A mysterious benefactor has given me access to the articles mentioned in my first post (thank you!). Some new information gleaned from the first one (The Kayak in North-Western Europe, David MacRitchie, 1912):
1) The Aberdeen kayak's frame is made of scots fir, probably grown in the Baltic region. So it's likely of European manufacture, though of course the wood could have got to the Americas by trade or as driftwood. Wooden frames for kayaks are more common in Greenland, Canadian Inuits preferring whalebone.
Here's an old picture of the Aberdeen kayak:
2) Rev. Wallace quotes a previous book he'd read describing an encounter with inuit people in the Davis Strait, and said the man he encountered 'seemed to be of the same people'. The book was illustrated, so he would have some idea what he was talking about. Wallace, Jr. in his later foreword explicitly identifies the finnman as an inuit.
3) Wallace, junior also knows how kayakers would tie themselves into their kayaks, only untying themselves to go to the toilet or come ashore, which the author claims is a detail never previously noted in European writings on kayaks (i.e. Wallace Jr. couldn't have read it in a book, and would have learned it either firsthand or from witnesses in Orkney)
4) The Physician's Hall kayak was given to Edinburgh University in 1696, eight years after they received it. (According to
this book, it's missing and the search for it is a 'lost cause'. The book mentions at 1933 list of 18 (historical) kayaks in Scotland (!), several now disappeared. I'll try and write up something from this book later)
5) Another kayak was kept in the church at Burray (Orkney) — it has also now disappeared. The church itself is ruined and no longer in use, the parishioners being served by a church on nearby South Ronaldsay.
I wonder if an archaeological dig might throw something up?
From the article:
Dr. Wallace throws no light on the circumstances attending the acquisition of the Burray specimen. It is possible that it may be the " little boat" referred to in the Session Record of South Ronaldshay and Burray in 1661. That Record states that on Sunday, 26th May, 1661, in St. Peter's Kirk, South Ronaldshay, a collection of 16s. 6d. was taken as " charity to ane poore Yetland (i.e., Shetland) man whom God had wonderfully preserved into a storme at sea into his litill boate, and taken in by ane vessell finding him upon- the seas."
This seems like a bit of a stretch to me, though - the locals would be unlikely to think an inuit was a Shetlander, and sometimes a little boat is just a little boat.
6) Another book quoted ('La Peyrere's Report of Greenland' 1647 Isaac de la Peyrere,
Historie de Groenland, 1647) describes Inuits captured for exhibition trying to escape in their kayaks. That means that captured inuits
had access to kayaks, lending credence to the idea that the Finnmen were escapees. La Peyrere also describes a couple who did manage to evade their captors: "They were pursued as far as the entrance of the Sound, but could not be overtaken, so that, it is probable they were lost, it being not likelv they could reach Greenland in their small boats."
7) On the legendary Finfolk:
Both the men and the women possessed a specially prepared skin, which enabled them to swim like a seal in the sea. When they came ashore they discarded this skin. That is one version. Another version simply speaks of this skin as a boat, which they propelled at a marvellous speed. It is said that they could pull across to Bergen from Shetland in a few hours, making nine miles at every stroke. With the statements of the Wallaces and Brand in view, it seems quite obvious that these swift sea-skins or boats were simply the kayaks already described
8) There were other transatlantic kayaks in Europe, including two described by Olaus Magnus 'hanging in the cathedral at Asloë' in 1505 (I can't find any such place on Google, perhaps the spelling has changed since?). They were said to have been captured from 'Greenlandic pirates' by King Haco (who lived in the 1200s)
9) There are accounts of
Skraelings living in Norway in the 1400s!
