Traditional construction of watercraft, and the related folklore of vernacular boats. Boats are a conspicuous, highly significant class of artifacts in maritime communities. Because of this, traditional boatbuilding practices and associated traditions have been the focus of studies by folklorists and other cultural investigators. These studies, which generally deal with vernacular watercraft, frequently analyze how the design, construction, and use of boats reflect boatbuilders’ responses to local environmental factors and requirements for work, recreation, transportation, and other functions. Some studies endeavor to chart cultural zones on the basis of the spatial distribution of boat construction techniques, designs, terminology, and other data. Vernacular boats are cultural artifacts produced by craftsmen who follow the rules and techniques oflocal, often community-based boatbuilding traditions. Most traditional boatbuilders (invariably men) have learned their trade in an informal manner characterized by an emphasis on observation and imitation rather than verbal instruction. Typically, youngsters in maritime communities will watch their fathers or other men build boats and sometimes assist them with simple tasks. If their interest in boatbuilding remains strong, they acquire more advanced skills as they grow older. When opportunities are available, some become apprentices to established professional builders. Depending on local circumstances, having acquired the basic skills some build boats on a part-time basis while remaining engaged in one or more other economic ing either in their own shops or in the shops of other full-time activities, or become full-time boatbuilding specialists workprofessionals. In general, the vernacular boat designs from which local builders choose are fairly limited. They usually consist of those that have been built and used in the area over the generations—that is, younger builders rely on the tested designs handed down to them by their predecessors. The basic elements of these designs are often preserved in the form of devices such as molds, templates, and half-hull models, along with traditional measurement formulas and other types of knowledge required to translate designs into actual boats. Over time, as they build more and more boats, builders sometimes add small improvements to the traditional designs. If these changes are deemed successful, they usually enter the local design canon and are passed along to subsequent generations of boatbuilders. Innumerable examples of vernacular boat types can be found along the rivers, lakes, and seacoasts of North America and throughout the world. North American examples range from multipurpose aboriginal crafit, such as Alaskan skin boats; to commercial fishing craft, such as the Maine lobster boat, the Lake Michigan fish tug, and the Northwest Coast bow picker; to recreational craft, such as the Southern jon boat, the Reelfoot Lake (Tennessee) stumpjumper, and the Rangeley (Maine) guide boat. Vernacular boats are of interest to folklorists because, like songs, stories, quilts, and other traditional expressive forms, they exhibit continual variation over time and space and reflect the values of the people who create and use them. Early studies of the folklore of sailors, fishermen, and other maritime peoples tended to be more concerned with customs and beliefs associated with boats than with boats themselves and the details of their design, construction, and use. Beliefs thought to invoke good or bad luck—many of which can still be found n maritime communities— have been especially well documented. These beliefs include taboos against whistling or uttering certain words on board; bringing certain people, animals, or objects aboard; beginning a voyage on a certain day; and painting a boat with certain colors. Beliefs about actions thought to bring good luck include using certain types of wood for specific boat parts, placing a silver dollar under a vessel’s mast, launching a newly built boat according to a set ritual, placing statues of saints and other religious artifacts on board, and participating in blessing-ofthe-fleet ceremonies. Early studies also considered the rich and unique nomenclature of boatbuilders, including regionally distinctive terms as well as those in widespread use. Most studies explicitly about vernacular boats have concentrated on the materials and construction practices used to fashion them, along with their shapes or “lines.” The builder and his cultural milieu are generally of secondary concern. Consequendy, boats are often analyzed from the writer’s cultural perspective, not the perspective of the boat s builder; and their features are described with the standard terminology of naval architecture, not the terms used in the areas where the boats are built and used. One particularly influential practitioner of this approach was Howard I.Chapelle (1901–1975), a naval architect and maritime historian who was a curator of transportation at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He authored many books on the design of American boats and ships, boatbuilding techniques, and regional boat types. In addition, he was a catalyst for the preservation of American watercraft. His book American Small Sailing Craft (1951) is especially noteworthy because it documents over 100 vernacular boat types, most located on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, between Maine andTexas. Based largely on Chapelle’s own prodigious field research, the book presents a wealth of empirical data on the boats he describes, including line plans and tables of offsets that can be used to build actual boats. Still the only survey of such scope, American Small Sailing Craft established a model for persons interested in documenting North American vernacular watercraft and, to a certain extent, established a canon of vernacular boat types. Even more important, this book was instrumental in awakening interest in American vernacular boats. Since at least 1970, there has been a movement to revive wooden boats in the United States that has emphasized the construction of many vernacular watercraft, including many documented by Chapelle, by amateur and professional builders. Other manifestations of this revival include the founding of small schools for the building of wooden boats, the establishment of small boatbuilding shops, and the organization of several annual wooden-boat festivals. The wooden-boat revival, which has analogues in other craft-revival movements, has received litde scholarly attention. Outside classic maritime communities—generally the most alluring research areas for folklorists—one can also find traditions associated with boatbuilding. Especially prominent are stories about amateurs’ boatbuilding projects that did not work out as planned. Common themes include ambitious projects that were never finished, and projects that resulted in boats built in places (often a garage or a basement) from which they could be removed only by cutting a new opening in a wall. Another sort of tradition related to boatbuilding can be seen in a number of communities, situated on the banks of rivers, that have instituted river festivals and other local celebrations. Among other activities, these events feature boat races involving competing teams rowing oudandish vessels of their own design and construction. In recent years, a small number of folklorists and other scholars have used an ethnographic approach for the study of vernacular boats. In essence, their work endeavors to document and analyze the intricacies of traditional watercraft design, construction, and use within regional cultural contexts. Relying heavily on interviews and observations in the field, these recent studies have investigated the meaning of boats from the perspectives of boatbuilders, boat users and other residents of maritime communities. Especially prominent in this approach is the assumption that, in order to understand the cultural significance of the vernacular boat, one must view it as part of a dynamic process and not as an isolated artifact.
David A.Taylor
References
Johnson, Paula J., and David A.Taylor. 1993. Beyond the Boat: Documenting the Cultural Context. In Boats: A Manualfor Their Documentation, eds. Paul Lipke, Peter Spectre, and Benjamin A.G.Fuller. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, pp. 337–356. Taylor, David A. 1992. Documenting Maritime Folklife: An Introductory Guide. Publications of the American Folklife Center No. 18. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.