Beothuk Canoe

esigned for open water and used for hunting sea mammals, the Beothuk birchbark canoe was stable enough to heel over without taking on water as the animals were landed. The exaggerated gunwales and keel of this canoe distinguish it from other Eastern Algonkian types. Although no full-size example of a Beothuk canoe is known to exist today, construction details are contained in personal accounts and models left as grave offerings. In 1612, an early chronicler described Beothuk canoes as, "about 20 feet long and 4-1/2 feet wide, could carry four persons, and weighed less than a hundredweight [45 kg]."