The Alaskan umiaks varied much in size but are rather similar in form. The small hunting umiaks used by the Aleuts are about 18 feet long, while the large cargo carrying umiaks range up to about 40 feet long, so far as available records show. They are marked by heavily flared sides and often have a rather strong sheer; a few, however, are rather straight on the gunwales. Nearly all existing models and boats were built since 1880; and no information is now available on the forms and dimensions of earlier craft.
On page [184] is a drawing of a small umiak, used in walrus hunting, from the Alaskan coast in the neighborhood of the Aleutians. In the U.S. National Museum are the remains of a similar boat obtained in 1888 from Northern Alaska. This type of small umiak is also employed in fishing and is rather widely used as a passage boat for short voyages along shore. These craft, propelled by paddles, are primarily fast, handy hunting canoes rather than boats for migration or cargo-carrying. For this reason they are quite sharp-ended and shallow. The construction of this example will serve to illustrate the methods common to this type.
The umiak shown is 20 feet 8½ inches over the headboards, 4 feet 9½ inches extreme beam and 17⅜ inches depth—apparently an average-sized boat of her class. The width of the bottom over the chine members is 2 feet 7 inches. The keelson is rectangular in section and in two pieces, hooked-scarphed together; each piece is shaped out of the trunk of a small tree with the root knees employed to form the bow and stern posts. The floor timbers are quite heavy and support the chine members by having the floor ends tenoned into the chine pieces. At bow and stern the chines are joined to the keelson in a notched scarph; at these places the keelson is sided rather wide to give good bearing. It is evident that this portion of the boat's structure is the first built and forms a rigid bottom to the hull. The floor timbers are lashed to the keelson by lacings of sinew, whalebone, or hide, passed through holes bored in both, as indicated in the plan. The ends of the floors are pegged where they tenon into the chines and the ends of the chines are pegged to the keelson, but this was evidently not a universal practice, as there are models showing lashings at floor ends and at chine ends. The headboards are carved out of blocks in a T-shape and are stepped on top of the stem and stern posts and lashed. The fit is extremely accurate. The bow headboard is narrower athwartship than the stern headboard. The detail of the hook scarph in the drawing shows a method of lashing that is widely used.
Figure 167
Small Umiak for Walrus Hunting, west coast of Alaska, 1888-89. Reconstructed from damaged umiak formerly in U.S. National Museum, and from models.
Because of the manner in which the keelson is cambered and the floor fitted, the bottom of the covered hull shows in cross section a slight V, reducing toward the bow and stern, that is typical of the Alaskan umiak. The amount of deadrise seems to have been determined by the manner of fitting the floor timbers and it helps the boat to run straight under paddle and oars. In present day umiaks the amount of V in the bottom is slight; too much would make the boat difficult to sledge overland without employing chocks to steady the hull. Perhaps in the past, where sledging was not required, the deadrise was greater, as indicated by some old models.
After the chines and floor are fitted to the keelson, the frames at the thwarts are made and set up at the desired flare and height, being held in place by temporary spreaders lashed or braced. These are sometimes stiffened by thongs from frame head to keelson at each pair, to steady the frame while the gunwale is being bent. As the lengths of the thwarts are controlled by the fairing of the gunwales, the thwarts are not fitted until after the latter are in place. As shown in the figure above, the gunwales are round poles, slightly flattened on the lower side at the headboards, where they are secured by lashings. In building, the gunwales are shaped and secured by lashing them to those side frames selected to shape the hull. The lashings that secure the side frames to both gunwale and chine are passed through holes in each member and are hove taut by means of a short lever with a hole bored in it to take the end of the lashing, which is also wrapped around the lever to give temporary purchase. The side frames have saddle notches to bear on the chine and gunwale. All lashings in the frame, it will be noted, pass through holes bored in the members and in some cases the lashings are let in, so that the sinew is flush with the surfaces of the members, to prevent the lashing from being damaged by chafing.
Figure 168