BARREN GROUNDS – The Story of the Tragic Moffatt Canoe Trip
Fred “Skip” Pessl, Dartmouth College Press, 2014
Students of canoeing in the far north of Canada have heard of the 1955 expedition lead by Art Moffatt to the Dubawnt river. After 51 days on the river, and following a major storm with snowfall, the group of 6 young men in 3 Chestnut wood/canvas canoes entered a long rapid in a section of river with islands partly obscuring the view. Big waves at the bottom of the rapid filled and rolled 2 canoes, the third half-filled. The four swimmers were pulled to shore, severely hypothermic, with Moffatt never awakening. This book is composed of the transcribed daily diaries of Skip Pessl and Peter Franck, two of the participants.
In this book are a few photos of the canoes. On these forums there was a discussion recently about the Chestnut decal applied at an angle (5-22-2015 Cloutier, and Gray reply). A photo shows exactly this. The caption of a different photo identifies these as 18 foot, 90 pound, “Chestnut Peterborough Prospector” canoes. Can someone explain this terminology? I've seen the term 'Peternut' on these forums. The canoes seem to have performed well – at least they weren't the cause of complaint, though some cracked planking is mentioned. I have to wonder what became of these 3 canoes. Here is a quotation from the text describing an incident which happened on the 39th day of the 55 day trip, p.77: “While looking over the rapids, we left our canoes tied in the lee of a point and they scraped against some of the sharp rocks. Result, Skip's canoe had several bad scrapes down to bare canvas and one hole right through to the wood. Mine had one big scrape to canvas about 4” long. I never would have thought a little gentle rubbing and scraping could be so hard on that tough paint and canvas, but these rocks were sharp and cut right through. Skip patched the hoe with tar. I used a liquid cement to keep the canvas from rotting.”
So if canoeing literature of the far north interests you, then add Barren Grounds to your library. Tom McCloud
Fred “Skip” Pessl, Dartmouth College Press, 2014
Students of canoeing in the far north of Canada have heard of the 1955 expedition lead by Art Moffatt to the Dubawnt river. After 51 days on the river, and following a major storm with snowfall, the group of 6 young men in 3 Chestnut wood/canvas canoes entered a long rapid in a section of river with islands partly obscuring the view. Big waves at the bottom of the rapid filled and rolled 2 canoes, the third half-filled. The four swimmers were pulled to shore, severely hypothermic, with Moffatt never awakening. This book is composed of the transcribed daily diaries of Skip Pessl and Peter Franck, two of the participants.
In this book are a few photos of the canoes. On these forums there was a discussion recently about the Chestnut decal applied at an angle (5-22-2015 Cloutier, and Gray reply). A photo shows exactly this. The caption of a different photo identifies these as 18 foot, 90 pound, “Chestnut Peterborough Prospector” canoes. Can someone explain this terminology? I've seen the term 'Peternut' on these forums. The canoes seem to have performed well – at least they weren't the cause of complaint, though some cracked planking is mentioned. I have to wonder what became of these 3 canoes. Here is a quotation from the text describing an incident which happened on the 39th day of the 55 day trip, p.77: “While looking over the rapids, we left our canoes tied in the lee of a point and they scraped against some of the sharp rocks. Result, Skip's canoe had several bad scrapes down to bare canvas and one hole right through to the wood. Mine had one big scrape to canvas about 4” long. I never would have thought a little gentle rubbing and scraping could be so hard on that tough paint and canvas, but these rocks were sharp and cut right through. Skip patched the hoe with tar. I used a liquid cement to keep the canvas from rotting.”
So if canoeing literature of the far north interests you, then add Barren Grounds to your library. Tom McCloud
