Boat Name
Boat Use
Boat Type
Build Date
Country of Origin
Area of Origin
Boat Dimensions
Length
13 ft 2 in
Width
2 ft 6 in
Description
A traditional Garifuna sailing Dory or canoe. These boats are an ethnically (Afro-Carib) culturally, (mostly African) and linguistiically (mostly Carib) distinct group of subsistance fisherman/farmers. The steering and rigging system is a combination of Carib and European ideas.
These boats are descendants of a rebellious community deported in 1797 from St. Vincent to the Bay Islands, hence they made their way to Northern Honduras and Belize, the latter already long settled by the people that had deported them.
From the Creole (Afro-European) fishermen they found in Belize they seem to have adopted the boom jib/quarter mainsail rig, still to be seen on the surviving smacks, but not the small hull form. The steering system too is identical to what is to be seen on the very few smacks that do not boast outboard auxiliary power. This is an interesting combination of native and European ideas.
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