the-other-rob-stevens
New Member
Only if you can keep a secret continue reading. We are getting ready to attack Quebec City next year for the Semiquincentennial (250th) anniversary of the failed colonial American attack in the fall of 1775. The army sailed from the siege of Boston to the head of tide at Augusta Maine on the Kennebec River. Then about 1100 soldiers took 220 battoes up the river to attack Quebec City. By the time they got there they were eating their shoes.
At the bicentennial the design that was come up with was a shortened Maine Logging Battoe. They (1975) copied a 32 some foot battoe and took the middle 10 feet out of it. Unfortunately they kept the 6' overhanging bow and 4' overhanging stern. When in 2017 we went down the Chaudiere River (in flood) in such a battoe. It loved to broadside rocks, throw the crew out, and swamp. Fortunately because of its banana shaped sheer it would settle swamped and nothing could make it capsize.
So we are trying to come up with a different design. In 1775 a battoe could range from at least 13' to 55'. The one common denominator was a flat bottom. We are piecing together what we can from different sources. The Arnold Expedition battoes weighed as much as 400 lbs and would carry a cargo and crew of 2000 lbs.
About 15 years before the expedition Captain Montresor, a British officer and some Mohawks scouted the route from Quebec City to Fort Halifax on the lower Kennebec. The traditional route went one way to Fort Halifax by Moosehead Lake and returned by the Kennebec-Chaudiere route. Montresor is constantly commenting on the "Abenaki" keeping their carries well hidden and sometimes the Mohawk couldn't find them. At the beginning of the 13 mile Great Carry they came across 7 "Abenaki" with 3 canoes. The "Abenaki" take one canoe and run off and Montresor can't follow them. The beginning of the carry rises about 1,000 feet in 3 miles.
My question to WCHA is what was the typical size of a forest canoe.? My guess is something like 15' if a Mohawk scout can not see a carry through the woods.
Thanks, Rob
At the bicentennial the design that was come up with was a shortened Maine Logging Battoe. They (1975) copied a 32 some foot battoe and took the middle 10 feet out of it. Unfortunately they kept the 6' overhanging bow and 4' overhanging stern. When in 2017 we went down the Chaudiere River (in flood) in such a battoe. It loved to broadside rocks, throw the crew out, and swamp. Fortunately because of its banana shaped sheer it would settle swamped and nothing could make it capsize.
So we are trying to come up with a different design. In 1775 a battoe could range from at least 13' to 55'. The one common denominator was a flat bottom. We are piecing together what we can from different sources. The Arnold Expedition battoes weighed as much as 400 lbs and would carry a cargo and crew of 2000 lbs.
About 15 years before the expedition Captain Montresor, a British officer and some Mohawks scouted the route from Quebec City to Fort Halifax on the lower Kennebec. The traditional route went one way to Fort Halifax by Moosehead Lake and returned by the Kennebec-Chaudiere route. Montresor is constantly commenting on the "Abenaki" keeping their carries well hidden and sometimes the Mohawk couldn't find them. At the beginning of the 13 mile Great Carry they came across 7 "Abenaki" with 3 canoes. The "Abenaki" take one canoe and run off and Montresor can't follow them. The beginning of the carry rises about 1,000 feet in 3 miles.
My question to WCHA is what was the typical size of a forest canoe.? My guess is something like 15' if a Mohawk scout can not see a carry through the woods.
Thanks, Rob
