The people of our fishing communities

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Gilbert Augustine Norris
5 years ago
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ceremony - a new boat built to take its place.

resulted in very few wooden boats to take their place.

1 Going! Going!! Gone!!! The wooden boats of Newfoundland and Labrador were something to be used and abused and then discarded without ceremony - a new boat built to take its place. The Cod Moratorium, the loss of the inshore fishery and the rise of fibreglass as a boatbuilding material, have resulted in very few wooden boats to take their place. The old boats have been discarded and along with them the knowledge of design and the skills of construction. A proud heritage all but lost. Who knows more than anyone else about the rich untold story surrounding traditional wooden boats of our Province? The people of our fishing communities The boatbuilders and the men and women who set sail to harvest the waters of fish and birds and seals. Those who live their lives in coastal Newfoundland. A boatbuilders studio guide Wooden boatbuilding is alive today but who are they? What are they building? Where can they be found?

The WBMNL promises to preserve, safeguard and exhibit the design, construction

With dedicated help from our staff of talented professionals, university

Folklorists, Boat Builders, Naval Architects Newfoundland & Labrador Partnership

committees or groups of enthusiastic volunteers with a passion for wooden boats

The boat building partnership project lead by the WBMNL not only reignited

1898, Janes House is home to Glovertown s community of our local heritage but

2 The WBMNL promises to preserve, safeguard and exhibit the design, construction and use of wooden boats once active in our historic fishing industry. With dedicated help from our staff of talented professionals, university students and volunteers Historians, Anthropologists, Educators, Technologists, Folklorists, Boat Builders, Naval Architects Newfoundland & Labrador Partnership Projects And communities around the province Local heritage groups, museum committees or groups of enthusiastic volunteers with a passion for wooden boats and our maritime heritage. The boat building partnership project lead by the WBMNL not only reignited interest in preserving an important part Built by Ambrose and Sarah Janes in 1898, Janes House is home to Glovertown s community of our local heritage but rekindled fond memories and stories of family and friends. ~ David Saunders, Janes House museum featuring exhibits on resettlement, logging, boat building, and local heritage.

Boat documentation Photography and videography A technical record of the design and construction of the

Collection of photographic images and videotapes documenting boats, their builders and their role in the life

boatbuilders, fishermen and women and those who have lived their lives in the fishing community.

Knowledge, skills, techniques and material culture related to our fishing heritage.

3 Boat documentation Photography and videography A technical record of the design and construction of the community s boats captured in detailed drawings of hull shape and structural components. Collection of photographic images and videotapes documenting boats, their builders and their role in the life of the fishing community Community Field Work Recorded interviews Audio recorded interviews with boatbuilders, fishermen and women and those who have lived their lives in the fishing community. Ethnographic research Exploration of both tangible and intangible wooden boat traditions. Knowledge, skills, techniques and material culture related to our fishing heritage. Artifact collection Acquisition of material donations such as tools, materials, models, and photographs for exhibition in the community or the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador in Winterton

Glovertown & Islands Summer 2012 Deer Island was once a fishing community located on the north side of Bonavista Bay.

In addition to Hare Bay and Dark Cove, Glovertown was the primary area of resettlement for these families who left their isolated island for easier access to public services and amenities.

once had. Instead many turned to industries including forestry and construction, relying on various trades - notably carpentry - to earn a living. I can remember my grandfather s bully.

They would sail out to the fishing grounds and each would go out in a small rowboat, or punt as we called it.

~ Bill Feltham The Boats of Yesteryear A trap skiff was like a schooner rake, stem, frames, and everything just on a smaller scale, about 30 feet long.

4 Glovertown & Islands Summer 2012 Deer Island was once a fishing community located on the north side of Bonavista Bay. Labeled Popplestone Island on modern navigational charts, Deer Island was home to seventeen families before it was resettled between 1952 and In addition to Hare Bay and Dark Cove, Glovertown was the primary area of resettlement for these families who left their isolated island for easier access to public services and amenities. The changes occurring in the organization of Newfoundland s fisheries, combined with their new home 32 km from open sea, meant that many families no longer participated in the fisheries as they once had. Instead many turned to industries including forestry and construction, relying on various trades - notably carpentry - to earn a living. I can remember my grandfather s bully. It was like a small schooner, about ten tons. There would usually be three or four brothers that operated them. They would sail out to the fishing grounds and each would go out in a small rowboat, or punt as we called it. Later on in the day they would come back to the bully to bring in their fish and salt it. ~ Bill Feltham The Boats of Yesteryear A trap skiff was like a schooner rake, stem, frames, and everything just on a smaller scale, about 30 feet long. When framed out they were round bottomed so that when the fishermen started to haul the trap the boat would go down and the gunnel would be level with the water, making it easier to haul their nets and get the fish in. ~ Edgar Butt Community History This movement away from the fisheries also severed a link in the transmission of wooden boat building skills as they had been practised by generations past. The men who learned as boys on Deer Island by watching their fathers and uncles did not have their sons and nephews watching them. Younger generations no longer require the knowledge that was once essential to a life beside the sea transforming wooden boat building from a necessary skill to a work of art. Boatbuilding Today Materials of Old We used to use boat nails. They were chiseled type, galvanized. We would bore holes, but there were no electric drills back then. It was all hand drills or brace and bit. If you put the nail in without boring a pilot hole, the timbers would split. ~ Edgar Butt Trade Secrets A keyed scarph connecting stem to keel

