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Keeping our Boatbuilding Tradition Alive through Heritage Experiences (Online Lecture)

Jerome Canning and Jim Dempsey

Keeping Our Boatbuilding Tradition Alive (2020 10 29) (003)

When our only sustenance came from the seas that surround us, boats were crucial to survival. For generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians whose lives depended on the water, a boat was a veritable vessel – to security, to safety, and to survival. Being resourceful, resilient people, our forebearers fashioned their floating survival kits from the materials their unique environments provided. In the process, they became architects of not only the magnificent structures they built, but of an entire legacy – one whose existence was all but extinguished before 1997. In this lecture, Jerome Canning and Jim Dempsey present a history of wooden boatbuilding in the province and the work of the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador. The WBMNL preserves the precious skills, knowledge, and tools that today provide a pristine portrait of our collective past. Learn about our small boats – punts and dories – and about the boat builders who made them. Capturing the stories of boatbuilders from across the province, the WBMNL recreates their traditional methods and build boats in their workshops. This is traditional naval architecture and its colourful history at its best.

Watch the lecture at: https://youtu.be/Angty0g5zFs