The Perfect Canoe

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1878

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To Mr. John Macgregor, of the Inner Temple, belongs the proud distinction of having invented a new pleasure. Other men have invented steamboats, railways, telegraphs - mere devices to increase the hurry and rush which are the bane of modern life - but Mr. Macgregor has invented canoeing, the most perfect of all possible out-of-door sports. Canoeing contains all the delights of yachting, and in addition many other delights of which the yachtsman knows nothing. To use a delicately poetic figure, it bears to yachting the same relation that quinine bears to Peruvian bark. It is the active principle of yachting set free from costly suppers, tyrannical sailing-masters and the endless war of keel and centre-board. The canoeist cruises not only on the Sound and the sand-girt bays of the Atlantic coast, but on the wild and rapid rivers of the remotest wilderness. His paddle is the key that unlocks the secrets of mountain streams, and admits him to Hesperidean gardens of which other men can only dream. To have lived and loved was considered by a German poet to he a very satisfactory thing, but the man who can say, "I have lived and paddled," has alone known perfect happiness.

Every body knows that Mr. Macgregor built the Rob Roy, the pioneer of all cruising canoes, and by the story of his cruises on the Rhine, the Danube, the fords and lakes of Norway, and the Syrian waters of Pharpar and Abana, stimulated hundreds of his fellow-countrymen to follow his example. The cruising canoe is as unlike the barbarous birch or dug-out as a schooner yacht is unlike a raft. It is a craft in which a man can sail or paddle in rough or smooth, deep or shallow, water, in which he can travel by day and sleep at night, and which in case of necessity he can take under his arm, and drag around an impassable rapid, or over a portage from one stream to another. No other craft permits its owner these priceless privileges; and hence the canoe, having made that possible which before was impossible, is an invention of incalculable value to the lover of nature and open-air sports.

There are many types of canoes. Mr. Macgregor has remained faithful to his "Rob Roy," but other canoeists have varied from that model in search of absolute perfection. The best four models of cruising canoes are known respectively as the "Rob Roy," the "Nautilus," the "Herald," and the "Shadow." The former two are English and the latter two American in their origin. Each of the first three has its peculiar merits and defects, but it is claimed for the "Shadow," the latest of them all, that she is the final solution of the problem how to build a perfect canoe.

In addition to its peculiarities of model every canoe has its own moral character. This may seem strange to the mere philosopher who has never made himself familiar will the habits of canoes but it is strictly true. Between two echoes of the same model, and built by the same builder, there may exist a tremendous moral distain. This is the case with two canoes belonging to the New York Canoe Club which have often cruised together. The Ethel is ill-tempered and vicious. SIte constantly abrades her owner. At one time she will tear his clothing with her cleats, and at another will bite pieces out of him with the edge of her combing or the extremities of concealed screws. On the other hand, the Violetta is as harmless as a kind and cultured mastiff; and possesses a degree of skill in threading her way through a channel obstructed by sunken rocks which is simply marvellous. Nevertheless she has one grave fault - a persistent determination to break loose when anchored or tethered for the night. So continued is this habit that the owner of the Violetta never dreams of leaving her afloat without someone to watch her, and always drags her ashore at night, and fastens her with a lock and chain to a large tree. Now to the ordinary observer the Ethel and the Violetta are precisely alike, and yet there is a cloud of credible witnesses who will testify to the moral idiosyncrasies just imputed to them. What the moral character of a canoe may be, the builder can not foretell, and experience can alone declare. Of all canoes however, it may be said that they require to be tamed before they abandon their native fondness for mischievously pitching their captains overboard.

The proneness of the untamed canoe to capsize is undeniable. Certain models are less addicted to this fault than are others, but the canoe-owner is never safe until his craft has become accustomed to him. The canoe is much stiffer than the racing shell, but far more crank than the row-boat. Nevertheless, as soon as one becomes familiar with the canoe, all danger of capsizing vanishes, except, of course, in connection with sudden squalls or a heavy sea, combined with gross mismanagement on the part of her commander. Properly managed, the canoe is the safest craft afloat, and no canoeist who can swim well enough to support himself for half a minute in the water has any excuse for drowning while cruising in a good canoe.

