The Boats of Main-à-Dieu & area
Mike Targett
The boats of Main-à-Dieu & area have a history as rich and varied as the fishermen aboard them. While the area’s infrastructure, economy and culture were modernizing mid-century, preparing the ground for the technological revolutions in fishing that were just around the corner, a group of boat builders was quietly making the area famous for an old-fashioned trade: wooden boat building. Dave Forgeron, Dan McDougall, Gerald Gallant, and John Hall were fishermen and boat builders whose names resonate in Cape Breton fishing communities with the kind of reverence usually reserved for the master artists of the Renaissance.
Except for gathering the wood and putting on the planks, which required the help of at least one other man, most of the work of boat building – of making the raw wood into a vessel, the way a composer might turn freely available musical notes into a symphony – was done alone, usually in a small boathouse in the back of the builder's property. From this shack, each builder might ship out one or two boats every one or two years, producing over his lifetime as many as one hundred boats! As the fishing season neared, though, and as the boat builder's work neared completion, builder and boat alike began inching their way toward the sea.
The rather stunning physical output was only part of each man's legacy: moreover it was the artistry and care of the work - what you might call the craft of the craft - such that fishermen today, who mainly prefer the superior durability of fibreglass, would gladly decorate their living rooms with one of these handmade wooden creations. And while part of improving his trade meant that each of the builder's boats was different from the last, every fisherman on the wharf could tell, just by looking, which boat was built by which man.
The Craft of the Craft
Boat building begins with a plan, first in his head, then by producing a detailed schematic or perhaps by whittling a miniature model out of wood. With plans in place, the builder selects the hardwood (most likely maple) for the keel (a beam around which the hull is built, essentially the boat’s backbone); the forefoot (where the bow meets the keel); and the stern post. He shapes these elements, bolts them together into a skeletal frame, and drills a pine dowel through the splice to prevent water from seeping into the boat. A mould is put in place, which gives the boat its shape, and which will be removed after the boat is planked.
Steam is often used to soften the timber beams and make them malleable enough to bend and shape. Wide pine live-sawed planks are cut, shaped and nailed onto the oak timbers. The moulds are removed, and reinforcements put in to strengthen the boat. The planks are sanded and the seams are corked with a cotton-like fibre, and then epoxy is put in the seams over the corking to make the plank seamless. Floor beams and bulk-heads are next.
Fishing boats in Main-à-Dieu harbour, 1960s.
The Main-à-Dieu Coastal Discovery Centre.
Then comes the enclosed wheelhouse, or forehouse – a recent innovation, given that the boats of yesterday were wide-open, with neither a protective windbreaker nor shelter that nowadays can range from a cubby hole to a small apartment. In the old days, all the fishermen might have had to warm himself was a little stove that he kept aboard for a nice hot cup of strong tea, alongside a bun of homemade bread, smothered in rib-sticking molasses. “No fancy stuff,” an old fisherman declares.
After spot-checking, painting, and outfitting the boat for safety, the boat is given a name. This can range from the profound to the profane, often referencing the area, the type of fish the boat is used to catch, or the captain's favourite fisherman's saying. Many fishermen name their boats after family members: sons, daughters, wives – whoever's name has the most pun value! All of which speaks to the fact that the culture of fishing, and the fisherman's love for it, both go as deep into the man as into his past. The unofficial last step is to rest, unwind, and spend time with family, and with friends. Come Spring, thanks to the efforts of the builder, a new boat would be on the water; and the boat builder himself, his belt one notch lighter, would be right behind it.
From Workshop to Water
The boat's journey from workshop to water involves a series of traditions and rituals every bit as important as the steps that get it from the woods to the builder's shed in the first place. These days, the boat is lifted onto an oversized truck and driven down to the shore for its "launching." But years ago, fishermen would go into the nearby woods to cut logs large enough to hold the boat, cover the logs in grease, and use them as "rollers" to roll the boat, running along ahead of it with more logs, all the way to the water. At one time, superstition prevented boats from being launched on a Friday. (Other superstitions include: Never mention "pig" in the boat; Never turn the boat against the sun [counter-clockwise]; Never wear black socks aboard the boat; and Never launch bow first.) Nowadays, if the truck comes on a Friday, the boat goes in the water on a Friday.
Wooden fishing boats have virtually disappeared, at first under a layer of fiberglass, as fishermen used this novel material to strengthen the hulls of existing wooden vessels; then altogether, as they fell out of fashion in favour of this highly durable replacement. The first fibreglass boats were in a way replicas of wooden ones, since existing wooden boats provided the mould for the fibreglass. Although several wooden boats can still be found on the water, today almost all fishing boats are made from this long-lasting, distinctly modern material. "It will outlive the man," the fishermen say.
This excerpt originally appeared in The Boats of Main-à-Dieu & Area, a 2008 publication presented by the Main-à-Dieu Community Development Association. The Boats of Main-à-Dieu & Area: A Multimedia Narrative History, including audio, video, over one hundred photos, and the complete story, is continued online at: coastaldiscoverycentre.ca
© 2008 Main-à-Dieu Community Development Association
Download a PDF version of this story. [file size = 400 KB]
© C@P Society of Cape Breton County, 2009
