Voyage of The Paper Canoe [25]
Freshmen and University.
The International Championship at Saratoga: Singles, Doubles, and Fours.
The National Championship, N. A. of A. 0.: Singles, Doubles, and Fours.
The World's Championship at Centennial Exhibition: Singles, Doubles, and Fours.
The Professional Championship of the United States.
And every other important race of the season, besides receiving the highest honors at the Centennial Exhibition. The right to make boats of paper in Canada and in the United States is exclusively held by the Messrs. Waters, and they are the only manufacturers of paper boats in the world.
It is not many years since Mr. McGregor, of London, built the little Rob Roy canoe, and in it made the tour of interesting European waters. His example was followed by an army of tourists, and it is now a common thing to meet canoe voyagers in miniature flotillas upon the watercourses of our own and foreign lands. Rev. Baden Powell, also an Englishman, perfected the model of the Nautilus type of canoe, which possesses a great deal of sheer with fullness of bow, and is therefore a better boat for rough water than the Rob Roy. The New York Canoe Club have adopted the Nautilus for their model. We still need a distinctive American type for our waters, more like the best Indian canoe than the European models here presented. These modern yacht-like canoes are really improved kyaks, and in their construction we are much indebted to the experience of the inhabitants of the Arctic Circle. Very few of the so-called Rob Roy canoes, built in the United States, resemble the original perfected boat of Mr. McGregor -- the father of modern canoe travelling. The illustrations given of English canoes are from imported models, and are perfect of their type.
CHAPTER VI. TROY TO PHILADELPHIA.
PAPER CANOE MARIA THERESA. -- THE START. -- THE DESCENT OF THE HUDSON RIVER. -- CROSSING THE UPPER BAY OF NEW YORK. -- PASSAGE OF THE KILLS. -- RARITAN RIVER -- THE CANAL ROUTE FROM NEW BRUNSWICK TO THE DELAWARE RIVER. -- FROM BORDENTOWN TO PHILADELPHIA.
My canoe of the English "Nautilus" type was completed by the middle of October; and on the cold, drizzly morning of the 21st of the same month I embarked in my little fifty-eight pound craft from the landing of the paper-boat manufactory on the river Hudson, two miles above Troy. Mr. George A. Waters put his own canoe into the water, and proposed to escort me a few miles down the river. If I had any misgivings as to the stability of my paper canoe upon entering her for the first time, they were quickly dispelled as I passed the stately Club-house of the Laureates, which contained nearly forty shells, all of paper. The dimensions of the Maria Theresa were: length, fourteen feet; beam, twenty-eight inches; depth, amidships, nine inches; height of bow from horizontal line, twenty-three inches; height of stern, twenty inches. The canoe was one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and weighed fifty-eight pounds. She was fitted with a pair of steel outriggers, which could be easily unshipped and stowed away. The oars were of spruce, seven feet eight inches long, and weighed three pounds and a quarter each. The double paddle, which was seven feet six inches in length, weighed two pounds and a half. The mast and sail -- which are of no service on such a miniature vessel, and were soon discarded -- weighed six pounds. When I took on board at Philadelphia the canvas deck-cover and the rubber strap which secured it in position, and the outfit, -- the cushion, sponge, provision-basket, and a fifteen-pound case of charts, -- I found that, with my own weight included (one hundred and thirty pounds), the boat and her cargo, all told, provisioned for a long cruise, fell considerably short of the weight of three Saratoga trunks containing a very modest wardrobe for a lady's four weeks' visit at a fashionable watering-place.
The International Championship at Saratoga: Singles, Doubles, and Fours.
The National Championship, N. A. of A. 0.: Singles, Doubles, and Fours.
The World's Championship at Centennial Exhibition: Singles, Doubles, and Fours.
The Professional Championship of the United States.
And every other important race of the season, besides receiving the highest honors at the Centennial Exhibition. The right to make boats of paper in Canada and in the United States is exclusively held by the Messrs. Waters, and they are the only manufacturers of paper boats in the world.
It is not many years since Mr. McGregor, of London, built the little Rob Roy canoe, and in it made the tour of interesting European waters. His example was followed by an army of tourists, and it is now a common thing to meet canoe voyagers in miniature flotillas upon the watercourses of our own and foreign lands. Rev. Baden Powell, also an Englishman, perfected the model of the Nautilus type of canoe, which possesses a great deal of sheer with fullness of bow, and is therefore a better boat for rough water than the Rob Roy. The New York Canoe Club have adopted the Nautilus for their model. We still need a distinctive American type for our waters, more like the best Indian canoe than the European models here presented. These modern yacht-like canoes are really improved kyaks, and in their construction we are much indebted to the experience of the inhabitants of the Arctic Circle. Very few of the so-called Rob Roy canoes, built in the United States, resemble the original perfected boat of Mr. McGregor -- the father of modern canoe travelling. The illustrations given of English canoes are from imported models, and are perfect of their type.
CHAPTER VI. TROY TO PHILADELPHIA.
PAPER CANOE MARIA THERESA. -- THE START. -- THE DESCENT OF THE HUDSON RIVER. -- CROSSING THE UPPER BAY OF NEW YORK. -- PASSAGE OF THE KILLS. -- RARITAN RIVER -- THE CANAL ROUTE FROM NEW BRUNSWICK TO THE DELAWARE RIVER. -- FROM BORDENTOWN TO PHILADELPHIA.
My canoe of the English "Nautilus" type was completed by the middle of October; and on the cold, drizzly morning of the 21st of the same month I embarked in my little fifty-eight pound craft from the landing of the paper-boat manufactory on the river Hudson, two miles above Troy. Mr. George A. Waters put his own canoe into the water, and proposed to escort me a few miles down the river. If I had any misgivings as to the stability of my paper canoe upon entering her for the first time, they were quickly dispelled as I passed the stately Club-house of the Laureates, which contained nearly forty shells, all of paper. The dimensions of the Maria Theresa were: length, fourteen feet; beam, twenty-eight inches; depth, amidships, nine inches; height of bow from horizontal line, twenty-three inches; height of stern, twenty inches. The canoe was one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and weighed fifty-eight pounds. She was fitted with a pair of steel outriggers, which could be easily unshipped and stowed away. The oars were of spruce, seven feet eight inches long, and weighed three pounds and a quarter each. The double paddle, which was seven feet six inches in length, weighed two pounds and a half. The mast and sail -- which are of no service on such a miniature vessel, and were soon discarded -- weighed six pounds. When I took on board at Philadelphia the canvas deck-cover and the rubber strap which secured it in position, and the outfit, -- the cushion, sponge, provision-basket, and a fifteen-pound case of charts, -- I found that, with my own weight included (one hundred and thirty pounds), the boat and her cargo, all told, provisioned for a long cruise, fell considerably short of the weight of three Saratoga trunks containing a very modest wardrobe for a lady's four weeks' visit at a fashionable watering-place.