York boat
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The York boat was an inland boat used by the Hudson's Bay Company to carry furs and trade goods along inland waterways in Canada. 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). It was preferential to the canoe as a cargo carrier 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.
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.