Public Access WBMNL Website Community stories, technical boat descriptions, builders profiles, boat building materials and tools will all appear as virtual museum exhibits on the WBMNL s website.

5 Public Access WBMNL Website Community stories, technical boat descriptions, builders profiles, boat building materials and tools will all appear as virtual museum exhibits on the WBMNL s website. Digital Archives All raw data, including audio recordings and photographs, are to be archived and made available online as part of Memorial University s Digital Archives Initiate (DAI) Museum Interpretation Each project will include the development of interpretive displays for both the community partners and the WBMNL which has a traveling exhibit and a permanent home in Winterton School Curricula The wealth of historical and technical materials collected throughout each project will be available for those developing school programmes intent on including colourful local content A Cast of Characters Samuel L. Feltham, or Sam as he is known in the community, was born on Deer Island in Bonavista Bay on March 3, In a small fishing community where everyone built their own boats, learning how to build was part of growing up for a young boy. You d go from one stage to the other, says Sam, listen to what they were telling you and watching them work. That s the way I got my training. Sam notes Noah Feltham as a particularly significant influence. Primarily a fisherman, Noah was a master boat builder and carpenter on Deer Island. He taught me everything I wanted to know, says Sam, I d be there when I was only a boy, about 10 years old. He taught me how to file saws, how to sharpen tools He always found time and never hesitated if I went in and wanted to know how to do something. He would stop and show me how to do it. He was my teacher from the time I was a boy until I grew up. You can t even fathom what knowledge the man had, Sam adds. Sam built his first rodney in 1943 at the age of fifteen years old, the same year he went to work as a cook on a vessel in the Labrador fishery. From 1949 until 1953 Sam worked on coastal boats, continuing to build boats in the winter that he sold to the Newfoundland Government for use at Labrador posts. It was a beautiful life. I loved the Labrador, Sam says. In 1954 Sam and his wife Bernice moved to Glovertown where Sam earned his living as a carpenter, often travelling to Gander and St. John s. Today, at eighty-four years old, Sam has built over 100 boats including rodneys/punts, dories, motor boats, speed boats, cabin cruisers, and a number of models. He continues to build boats and work on models at his home in Glovertown. Construction A full set of construction drawings describe how a boat is to be built. These drawings contain detailed information on the size and location of each wooden component as well as the metal fastenings - screws, nails and bolts. This allows a boatbuilder to construct an accurate reproduction or a model builder to produce a scale replica. My father and grandfather used to have one (a punt) like this used for hunting birds and seals in the wintertime. She wasn t too heavy for getting around ~Stewart Sturge Boat Design Produced from a computer model, a LINES PLAN defines the three dimensional shape of a boat s hull. This allows a boatbuilder to create a replica or a model builder to reproduce the hull form to any scale. 18" WL 15" WL 12" WL 9" WL 6" WL 3" WL 1A 1AP 2A 2AP AH 3AP T 3FP 1FP FH 2F 1F MB DATUM VIII VII VI V IV III II I I II III IV V VI VII VIII BUTTOCKS 18" WL 15" WL 12" WL 9" WL 6" WL 3" WL 3AP 2AP 1AP AFTERHOOK 2A 1A MIDSHIP BEND 1F 2F FOREHOOK 1FP 12 INCH FRAME SPACING I II III IV V VI VII VIII Measurements In Feet Length Overall 17 0 Moulded Breadth 5 0 Moulded Depth 1 9 Listening to Sam talk about why he made certain changes to the shape of his boat rake of stem, sheer, flare and hollowing gave me a better understanding of hull form that I can apply to my present work in ship design ~ Mitchell Cooper, Naval Architecture student

Pien makes a canoe: Innu canoemaking

Pien makes a canoe: Innu canoemaking project Summer-Fall 2002 Pien Penashue, with apprentices, Melvin Penashue and Alistair Pone In the summer and early fall of 2002, Innu Elder, Pien Penashue, from Sheshatshiu,