Gander River Boat

The Story

The Gander River Boat (also known as a Gander Bay Boat or Gander River Canoe) was designed and modified by generations of Gander Bay builders to suit the specific conditions of the Gander River. During the eighteenth century, salmon fisheries established at the mouth of the river were tended to with rodneys and punts, but these boats were not suitable for the rapids and shallow waters upriver. By the twentieth century, Gander Bay boat builders were building “double-enders” modelled on birch bark and cedar canoes used by Mi’kmaw on the Gander River. “The resulting hybrid was stronger than a cedar canoe, yet nimbler than a rodney,” says Gary L. Saunders in his book Rattles and Steadies: Memoir of a Gander River Man. “Approximately five metres long and just under a metre wide, it was planked with thin fir strakes nailed edge to edge on sawn spruce timbers.”(Saunders 2003)

Content

The exhibition includes five interpretation panels, one full-sized Gander River Boat and a Gander River Boat Model.

Required Exhibition Space

300 ft2

Availability

Exhibition available November 2016.

Rental time: Up to 16 weeks.

Loan Fee

$2,000 (transportation not included).

Accompanying Material

Gander River Boat pamphlets available at additional cost.