Historic Paddle Illustration: Canoeing at Bar Harbor - 1886

Here is excellent historic illustration dated to 1886. It appeared in an article series entitled, "Their Pilgrimage" by Charles D. Warner in  Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, August 1886.  The artist, Charles Reinhart captured an image of summer tourists (aka rusticators) out for a paddle in birchbark canoes. The canoe in the foreground has the lady paddling in the stern with her male companion lounging in the hull

Rusticators canoeing in Frenchman Bay

Charles S. Reinhart

Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 73, No. 435, August 1886, pg. 419.

Source Link

Apart from the quite accurate sketching of the bark canoes, complete with etched star patterns on the ends, the artist showcases a full image of the paddle being used by the lady in the stern. Here's a closeup...

Paddle closeup

The paddle features a distinctly flattened palm grip with a clearly carved drip ring at its base.  There are similar grip designs and drip rings on some other historic Maliseet paddles, most notably the c1878 York Sunbury Paddle...see posts here, here, and here.

c1878 Maliseet Paddle

 Fredericton Region Museum (formerly York Sunbury Museum) 

Size: 75" x 6" 

Grip Closeup

Photo Credit:  Lloyd of Canoe Canada East.

Original full post here

I've carved a similar drip ring on two of my own paddles. Below is a photo of carving a replica from a few summers back. The flattened grip and ring are reminiscent of the sketch. In the end, I was disappointed with my carving efforts on this one and never completed the etchwork. It now serves as my raccoon deterrent device for when these nasty trash pandas make a mess of our balcony deck.

Original post link

I had also attempted a 2nd replica (also in yellow birch) that failed when the difficult grain tore out at the blade edge out when hewing out with an axe. In the end it was salvaged into a different design. At the time I posted about it as my Yellow Birch mistake paddle. 

Grip Side View; Drip ring closeup

These carved drip rings add a nice decorative design to ceremonially ornate paddles, but Reinhart's illustration indicates that such paddles were still considered functional as well.

20th-Century Northeastern Diamond Throated Paddle

Found another antique paddle in the archive section of Skinner Auctions. Described simply as a "Carved Maple Canoe Paddle, possibly Northeast", the paddle has a rather common beavertail blade and simple grip style.

Carved Maple Canoe Paddle, possibly Northeast.
Estimate $200-300

Sold for:
$296

Original Listing Link

The paddle  does feature one simple decorative element right at the throat - a sort of diamond carving pattern. Here's a closeup...

Closeup of diamond motif at throat

A similar bit of carving decoration can be seen in this post which highlighted a pair of Children's paddles of Penobscot origin from the CherryGallery.com

Pair of Child's Canoe Paddles

Circa 1920

5" w, 42.75" h

Diamond Motif carved at throat

Ron Drummond Canoe Surfing Vid

One of the coolest paddle photos I've ever come across is this one of California Canoe Surfer, Ron Drummond...

Turns out there is a Vimeo vid featuring Ron (filmed in the 60s?) riding some fun waves in an sturdy aluminum canoe. The background music sure is catchy...

Ron Drummond from ENCYCLOPEDIA of SURFING videos on Vimeo.

More Canvas Canoe Tarp Rigging Options

After completing the quick 10x10 canvas tarp shelter made from a painter's dropcloth (see post HERE) some nice yard time was spent fiddling around with setups.

My preferred method of shelter is to have one exposed side not only for the view but also for heat from a radiant fire. So as posted on before, a favourite tarp pitch is the "Adirondack Wind Shed" very reminiscent of the Whelen leanto. It needs just 4 ground stakes on the tarp and two guylines for support.

Tarp pitched in a "Whelen style" leanto

Here's an old web image featuring a whelen lean to setup with the canoe in front to add an extra bit of protection from the elements. Personally, I would have the canoe propped up much further away and have a small reflecting fire built.

Another option for pitching is a more enclosed shelter with open ends at the front. This one is supported with a single paddle at the head and another paddle in the rear is used to lift up the drooping middle for a little more interior space.

What's nice about this setup is that with the foot area completely staked down, one side can be opened up and pulled back to give a bit more coverage but still retain an open feel. Basically with a bedroll thrown in there, your upper body can be exposed to a warming fire with your lower body more covered by the tarp.

