Length
19 ft 0 in
This is an interesting boat because it represents the adoption and adaption of a native-born idea - the birch-bark canoe - by a later arrival on the scene, the European.
Almost everywhere the immigrant has brought and perpetuated his own, usually more advanced ideas but a study of this boat and its neighbour reveals only one basic difference. This boat uses canvas as its final waterproof cover, whereas its neighbour uses bark. Canvas has been used to achieve water-tightness instead of the bark of a tree.
This canoe is of the standard pattern used on the Tobique River in New Brunswick, Canada. It was used for salmon fishing and for the carriage of a single passenger and luggage. The operator was known as a 'guide'. He would propel the canoe upstream by means of an iron shod pole, and would guide it downstream with a single bladed paddle, which was also used in slack water. The canoe had to be stable enough for the 'guide' to be able to stand up to pole it - hence its wide flat bottom.
This particular canoe was brought to England in 1927, after some years use in Canada and has been lent to ISCA by Major Robert Kitson of Looe, Cornwall.
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