There are two requisites which necessarily belong to every cruising canoe, of whatever type. The canoe must not weigh more than seventy pounds, and must be capacious enough to be slept in by the captain at night. A canoe weighing more than seventy pounds can not be readily taken over a portage by one man, and a canoe that can not be slept in is not a canoe, but an insufficient hollow mockery. But there are other requisites which belong to the perfect canoe. Swiftness under sail, ease of handling under paddle, strength, stiffness, capacity to carry stores, imperviousness to rain, inability to sink even when full of water, and last, but not least, beauty of model and finish, are qualities which every canoe-builder strives to secure, but which are found to their fullest extent in the "Shadow" only. We in this country have a decided advantage over Englishmen in the possession of white cedar wood, which is the best possible material for canoe building. With nearly the strength of oak, white cedar is much lighter, and never warps. A fourteen-foot canoe, which if built with oak planks would weigh eighty pounds, can be built of white cedar and will weigh not more than sixty pounds. White cedar however, should be used only for planking. The keel, keelson, timbers, and combing (or wash board) must be oak; the stem and stern posts hackmatack, the deck Spanish cedar, the carlines pine, the trimings black-walnut, and the paddle spruce. Experience has proved that for use on all waters an extreme length of fourteen feet on deck is quite sufficient, and a canoeist who is not over five foot tall can use a canoe thirteen or thirteen feet six inches long.

It must be admitted that the ownership of a canoe, like the ownership of a yacht, tends to develop hypocrisy and mendacity. The canoeist always maintains that the canoe of which for the time being he is the owner is as nearly perfect as any canoe can be. Of course no one expects a man to tell the truth as to the speed of his boat, but it is very sad to hear an otherwise upright and trustworthy man praising his "Nautilus" of today with the same vehemence with which he yesterday praised his now discarded "Rob Roy," and to know that he is nevertheless keenly conscious of the defects which he will freely impute to the "Nautilus" if he ever becomes the owner of a "Shadow." There is one estimable gentleman in this city who owns a "Herald" canoe - the only type of canoe that is not decked over, and that freely admits rain into its cabin. This perverted person has been known to sit shivering in three or four inches of water after a cold shower, and to unblushingly boast that his canoe was virtually dry, with the exception of two or three drops of collected spray. And yet he would scorn to tell a lie about a cherry-tree or any thing of that sort. A "Herald" canoe undoubtedly dulls one's regard for veracity more rapidly than any other type of canoe, and this fact should be remembered by conscientious men when choosing a canoe.

The best known and the most popular of all canoes is the "Rob Roy." It is fourteen feet long, twenty-six inches extreme breadth from outside to outside, and eleven inches from deck to keelson, the deck having a camber of one inch. The well-hole, or opening in the deck in which the captain sits, is eliptical in shape, and thirty-two inches in length by twenty in breadth. The "Rob Roy" is precisely alike at bow and stern, and has no sheer. She has five planks on each side, and her midship section is very nearly a semicircle. She has no rudder, being steered with the paddle on the Iee side, and has one mast, stepped about three feet six inches from the stem. Her keel is one inch in depth. As in all canoes, the captain sits on the floor boards, facing the bow, supported by a backboard, and swinging a double-bladed paddle. In order that he may use his paddle with the greatest efficacy, he must sit a little aft of midships, and the widest part of the canoe should therefor be six inches abaft of the true midship section. Water-tight compartments at each end, which render sinking impossible, are now considered as essential part of every canoe.

The merits of the "Rob Roy" are her shallow draught of water, in which she nearly approaches the "Herald" model, and the ease with which she is paddled, especially against a head-wind, she having no sheer to catch the wind.

Her defects are many. Her semicircular midship section gives her but little "bearings," and renders her inferior to all other canoes in stiffness. Her lack of sheer makes her prone to run her bow under when scudding under sail, and sometimes insures her swamping even when managed with the paddle alone. Her little sail is of scarcely any use unless the wind is very nearly aft. In fact, the "Rob Roy" is not intended for bay or broad river navigation, and is built especially for narrow and shallow streams, where sailing is impracticable.

