Kayaks of the Eastern Canadian Inuit

The Inuit of Baffin Island, northern Quebec and Labrador used kayaks that were more or less flat-bottomed and relatively wide, characteristics that contribute to stability. With high, rising prows that helped to override the waves, these relatively heavy kayaks were well adapted to their primary function: hunting waterfowl and sea mammals in the open sea.

Hudson Strait kayak Cape Wolstenholme, Quebec, 1914 CMC IV-B-494

East Hudson Bay kayak Main builder: Piitayuusi Povungnituk, Quebec, 1959 CMC IV-B-743

East Hudson Bay "two-hole" kayak, a variety that first appeared on the Belcher Islands in the 1940s but that has not been reported from other Canadian Inuit Belcher Islands, Northwest Territories, 1963 CMC IV-B-825

Baffin Island "retrieval" kayak, a short but wide variety developed after the acquisition of firearms and used to fetch seals that were shot from the edge of the floe Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, 1909 CMC IV-X-96

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