Mystery Canoe

[Dan Miller]

I just came home with this. No idea who made it yet.

LOA about 16'4", beam 29-1/2", depth 14". Ends with really strong upsweep. No inner gunwale. Outwale is heavy, made of oak or ash, and fastened from inside with escutcheon pins. Decks, coamings, thwarts and seat supports are birdseye maple. Untapered ribs 1-3/8" x 1/4". Brass flagpole sockets each end. Deep keel and heavy outside stems.

The keelson is a later addition.

Pics attached below and to next message.

Any ideas?
Dan

 

[Dan Miller]

More photos.

 

[Rob Stevens]

The strong upswept ends remind me of Harry Macfie's canoes. He learned the technique for building cedar canvas canoes over 18 years working in Canada, but modified the design to resemble Viking ships more akin to his homeland, Sweden. However, I have never seen one in person, and don't know if he built long decked versions.

No doubt someone more familiar with Macfie canoes could comment on other diagnostic features. I have sent this thread to Svante Freden.

http://www.hmcc.se/

Rob

 

[Dan Miller]

I pulled out Wooden Canoe Issue 83 with the Harry McFie article, I can see some similarities, but not convincing.

Did come across the attached. (n.b. the canoe in the forums header is from the same catalog.)

Dan

 

[dtdcanoes]

I'm talkin a very cute boat, Dan. Good fun and I bet it will paddle softly.

 

[Rob Stevens]

Not Harry Macfie. He built with quarter round ribs according to Svante Freden.

R

 

[MackyM]

The pointed bow is reminiscent of the Chestnut Indian Maiden.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Dan, any luck? looks like the early Peterborough canvas boats, where they blended all wood construction with cedar canvas. Have you stumped yourself?

 

[Dan Miller]

I'm still leaning towards Detroit Boat and Oar.

It doesn't have that Peterborough gestalt, and the 1909 PCC catalogs shows inner gunwales.

The CCC Indian Maiden has similar ends, but have one-piece decks (like an Otca), and inner gunwales also.

 

[Benson Gray]

I'm still leaning towards Detroit Boat and Oar.

This is consistent with how frequently canoes with high points show up in the Belle Isle postcards as shown at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8180-1907-Grand-Canal-Belle-Isle-Photo&p=46996#post46996 for example. Nice find,

Benson

 

[Dan Miller]

This is consistent with how frequently canoes with high points show up in the Belle Isle postcards as shown at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8180-1907-Grand-Canal-Belle-Isle-Photo&p=46996#post46996 for example. Nice find,

Benson

The yellow canoe in the lower right of the third collage is the spitting image of mine. Curiously, given the number of Belle Isle cards in my collection, I don't have that one.

Dan

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Never meant to suggest it had a Peterborough lineage, but havent seen another m'fr that blended all wood and cedar/canvas build characteristics ( am i about to get a lesson? lol)
Has it been worked on much? ends look dark....

 

[Michael Grace]

blended all wood and cedar/canvas build characteristics

To me this is the most fascinating thing here - construction looks like typical wood-canvas but for the absence of inwales as in many all-wood canoes. Cedar-canvas and birchbark have in common the inwale as the main structural element at the sheer, and it's great because in wood-canvas construction it aids the building process by giving an attachment point for the rib ends. It's hard to imagine why anyone building wood-canvas would choose to leave out the inwale. What's known about Detroit Boat & Oar? Could they have started early enough that they were being inventive, borrowing from both the ongoing Canadian all-wood history and the early days of wood-canvas?

 

[Dan Miller]

Agreed on all points re: the mish-mash of canvas and all-wood features. I'm fascinated as well, which is why I bought it after swearing off canvas canoes.

Detroit Boat and Oar was owned by Jasper Dodge and operated circa 1903-1907. Dodge is more well known for owning a duck decoy factory. He died in 1909, so the canoe factory was a parting shot. The canoe on the catalog cover (post 4) clearly shows the lack of inwale.

That being said, I have another lead, that may be even better - see the attached advertisement from 1906.

I'm starting to think there may be an article buried in here somewhere.

Dan

 

[pappadoc]

Not clear what the skin might be - probably canvas, but clear vertical ribbing evident in the photo. Little resemblance to my Detroit Yukon River, though. Rod