But the "Rob Roy's" worst fault as a cruising canoe is the limited character of her sleeping accomodations. The captain, after worming himself into the cabin, must sleep with his head and part of his chest under the deck. As an inevitable consequence, he dreams that he is buried alive in a cheap and ill-fitting coffin, and when he awakes he invariably contuses his nose against the deck carlines. During the cruising season the owner of a "Rob Roy" may always be identified by his nose. A peculiar abrasion, known among anatomists as "Macgregor's hine," diversifies the ridge of the nose, while in point of redness and swelling that organ compares favorably with the noses of our most eminent drunkards.

Now a canoe in which one can not sleep comfortably is, so for, unfit for cruising. Of course one might carry a tent in a "Rob Roy," and sleep on shore; but the weight of the tent and the trouble of pitching it interfere greatly with the canoeist's comfort. Moreover, the canoeist who does not sleep in his canoe is guilty of heresy, and deserves the lasting scorn of all orthodox paddlers.

The "Nautilus" canoe was designed by Mr. Baden-Powell, a prominent English canoeist, and is in many respects an improvement upon the model of the "Rob Roy." A fourteen-foot "Nautilus" is twenty-eight inches wide and eleven inches in depth from deck to keelson amidships. The top of the stem-post and the top of the stern-post are respectively one foot eleven inches and one foot seven inches above the keel. This enormous sheer is probably a reminiscence of the Greenland kayak, of which the "Nautilus" is the lineal descendant.

The cockpit of the "Nautilus" is octagonal in shape, and is five feet long and twenty inches wide at its widest part. Fig. 5 shows the shape of the cockpit, each end of which is covered by a movable hatch. Just where the captain sits is a bulk-head (as in Fig. 11), to which the backboard is attached. The after-hatch reaches to this bulk-head, and gives access to the part of the canoe in which most of the baggage is carried. The bulk-head is a movable one, and is pulled out at night, thus giving abundant sleeping room. The "Nautilus" has a straight stern-post, inclined at an angle with the keel, and is steered within a rudder. She carries two masts, and spreads about sixty square feet of canvas, including the jib. Her midship section shows that she has more bearings than the "Rob Roy," and is hence stiffer.

The list of the merits of the "Nautilus" reflects credit upon her designer. She is an excellent sea-boat under sail, and when close-hauled is comfortable and dry. Her great sheer renders it impossible to drive her bow under, and so long as the paddler has strength to keep her head to the sea, she will live in any weather. Under sail alone she is of course much faster than the "Rob Roy," and there is no sailing canoe that is her superior for bay and broad river sailing.

Then the "Nautilus" affords her captains a comfortable state-room at night. By withdrawing the sliding bulk-head and removing the after-hatch he can find room to sleep without thrusting his head under the deck. In case of rain, he can lash the paddle from one mast to the other, and by throwing a water-proof blanket over this extemporized ridge-pole can secure complete shelter, and, in case he is cruising in company with a "Rob Roy," can cheer himself with the thought that the captain of the latter must choose between soaking and suffocation, those being the only alternatives open to him.

For sailing purposes there is no doubt that the "Nautilus" is an admirable canoe. Of course, like all other canoes, she will swamp if placed broadside to the sea, but no one wants to place her in that situation. She paddles easily, and her keel and straight stern-post prevent her from "wobbling" at each paddle stroke. If the canoeist could always be sure of plenty of water and fair winds, the "Nautilus" would be, perhaps, the best canoe he could select; but, as every experienced cruiser knows, a narrow stream with frequent rapids and a wooded shore to temper the rays of the sun affords the perfection of canoeing, and for such work the "Nautilus" is not so well adapted as are some other canoes. Her chief fault is her tremendous sheer, which renders it nearly impossible to paddle her against a strong head-wind. Her designer gave her this sheer so that, in case of capsizing under sail, she would right herself on being relieved of the weight of her masts. All that is necessary however, is that a capsized canoe should be able to be righted by a slight effort on the part of her captain, and the excessive sheer of the "Nautilus" is practically useless so far as the end which the designer had in view is concerned.

