comes from the Welsh “Corwgl," meaning any round body or vessel. They were most often made with the skin of an ox, limiting their size. In more modern times, they may instead be skinned with canvas and a tar-like substance. They are very small and best suited to freshwater and estuaries, but sometimes are used on the sea in calm conditions.
Further Reading:
Whenever you are near a popular body of water, you can see the legacy of these small craft in the recreational boats of today. The war canoes of the past are still used for ceremonial purposes by many cultures, but most often you’ll see wood and plastic canoes paddled by families and fisherman. Kayaks once made of skin and driftwood and now more commonly found using fiberglass, plastic, and wood.
How we access the water is a huge force of culture and has shaped the migration of peoples and ideas for thousands of years. From daring voyagers navigating unknown seas by star and current to modern cargo ships guided by satellite signals, the sea will always play a role in human development and commerce.
External Resources
https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/watercraft/wainteng.html
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/248479/icode/
Gates, Nancy. The Alaska Almanac: Facts About Alaska, Alaska Northwest Books, 1999.
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