Boat Building History

The history of boat building in Newfoundland and Labrador can be traced to the first indigenous peoples more than 9,000 years ago.

Each of the peoples who inhabited this land we call Newfoundland and Labrador-the Maritime Archaic Indians 9,500 years ago; the Palaeo-Eskimos 4,000 years ago; the Dorset Eskimos 1,400 years later; to the Beothucks who only became extinct in the 19th century-all of them depended for their survival on sea life such as whales, seals, salmon, cod, crab and seabirds. And that meant they had to master the craft of building boats.

For many centuries they built seaworthy craft using animal hides covering bones and wood. The use of birch bark hulled canoes evolved over many centuries.

The impact of European boat building was first felt in 1000 AD when the Norse landed and maintained their vessels called knarrs at L'Anse aux Meadows.

But it was the permanent arrival of the Europeans 500 years later that began the tradition of boat building we know today. In the 1500s waves of European fishermen began to arrive--from Basque whalers in their chalupas to seasonal communities of men aboard square-rigged ships who arrived in the Spring and carried back dried cod in the Fall to the hungry European markets.

As Newfoundland's fishery grew in the 17th and 18th centuries the need to build fishing boats and over-winter them on the island encouraged permanent settlement.

The earliest boat building by these settlers was traditionally done as "winter work".

As the fishery prospered the demand for ships and boats grew. Before the end of the 18th century men were employed year round at shipyards in several of the larger bays.

Over time our builders modified boat designs to local needs. The results included

the punt, a 20-foot keeled rowboat,
the flat-bottomed dory and the rodney,
the partially decked skiff and
the larger fully decked bully, jack and the western boat with its square stern and the rudder hung "out o' doors."

One of the most important developments from this time was the introduction of the schooner.

Originally developed in New England in the 1700s, the schooner was ideal for the North Atlantic.

easier to sail in cold weather
requiring fewer hands and less deck space for stowing sails and rigging
able to quickly to harness wind from port or starboard.

As marketing opportunities grew to transatlantic and Caribbean destinations, and the riches of the Grand Banks fishery was exploited, the schooners became the boat of choice for mariners. From 1820 until 1920 local shipyards launched more than 8,000 schooners of 30 tons or more.

More recently, new building technology and productivity saw expansion and diversification in boat building into more specialized boats like the stern and side trawlers, longliners and draggers.

Throughout this long history the role of the boat builders of Newfoundland and Labrador has been consistent: to build a safe and reliable boat with the ability to operate in an uncertain and unpredictable environment plagued by gales, frigid storms and heavy seas and infested by sea ice and ice bergs. With determination and a knowledge of the sea they have developed the skills, expertise and commitment to make the best of every new technology to build to the highest standards for safety, for peace of mind and for comfort at sea.