While her great spread of canvas gives her speed under sail, the "Nautilus" is able to bear this canvas only when furnished with about forty pounds of ballast. There is no kind of cargo which is so unsatisfactory as ballast, and this is especially true of a canoe which must be emptied whenever a portage is made. The ballast, usually a sand-bag, must be lashed to the bottom of the canoe, or else, in case of a capsize, it rolls from side to side, and makes it impossible to right her. The captain of a "Nautilus" who recently capsized with his ballast unleashed asserts that every time he touched his canoe she performed a complete circuit at the rate of at least twenty-five revolutions per minute, and exhibited so much malignity in striving to lasso him with flying ropes that he abandoned he in terror, and swam for the shore. Per contra, another "Nautilus," with her ballast lashed, righted herself after having pitched her captain overboard on the Delaware River, and sailed away so rapidly that it was impossible for him to overtake her. As it is an inconvenient operation to lash the ballast, it is usually neglected when cruising in a region where portages are frequent, and in the canoeist is thus sure to find himself in serious difficulties if he capsizes.

Though the straight stern-post keeps the canoe straight when under paddle, it is a disadvantage when it is desired to turn her quickly. The captain has to back water on one side and to paddle on the other with patience and determination before he can succeed in turning her. Then the "Nautilus" draws more water than any of the three other types of canoes with which we are just now concerned. The octagonal shape of her cockpit weakens the deck, and as the combing which encircles the cockpit must necessarily be made in several pieces, it is of no value in binding the deck together, whereas the elliptical combing, made of a single piece, such as is found in the "Shadow" and the "Rob Roy," ads vastly to their strength. To sum up, the "Nautilus" is a better sailing canoe than the "Rob Roy," and a poorer paddling canoe, and is suited for bays and harbors rather than narrow and shallow streams.

The "Herald" canoe owes its name to the maker, a boat-builder whose shop is at Rice Lake, Province of Ontario. While the "Nautilus" follows remotely the Greenland mould, the "Herald" canoe is an improved "birch." She is built without keel or timbers, and her hull consists of two thicknesses of plank steamed and bent around a mould, and riveted together. She is smooth on the outside, instead of being clinker-built, as are all other canoes, and is immensely strong. Her model is almost identical with that of the birch. Each end is precisely alike; she is without a deck or water-tight compartments, and her sides are kept in position by three heavy thwarts. She is nearly flat-bottomed amidships, and her sides rise suddenly. She is stiffer than a "Nautilus" up to a certain point - to quote Mr. Brooke - but when a "Herald" canoe does decide to capsize, the rapidity with which the operation is performed is simply dazzling. She is steered within a paddle, carries two masts and requires no ballast.

Conspicuous among the merits of the "Herald" is an astonishing speed under sail. Lying on the surface of the water, she skims over instead of through it; and when a "Herald" and a "Nautilus" cruise in company, the captain of the latter daily blackens his soul with ingeniously concocted but utterly baseless explanations of his conduct in constantly remaining a mile or two behind the fleet "Herald." The slight draught of the "Herald" is also an advantage in shallow water, and as she has no keel she can be quickly turned with the paddle. Then the "Herald" has a much greater carrying capacity than any of her competitors, and never wets her cargo by leakage. It can not be denied that these are admirable qualities in a canoe, and that in a measure they justify the praises of those who, being possessed of "Heralds," strive to convince themselves and others that they are happy. The faults of this type of canoe are, however, as prominent as her merits, and seriously impair her efficiency as a cruiser.

Having no deck, the "Herald" is extremely uncomfortable in rainy weather. A smart shower wets her cargo thoroughly, and in case of a capsize it spills everything overboard. The same want of deck, combined within a somewhat too full bow, renders her a bad sea-boat in a head-sea, the spray constantly dashing over her. If she fills, from whatever cause, she quietly sinks, leaving her captain to save himself by swimming. The position of her thwarts forbids all idea of sleeping in her with any comfort, and a "Herald" captain always follows the primitive Indian plan of lying on the ground and putting his boat over him like an umbrella. After a rainy night, when he crawls forth wet and stiff; and receives the sympathy of his cruising comrade who has slept comfortably in his "Nautilus," the wretched "Herald" captain doubtless feels that what his canoe really needs is to be split into firewood; but with the stoical mendacity bred of canoeing, he will stoutly deny that he is wet, and affect to pity the man who sleeps in the close confinement of a decked canoe. In spite of the ease with which the "Herald" skims over the water, she does not paddle well, for the reason that each stroke of the paddle deflects her head from her proper course. This "wobbling" tendency is due to her lack of keel, and it is counteracted by a slight turn of the paddle, which, however, is an addition to the fatigue of paddling and a hinderance to the speed of the boat.

