Calais Parties, Cathance Lake Image
Canvas Canoe Closeup
Bark Canoe Closeup
The images reminded me of a sketch from Thomas Sedgeick Steele's 1882 publication, Canoe and camera : a two hundred mile tour through the Maine forests. A lengthy Maine paddles with the elongated grip is being gripped by "the Sport" in the foreground.
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2 comments:
Thise paddles in the canvas canoe are some long paddles... I wonder why they used such long paddle, I understand that they are great for when standing in the canoe, but I would have thought that they would have had a shorter paddle for when sitting. After all they most likely made these them self...
I think they were left over from the Native tradition in the area. Plus those early canoes had no seats just like birchbark canoes so the bow paddlers often sat in the hull. This was better for the more experience guides since their passengers often where inexperienced and sitting down in the hull made the canoes more stable. But it meant the need for longer paddles to reach the water. It also meant a more "inefficient" horizontal stroke when compared to today's methods but it got the job done for their needs, I guess.
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