By Luana M. Graves Sellars
Time honored traditions and skills are to be treasured. The art of building a bateau, which is the type of boat that the Gullah Geechee used to live off of the sea, by hand is one of generational skills that has been passed down from generation to generation, dating all the way back to our West African ancestors.
In the days of fiberglass boats and outboard engines, bateau’s are a reminder of a simpler time; of a culture that lived off of the land and sea. A time when fish and rice were on the table for every meal and a long days work paid off with a bucket of oysters. The evening came with the family getting together and the sound of today’s catch of frying fish greeted you as it wafted through the air.
Not too many people are building boats by hand anymore or using the traditional ways of the past. It’s been said that back in the day, a paste made out of buttermilk coupled with a gauze like material is how the bateau was made waterproof. Obviously, today, boat building is manufactured and most of the marine elements can be found after a quick run to the store. Back then, the items were found all around you and you made due with what you had.
Image Credit: All in A Days Work and the Gullah Crabber by Sonja Griffin Evans
I was fortunate enough to see the process of a bateau being built by one of the last builders who, after 3 generations, was passing the knowledge and skills to his sons, who helped to build it. Here’s some pictures and video of the process, which took about a week to complete.
Building the bateau from the beginning to the completed product took about 7 days. One of the last skilled bateau makers, Mr. Kidd is 83 years old and is in the pink shirt with his sons, Maurice Kidd and Frank Fields, and his brother Richard Frazier, who assisted him in the construction.
I am honored that Mr. Kidd enabled me to capture his incredible skill during the process of his building the bateau. For more details about how he learned to make them from his father and grandfather, check out the Lowcountry Gullah Podcast.
Images of a few of the bateaus from around the lowcountry. First two pictures are from the Pin Point Museum in Pin Point, Georgia. The second one is located in front of the museum at the Historic Penn Center in St. Helena Island, South Carolina.
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