York boat
The York boat was an inland boat used by the Hudson's Bay Company to carry furs and trade goods along inland waterways in Rupert's Land and the Columbia District. It was named after York Factory, the headquarters of the HBC, and modeled after Orkney Islands fishing boats (themselves a descendant of the Viking long boat). York Boats were preferable to the canoes, used by Nor'west Company Voyageurs as a cargo carriers, because of its larger size, greater capacity, and improved stability in rough water. The boat's heavy wood construction also gave it an advantage in travelling through rocks or ice; it was much more immune to tears and punctures. That advantage became a disadvantage, though, when portaging was necessary. The boat was far too heavy to carry, and it was necessary instead to cut a path through the brush, lay poplar rollers, and laboriously drag the boat overland. Regardless of the circumstances, crewing a York boat was an arduous task, and those who chose this life faced "unending toil broken only by the terror of storms," according to explorer Sir John Franklin.
The York boat had a length of about 14 metres (46 ft) and the largest could carry over six tonnes (13,000 lb) of cargo. It had a pointed bow, a flat bottom, and a stern angled upward at 45 degrees, making beaching and launching easier. The boat was propelled both by oars and by a canvas sail, and steered with the use of a long steering pole, or a rudder when under sail. It had a crew of between six and eight men. The first boat was built in 1749 and by the late 18th century, boat building stations existed from James Bay to Fort Chipewyan. The advent of the steamboat at the beginning of the 19th century signaled the end for the York boat.
A style of boat slightly different from the York boat was made specifically for use in the Columbia District and constructed on the Columbia River. In 1811 the American Pacific Fur Company introduced the use of bateaux on the Columbia River, heavy boats made of split or sawn cedar. After the NWC took over the PFC the practice of using bateaux was quickly adopted, birch bark canoes having proved too dangerous on the rivers of the Pacific Northwest. In the 1820 Joe McKay of the HBC described the Columbia District bateaux as "made from quarter-inch pine board, and are thirty-two feet long, and six and a half feet wide in midships, with both ends sharp, and without a keel—worked, according to the circumstances of the navigation, with paddles, or with oars."[1]
Travelling from Lake Winnipeg to Hudson Bay by York boat was the subject of the Canadian TV documentary Quest for the Bay in 2002.
York boat races can still be seen in Norway House, Manitoba. Racers compete for a $25,000 top prize in a celebration called Treaty & York Boat Days.
Other boat types used in the fur trade were the following:
- The Canot de Maître or Montreal Canoe was used on the Ottawa River and Great lakes. It was about 36 feet (11 m) long and six feet wide and weighed about 600 pounds and carried 3 tons of cargo or 65 90-pound standard packs called pièces. Crew was 6-12 with 8-10 being the average. On a portage they were usually carried inverted by four men, two in front and two in the rear, using shoulder pads. When running rapids they were steered by the avant standing in front and the gouvernail standing in the rear. The York boat was only slightly larger than a Montreal Canoe and could not be carried, but needed less crew, could be rowed, could carry more sail, was more stable on lakes and was more durable.
- The Canot du Nord or North Canoe was used west of Lake Superior. It was about 25 feet (7.6 m) long and 4 feet (1.2 m) wide with about 18 inches of draft when fully loaded and weighed about 300 pounds. Its cargo was half or less of a Montreal canoe, about 25-30 pièces. Crew was 4-8 with 5-6 being the average. It was carried upright by two men.
- The Canot Bâtard was between the above two in size
- Indian Canoes were smaller than the freight canoes used by the voyageurs, but could penetrate smaller streams
- The Express Canoe was not a physical type, but a canoe used to rapidly carry messages and passengers. They had extra crew and no freight.
[edit] See also
- Canoe - the York boat's counterpart/competitor in the Canadian fur trade.
- Red River Cart
- Bateau
- York Factory Express
- Voyageurs
- North American fur trade
[edit] References
- ^ Mackie, Richard Somerset (1997). Trading Beyond the Mountains: The British Fur Trade on the Pacific 1793-1843. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. pp. 16–17, 61. ISBN 0774806133. OCLC 82135549. http://books.google.com/books?id=VKXgJw6K088C.