There is no canoe which is so useful - when owned by another man - as the "Herald." The astute man who owns a "Rob Roy," a "Nautilus" or a "Shadow" always endeavors to cruise in company within a "Herald," since the greater stowage capacity of the latter renders it easy to induce her captain to carry all the stores except the coffee and tobacco, both of which suffer damage when water-soaked. With a little flattery the devoted "Herald" man can be made to take charge of one article after another, until his companion entirely relieves his own canoe of all undesirable weight. It is not wise to openly ask the "Herald" captain to carry more than his share of cargo; but if the designing "Nautilus" captain remarks in connection, let us say, within the frying pan, "I shall have to leave this frying-pan, the truth is, the 'Nautilus' has no room whatever for cargo," my companion, eager to show the superiority of his own canoe will always offer to carry the frying-pan, and will assert that he has room for at least a dozen more of the same size. The canoeist should never buy a "Herald" himself; but should urge his friends to buy "Heralds" with every argument which he can command. Thus will he cruise in a canoe unburdened save with coffee and tobacco and will enjoy the pleasure of making his comrade happy by complimenting him upon the superior stowage capacity of his canoe.

Finally, the "Herald" is not a beautiful canoe. Her model is not graceful, her abominable thwarts are an offense in the eyes of a sincere and earnest canoeist, and the enormous quantity of rivets which covers her sides gives her somewhat the look of a woman with an excessively bad complexion. There are, of course, "Herald" owners who believe their canoes are beautiful, just as there are husbands who believe their wives are improved houris, while all the world knows that they are painfully ugly. The accompanying sketch of a "Herald" is drawn by her owner, and unquestionably represents her in the most favorable light. Nevertheless, he is doubtless honest in believing that she is beautiful. It should be remarked that there is one subject which no delicate person will mention in the hearing of a "Herald" owner. It is the subject of rivets. The excessive quantity of rivets which disfigures the canoe is always ignored by her owner, and if they are mentioned by a coarse and ill-bred person, the result is usually inconsistent with the harmony of feeling and integrity of nose which should characterize a canoe cruise. Neither is it wise to allude to the fact that the bottoms of lakes and rivers on which "Herald" canoes are addicted to cruising are gradually becoming covered with a deposit of articles lost overboard from capsized canoes of that particular model. There are some rich placers in Lake Champlain which await the future diver, and which owe their richness to the "dumping" of cargoes of well-loaded "Heralds."

The comparative merits of these three types of canoes can be most readily shown by a series of figures, than which nothing is more satisfactory and soothing to the scientific mind. Assuming that ten means the highest attainable degree of perfection, we may compare the "Rob Roy," the "Nautilus," and the "Herald" as follows:

Rob Roy	Nautilus	Herald
Speed under sail	4	7	10
Speed under paddle	10	8	8
Stiffness	6	8	9
Lightness of draught	8	6	10
Security against rain	10	10	0
Security against sinking	10	10	0
Seaworthiness	8	9	6
Strength	9	9	10
Sleeping accommodations	4	9	0
Beauty	8	9	7
Totals	77	85	60

It is thus seen that for general cruising purposes the "Nautilus" is better than the "Rob Roy" and vastly superior to the "Herald." It is, nevertheless, by no means perfect. The nearest approach to perfection which has yet been made is to be found in the "Shadow" - a variation of the "Nautilus" model designed by a member of the New York Canoe Club, and built by James Everson, of Williamsburg (Brooklyn), which will appear on American waters for the first time during the coming season.

The "Shadow" is of the same length as the "Nautilus" and of the same breadth on deck amidships. The upper planks, however, "tumble home" to a very marked degree, and the canoe is nearly four inches broader at the bottom of the top plank than is the "Nautilus" at her broadest part. At the same time her bottom is much flatter, and her floor is carried forward and aft at least a foot in each direction further than is the floor of the "Nautilus" or the "Rob Roy." This model gives stiffness, buoyancy, light draught, and abundant room for sleeping. The "Shadow" is so stiff that she needs no ballast, and so buoyant that she rises to her seas much quicker than any of her competitors. She draws little, if any, more water than the "Herald," and is so broad below the water-line that the average professional fat woman could sleep in her.

