York boat
Encyclopedia
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
to carry furs and trade goods along inland waterways in Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...
and the Columbia District
Columbia District
The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. It was explored by the North West Company between 1793 and 1811, and established as an operating fur district around 1810...
. It was named after York Factory, the headquarters of the HBC, and modeled after Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
fishing boats (themselves a descendant of the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
long boat). York Boats were preferable to the canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s, used by Nor'west Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
Voyageurs
Coureur des bois
A coureur des bois or coureur de bois was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They travelled in the woods to trade various things for fur....
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
Portage
Portage or portaging refers to the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage; a person doing the carrying is called a porter.The English word portage is derived from the...
was necessary. The boat was far too heavy to carry, and it was necessary instead to cut a path through the brush, lay poplar
Poplar
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....
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 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s (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
Steering pole
A steering pole is a light spar extending from the bow of a straight deck ship which aids the wheelsman in steering.Ancient literature indicates that steering poles have long been part of boat construction, and are referred to in ancient texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh....
, 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
James Bay
James Bay is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean. James Bay borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario; islands within the bay are part of Nunavut...
to Fort Chipewyan. The advent of the steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
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
Pacific Fur Company
The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City. Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the capital for the enterprise. The other half of the stock was ascribed to working partners...
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."
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
Norway House, Manitoba
- Treaty and York Boat Days :Held annually each summer, the York Boat events serve as the main attraction.-External links:* * * *...
. Racers compete for a $25,000 top prize in a celebration called Treaty & York Boat Days.
- 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.
See also
- CanoeCanoeA canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
- the York boat's counterpart/competitor in the Canadian fur trade. - Red River Cart
- BateauBateauA bateau or batteau is a shallow-draft, flat-bottomed boat which was used extensively across North America, especially in the colonial period and in the fur trade. It was traditionally pointed at both ends but came in a wide variety of sizes...
- York Factory ExpressYork Factory ExpressThe York Factory Express, usually called "the Express" and also called the Columbia Express and the Communication, was a brigade operated by Hudson's Bay Company in the early 19th century connecting York Factory and Fort Vancouver. It was named "express" because it was not used only to transport...
- VoyageursVoyageursThe Voyageurs were the persons who engaged in the transportation of furs by canoe during the fur trade era. Voyageur is a French word which literally translates to "traveler"...
- North American fur tradeNorth American Fur TradeThe North American fur trade was the industry and activities related to the acquisition, exchange, and sale of animal furs in the North American continent. Indigenous peoples of different regions traded among themselves in the Pre-Columbian Era, but Europeans participated in the trade beginning...