This unusual canoe design, with its forward-raking bow fin, is known as a Yakutat style canoe, named for the far northern bay and Tlingit community of the same title. These were not large canoes, mostly 16 to 18 feet long, made for two or perhaps three paddlers, who went out primarily in search of seals. The function of the raked bow was perhaps two-fold: first, it served to protect the hull from thin sheet ice that would form on sheltered bays where seals were sought, by lifting and breaking the ice as the canoe moved forward; and second, it would slice the water ahead of the canoe and prevent choppy waves from slapping on the bottom of the hull, which would frighten the wary seals and cause their escape. Where the gunwales come together at each end, an outward flare like the ones on a northern style canoe served to turn off the tops of waves and keep the canoe dry within. The flat bottom on this canoe is a function of it being a display model, made to sit solidly on a shelf or mantle. The full-size canoes were softly rounded across the bottom, with the same swelling shape seen here along the waterline that paralleled the outward curves of the gunwales, established in the steaming and spreading process. The sea mammal paintings on the hull, based on the long dorsal fins, represent killer whales. The design style of these representations can be described as post-classic, varying as it does from the established formline tradition of the earlier historical period.

Steven C. Brown

References: For examples of Tlingit model canoes (including Yakutat) see the Reciprocal Research Network online database. See the section on Tlingit canoes in George Thornton Emmons (edited with additions by Frederica de Laguna), The Tlingit Indians, (Seattle: University of Washington Press / New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1991), pp. 84-98.