The theme of the next Maritime Heritage Night at the Hutcheson Gallery is Ch'apats, which means canoe in Nuu-chah-nulth. The Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society is hosting the event on Feb. 18.
The central exhibit of the event is a dugout canoe, recently appraised and donated to the society. Tseshaht Research and Planning Associate Darrell Ross will deliver a PowerPoint presentation on the six main types of canoe.
Ross said he has inspected the donated canoe, which, according to the donor’s family, was found on the shoreline, apparently damaged by a storm, some time in the 1940s. Ross said it likely dates back to the early 1900s and was well used.
“Canoe culture was still very strong at the turn of the century. Every family or every house would have four or five canoes for different purposes. They would even have a training canoe for the kids. It would be about the size of a kayak.
“I believe this is a sealing canoe. They were quite popular, and there were some that were multi-purpose. The river canoes don’t have much ornamentation on them, and they were easy to drag onshore.”
Society President Kenn Whiteman said the canoe was donated by Mrs. Drusilla (Dee) Bryson, who now resides at Rainbow Gardens. She, in turn, received the canoe from a Mrs. Vos in 1956.
“We don’t know where Mrs. Vos found it, but it was found on the Inlet between China Creek and the Somass River,” Whiteman said, adding that it was presumed the canoe was of Tseshaht origin.
“When Mrs. Vos moved into town, she gave it to Dee and her husband, Dennett. She was hoping that Dennett would make repairs and Dee could then use it on the lake.”
But Dennett never got around to making the repairs and the canoe hung in his boathouse until Dee Bryson’s son Doug needed the space for his own boat, Whiteman said.
The society brought in an art historian who specializes in Northwest Coast Art, Kerry Mason, who set an appraised value of $10,000. Mason also concluded that the canoe was multi-purpose, used both for sealing and by women to collect eel and bear grasses and other Indigenous fibres for basketry.
Whiteman said it is a good thing no one ever got around to fixing the damage on the hull.
“It’s going to be kept in this condition. We were going to repair it, but the person who did the assessment said, ‘Don’t touch it!’”
Ross noted that the canoe is missing the traditional figureheads that would normally be dowelled into place at the bow and stern. It is quite possible they were lost in the day-to-day bumping and crashing of sealing and eel grass gathering, or they may have been removed.
“But one thing to note is the quality of the timber. The older stuff is really beautiful old cedar,” Ross said. “When we are doing these types of projects now, the quality is not very good.”
Ross said his presentation on Nuu-chah-nulth canoes is partly virtual, because there are no physical specimens of several types.
“One of our dreams is to have a full collection of Nuu-chah-nulth canoes,” he said. “I’ve never actually seen a Nuu-chah-nulth war canoe or a packing canoe in my life. You read about them or you see them in museums in different variations, but you don’t know if it’s the actual one.”
The chief’s canoes and war canoes were both large and highly decorated, he said. But for sheer size, it is believed the packing canoes were the biggest. They were built to transport seasonal longhouses that could be broken down into components.
“Tseshaht spent the summer in Barkley Sound and the winter on the Somas River. You needed a really big canoe to pack all the gear you needed.”
Recreating authentic Nuu-chah-nulth canoes would require access to high-quality cedar.
“To find the sort of logs we would need for this kind of venture is a challenge,” he said.
Society Director David Whitworth said the group is considering a formal repatriation of the canoe to Tseshaht First Nation, with an agreement to keep it available for display.
In November, the society hosted a Maritime Heritage Night that featured a restored boom boat named for the late Hupacasath blues legend Ed “Tat” Tatoosh.
The Hutcheson Gallery is located at Lighthouse Pier on Harbour Road, and is currently the home of the exhibit “Hishok: Tseshaht Whaling - One with the Whale Spirit.”
The event opens at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18. Admission is by donation (members free). Refreshments to follow.
