Canoes around the world

[Benson Gray]

It was surprising many years ago to find the record of a canoe that shipped from Old Town Canoe to Egypt in 1906 but that appears to have been more common than I ever imagined. E. M. White was mentioned in the "Old Town Enterprise" newspaper from April 27th, 1895 for sending a canoe to Minneapolis along with the comment that "Mr. White is very busy filling orders from all parts of the country." B. N. Morris was noted on August 21st, 1897 saying that "During the past year, Mr. Morris has shipped 25 canoes to this London dealer and the latter thinks he can handle 75 the coming year." E. H. Gerrish seems to have out done everyone in August 27th, 1898 when he shipped a canoe to Jerusalem with the news saying that "an order like this seems remarkable, until it is learned that Mr. Gerrish has also sent canoes of his manufacture to Japan, China, and India, besides places near home like British Columbia." It would be interesting to know if any of these canoes still exist.

Benson

 

[alick burt]

Fascinating, I wonder if the Mr Millward in Egypt is related to our David Millward in the UK!
Or who the dealer in London was?? Could it have been the same importers (Rowland Ward) who brought Felix's Canoe from Thomas Gordon?

Alick

 

[Benson Gray]

who the dealer in London was??

The London dealer was never identified and it doesn't appear to have been a long term arrangement. The circa 1902 Morris catalog lists agents in Paris and Hamburg but none in London.



The 1908 Old Town catalog shows agencies in Buenos Ayres, Paris, Hamburg, Abo (Finland), Firenze (Italy), but none in London either.



England must have been a tough market for the Maine canoe builders.

Benson

 

[Etienne-Henri]

The A A Tunmer & Co (or Cie for compagnie in French) ran sports department stores in Paris and Bordeaux - France - from circa 1900 to WWII. Tunmer also had a clothing store next to his sports department store. Both were located next to the Opéra - a key, fashionable, and relatively new Parisian district where all the most important French companies and larger department stores were located as well.

They edited a comprehensive catalog and advertised mainly for tennis, golf, football and outdoors goods. But a few ads show some canoes. The earlier one I have identified so far dates from 1911 and specifies "light and steady authentic Indian canoes". It is interesting to note that the drawing shows proper paddles which French paddlers mostly ignored before the 1920's while they used double blade paddles instead. This let me thinks this drawing, although signed by a French illustrator of the times, might have been based on an american picture (photograph or whatever).

By 1924, Tunmer was advertising their own all wood canoes, much probably built by one of the numerous builders along the Seine and Marne rivers near Paris. Did they still import Old Town canoes by the 1920's ?

I was intrigued by this Tunmer name which seems to belong to England, certainly not France. A quick research indeed reveals the A A Tunmer & Co was listed as a foreign company at the Paris stock exchange on september 26th 1903.

 

[Benson Gray]

Did they still import Old Town canoes by the 1920's ?

Yes, along with several in England as shown below from the 1920 catalog. They were also used in Romania as shown in the 1926 catalog. Thanks for posting the Tunmer advertisements and information.

Benson