Next, the excessive sheer of the "Nautilus" is reduced by one-half. With six inches sheer the "Shadow" will keep herself perfectly dry, and can be paddled against a head-wind with comparative ease.

Then her water-tight compartments, which are twice as large as would be necessary were their only purpose that of preventing the canoe from sinking, are provided with water-tight hatches, so that they can be used for the stowage of such articles as must be kept dry in all contingencies. This gives her almost as much stowage capacity as the "Herald," and also alleviates the necessity of carrying perishable stores in an India rubber bag. Hitherto the India rubber bag has been a necessary part of every canoeist's outfit, and the bane of his existence. From six to twelve times each day it becomes necessary to unlace and relace the mouth of that bag; and there is no doubt that if Satan could have enticed Job into cruising with an India rubber bag, his victory over the patient patriarch would have been assured.

Like the "Rob Roy," the "Shadow" has an elliptical cockpit of the same length and breadth as that of the "Nautilus." It is, however, provided with extra hatches which, when placed in position and locked, enable her owner to pack her with everything necessary for a cruise, and to send her by rail or steamboat to any destination as safely as if she were an ordinary traveling trunk. When cruising, one of these extra hatches is stowed below, while the other takes the place of an apron in protecting the captain from the drip of the paddle and from occasional spray.

In point of speed, the "Shadow" is certainly more than a match for the "Herald" in a stiff breeze, and is probably little if any inferior to her in light winds. In weight, there is nothing to choose between any of the four types of canoes, as any one of them, if not over fourteen feet long, will weigh not more than sixty pounds.

If we now represent the merits of the "Shadow" arithmetically, we shall obtain the following result:

Speed under sail	9
Speed under paddle	10
Stiffness	10
Lightness of draught	9
Security against rain	10
Security against sinking	10
Seaworthiness	10
Strength	10
Sleeping accommodations	10
Beauty	10
Safety in transportation	10
Total	108

The last item refers to the property, peculiar to the "Shadow," of being converted into a temporary trunk or packing case by means of the extra hatches. As to the beauty of the "Shadow," there is really no room for any difference of opinion.

It is difficult to see in what way the "Shadow" cam be improved. As a cruising canoe she is nearly perfect. If some material lighter than wood, and equal to it in all other respects, should be discovered, a lighter, and therefore a better, canoe might be built, but within the materials now at our command the "Shadow" can not be surpassed.

Within the "Shadow" the furthest limits of the canoeable "to speak after the manner of the philosophers" can be explored. Her captain can cruise in the Sound and along the coast wherever a "Nautilus" could venture, and has the comfort of knowing that should it become necessary for him to strike his masts, and keep his canoe with her head to the wind by means of the paddle, he will not be completely exhausted at the end of the first hour. He can challenge a "Rob Roy" to explore with him the wilds of the Maine wilderness, knowing that at night he can sleep in spite of rain amid mosquitoes, while his comrade passes the midnight hours in alternately choking under his deck or delivering himself a prey to mosquitoes while he emerges for a temporary supply of air. He can run the rapids of the St. Lawrence as easily as the captain of a "Herald;" and if both canoeists capsize, the "Shadow" will float herself and her cargo, and support in addition the weight of the captain of the lost "Herald" while he clings to her stern. The "Shadow" is the consummate flower of canoe-building, and must ultimately supersede all her rivals.

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This article first appeared in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Issue Number 335, 1878, published by Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, New York.

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Editors Note:This article, written anonymously, later appeared in The Canoe and The Flying Proa by W.L. Alden, 1877, Harper and Brothers. It is interesting that the author, W.L. Alden, also was the designer of the Shadow, which is highly touted over the other models described in the article. A classic example of tooting one's own horn. He carried this thesis further in the boys' book The Cruise of the Canoe Club, where four boys acquire a Rob Roy, Herald, canvas and (of course) Shadow canoes. Naturally the Shadow out-performs the others, and the boys survive a series of mishaps that would do in a goodly number of todays folks.

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