"Hudson's Bay Canoe Running the Rapids." From an oil painting by 

 Hopkins {Public Archives of Canada photo). 



straight line from tip of upturned rail cap at one 

 stem to the other. The beam inside the gunwales 

 was 60 inches. The width of the building frame 

 would be between 40 and 45 inches, and the frame 

 when formed would be about 26 feet 8 inches long. 

 The depth of the canoe amidships, from bottom to 

 top of gunwale, was approximate 30 inches and the 

 height of the stems about 50 inches. The overall 

 length of such a canoe was about 34 feet 4 inches. 

 An express canoe of this size would be about 56 inches 

 beam inside the gunwales or even somewhat less, and 

 the depth amidships about 28 inches or a little less. 



A 4-fathom canoe measured 26 feet 8 inches over 

 the tips of the upturned rail caps, and 29 feet 1 1 inches 

 overall. The beam amidships was 57 inches inside 

 the gunwales and the depth amidships to top of gun- 

 wales was 26 inches; the height of the stem was 53 

 inches. 



A 3-fathom canoe was 19 feet 2 inches overall, 

 16 feet 8 inches over the ends of the gunwale caps, 

 42 inches beam amidships inside of gunwales, the 

 depth of the canoe from bottom to top of gunwale 



amidships was 19 inches, and the height of the ends 

 was 38 inches. The building frame for this canoe 

 was 1 5 feet 8 inches long and 27 inches wide. 



The canoes falling between the even-fathom meas- 

 urements were often of about the same dimensions 

 as the even-fathom size next below; a 3}2-fathom 

 canoe would have nearly the same breadth and depth 

 as a 3-fathom; only the length was increased. The 

 half-fathom rarely measured that — a canoe rated as 

 3^2 fathom was actually only 20 feet 5 inches overall. 

 One express canoe rated 3J^ fathoms measured 20 feet 

 1 inch overall, 18 feet 3 inches over the gunwale caps, 

 44 inches beam inside gunwales amidships, and 21 

 inches deep, bottom to top of gunwale cap. The 

 height of the ends was 39 inches. This example will 

 serve to indicate how inexact the fathom classification 

 really was. It should also be noted that the height 

 of the ends varied a good deal in any given range of 

 length, as this dimension was determined not by the 

 length of the canoe but by the judgment and taste 

 of the builder and his tribal form of end. Generally, 

 however, small canoes had relatively higher ends than 



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