One side opened up for ventilation

Another classic setup with nearly full enclosed protection is the so-called "Tarp Tent" that is featured in lots of different old camping books. Claude P.  Fordyce 's  Touring Afoot  (1922) has a great description on making one along a with a clear image of its setup.

Source Link

The 1916 Abercrombie and Fitch catalog also featured this design for the outdoorsman...

Source Link

For a while, the NorthWest Woodsman was selling a high end version and his webpage tutorial on setup is still great reading on the pitching method.

Generally this pitch works best with a rectangular tarp but it can still be done with a 10x10 square design resulting in a more narrow and compact solo shelter (roughly 5.5' high at the entry x  5' wide x 7.5' long).

However, my 58" paddles are too low to raise the front entry to practical levels. For that reason, one would need to find something in the bush or use a canoe pole. For this yard demonstration, I just used a piece of 8ft - 2x2 lumber. It was rigged with two prussic cords that held in position once everything is tensioned. One is connected to the top of the tarp with a carabiner, the other supports some guylines.

Single Pole "Tarpaulin Tent" pitch

The door flaps can be staked closed as in the above picture, angled out or fully pulled back to give a bit more air and space.  It requires a minimum of 7 stakes to pitch properly plus the guyline. Of course it could be rigged with two lashed poles to free up space in the entryway but I didn't have another piece of suitable lumber to play with here.

Here's another view of the interior  with one door flap angled out and another folded fully back...

As a last resort or in a quick downpour, one could always rig a quick shelter with the canoe paddles and pole like so...

 Source Link: Through Trackless Labrador (1911) p 70. 

Historic Paddle Illustration: Mi'kmaq Paddle Art

An interesting article entitled, "Art Sales: colonial Canadian art reawakened", in The Telegraph discusses how auction sales of 19th century colonial artworks are fetching record prices. In particular, 2 famous paintings featuring Mi'kmaw bark canoes and paddles that were estimated at between  £25,000 - £40,000 went for a whopping  £530,500,  more than 13 times the high end estimate! It apparently was sold to an unidentified Canadian buyer.

The first piece,  Mi’qmak Indians hunting Canada geese, features a typical "humped" Mi'kmaq Ocean canoe with rounded ends riding the ocean waves powered by a blanket sail.

Mi’qmak Indians hunting Canada geese
ca. 1850
Artist: Unknown

The female bow paddler has her infant secured to her back with a cradle board and is paddling with a paddle shape very unique to this First Nations group - a spear like blade with recurved shoulders and no grip end.

This paddle design has been described as an early Micmac paddle after a sketch which still exists in the National Maritime Museum (London) and reproduced by Adney & Chappelle.

Fig. 4: Adney & Chappelle

Bulletin - United States National Museum
Smithsonian Institution; United States. Dept. of the Interior

Image Source Link

The second painting,  Mi’qmak Indian camp on a bay with Mi’qmaks shooting Canada geese, also features some lovely lateral shots of these bark canoes along with better illustration of the paddle shapes and decorated blades

Mi’qmak Indian camp on a bay with Mi’qmaks shooting Canada geese

ca. 1850

Artist: Unknown

A closeup of the male hunter on the bottom left shows a paddle resting across the gunnels. The paddle blade features a distinct scroll pattern and no discernible grip on the end either. In the zoomed image, it also looks like his one leg is wrapped over the paddle shaft for a sort of brace before taking the shot with his rifle.

The other female bow paddlers once again feature the spear like paddles with curved motifs for decoration.

If this second painting looks familiar it's because I posted about another version back in 2009. That copy now resides in the National Art Gallery of Canada. Clearly painted by the same unknown artist, the oil and canvas version is said to be of poorer quality than the one just sold at auction.

"Micmac Indians"
Unknown Artist, circa 1850oil on canvas
45.7 x 61 cm
National Gallery of Canada (no. 6663)

I've read that many ethnographers have praised the details in these artworks as very accurate portrayals of Mi'kmaw embroidery and material culture so it should give a wonderful clue as to paddle forms and decoration of this time period.

January 2018 Update: A replica of the stern paddle has been complete. Click HERE for that post.