The earliest example (after those attributed to King Haco) of a kayak preserved as a trophy in a European church is also furnished by Dr. Nansen. It is of the year 1430. The chronicler is a certain Dane named Claudius Claussön, or Clavus, who informs us that to the west of the Wild Lapps "are the little Pygmies, a cubit high, whom I have seen," he affirms, "after they were taken at sea in a little hide- boat, which is now (about 1430) hanging in the cathedral at Nidaros (Trondhjem). There is likewise," he goes on to say, " a long vessel of hides, which was also once taken with such Pygmies in it."'
Dr. Nansen also cites Michel Beheim, who travelled in Norway in 1450. There he saw or heard of a people called "Skraelings" who are only three "spans" high, but are nevertheless dangerous opponents both on sea and land. "They live in eaves which they dig out in the mountains, make ships of hides, eat raw meat and raw fish, and drink blood with it." Then there is the similar testimony by Archbishop Erik Walkendorf, who, in his description of Finmark, written about 1520, says: " Finmark has on its north-north-west a people of short and small stature, namely, a cubit and a half, who are commonly called 'Skraelinger'; they are an unwarlike people, for fifteen of them do not dare to approach one Christian or Russian either for combat or parley. They live in underground houses, so that one neither can examine them nor capture them."
This is perhaps the most fascinating part of all. If there were a colony of Inuit people living in remote northwestern Norway, the frequent sightings of Finnmen in the 1600s would make more sense. However, as far as I know there's no archaeological evidence for such a colony.
10) Another group of people assumed to be inuits were found off the coast of England in 1508 -- all but one died:
" In 1508, a French ship picked up near the English coast a small boat, made of bark and osiers, containing seven men of medium height, darkish hue, and attired in fish skins, and painted straw caps. Their broad faces with their habit of eating raw flesh and drinking blood would imply that they were Eskimos; but it is difficult to conceive of a boat drifting across the Atlantic with sufficient stores of food to avoid cannibalism. Cardinal Bembo adds, however, that six of them died-which may mean that they had been starving-and that the sole survivor was taken to Louis XII."
(An American writer in 1892 quoting
Cardinal Pietro Bembo)
Another 'seaman' who ate raw fish and spoke an unknown language was captured off Skinningrave, Yorkshire in 1535:
'Old Men that would be loath to have their Credyt crackt by a Tale of a stale Date, report confidently that sixty Yeares since, or perhaps 80 or more, a sea-man was taken by the Fishers of that place [Skinningrave], where duringe many weeks they kepte in an oulde House, giving him rawe Fishe to eate, for all other fare he refused; insteade of Voyce he skreeked, and shewed himself courteous to such as flocked farre and neare to visit him ;-fayre Maydes were wellcomest Guests to his Harbour, whome he woulde beholde with a very earneste Countenaynce, as if his phlegmaticke Breaste had been touched wth a Sparke of Love.--One Day, when the good Demeanour of this newe Gueste had made his Hosts secure of his Abode wth them, he prively stoale out of Doores, and ere he coulde be overtaken recovered the Sea, whereinto he plounged himself ;--yet as one that woulde not unmannerly depart without taking of his Leave, from the mydle upwardes he raysed his Shoulders often above the Waves, and makinge signes of acknowledging his good Enterteinment to such as beheld him on the Shore, as they interpreted yt;-after a pretty while he dived downe and appeared no more."'
And a 'sea woman' in Edam, Netherlands (yes, the cheese place) in 1430:
Mention may also be made of the sea-woman captured near Edam, West Friesland, in 1430Q The Friesland girls dressed her in clothes like their own, and taught her to spin. She was afterwards taken to Haarlem, where she lived for several years, and was instructed in her duty to God. So says Parival, in his Delices de Hollande, according to Mr. Baring-Gould (Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, 1868, II, 244). It is difficult to reconcile some of these statements with the idea of a marine animal, although they would be quite intelligible if the captive was a woman of Eskimo type
10) 'Greenland' in the 17th century referred not only to Greenland but also to several areas of artic Russia, including Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, some of whose indigenous inhabitants made use of kayaks. The 'Greenlandic pirates' mentioned earlier might have been Siberian natives.