H.E. Crandell canoe photos

Picking up an H. E. Crandell canoe this weekend. Was found in a warehouse. Unknown history. Looks to be in good overall condition aside from broken thwart and hole in planking. Thwarts are stamped with Crandell stamp and nameplate is intact. IF anyone has info regarding the use of the two different short decks I would love to find out more. Jim Clearwater, if you would like to post pics of Adelaide here feel free to add to the thread. Dan Miller, should this deck style be added to dragonfly site? I know Fitz has posted a photo of the same deck style as this canoe in an earlier thread about Crandell canoes.

I have read the article from the April 2007 Wooden Canoe by Bill Conrad (Great Article), but would love to know more if anyone has any info to share. Thanks!

Adam

 

Great find. Looks to be in really good shape. Please post more photos when you pick it up. MackyM

 

Here is another try at some photos.

The deck plate which is not pictured here, reads: Manufactured by H.E. Crandell Lake Quinsigamond Worchester, Mass.

 

Trying to add some more. Hopefully they turn out. The last photo is the canoe Fitz posted pictures of with the same decks as this canoe. I'll post some more pics when I get the canoe home.

Adam

 

Found a couple of references to Crandell canoes on the web that are interesting. As well as a reference to a "motor canoe" found at the following link.

http://books.google.com/books?id=fX...6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=h.e.crandell canoe&f=false

 

Got her home last night. Gave her a little bath and took a few more pics. Dan, let me know if any of these are what you're looking for, or if you need anything else. Also, anyone else who has a Crandell that wants to post photos here is more than welcome. Or, if you want a particular shot of something, let me know.

A couple of things to note include the stamping of HEC on each stem between the serial number and the length. Serial number appears to be 355 and length is 17 in keeping with known Crandell canoes. Also, each thwart is stamped on both sides with builders stamp.

Overall, the canoe is in excellent shape. No broken ribs and no sign of rot anywhere. There is a piece of wood broken off if one if the tips of the inwale cap, but I was able to find it in the grass under the canoe when I picked it up. So, that leaves fixing two small planking holes, repairing the thwart, varnish and on to Canvas etc. can't wait to get started.

Adam

 

Canvas removed. Here are some pics of planking patterns. I also noticed several areas where some of the planks were partially cut. I am assuming this would have made it easier to bend the planking with less cuts. I photo's one and included it here.

 

Brass spacers on stern seat.

 

First and foremost, Adam, you got a very nice canoe. Good score.

At first blush, my thoughts are as follows and they are only my opinions and observations based on the photos and description posted. I may be completely off base.
My first thought was that this canoe was probably built by someone other than Crandell that he picked up, repaired and added to his rental fleet. He added his name tag to ID it as one that he owned.

The obvious difference between the subject canoe (#355) and other Crandells is the deck. Howard Crandell and his father-in-law John Robertson used a three lobe or ‘W’ shaped deck. My Crandell (#368), Bill Conrad’s and the Crandell owned by Ross Brothers, photos of which are on their website ( http://www.rossbros.com/crandel.htm ), all have that style deck as well as the distinctive nickel plated brass hardware. The Crandell that John Fitzgerald helped out with has the same deck as Adam’s canoe. Both closely resemble an Old Town deck and neither have the hardware.

Secondly, the stem on my Crandell terminates on a rib not between ribs as is seen on the subject canoe. That may be significant of nothing because the stem on Bill Conrad’s Crandell ends between ribs and the marked Crandell John Fitzgerald helped out with ends at the edge of a rib. The serial number on mine has a font style best compared to ‘Italic’ (MS Word). The height of the numbers is at least half the width of the stem. Unfortunately it is so faint that it does not show up in the attached photo. The serial number of the subject canoe is a different style. The subject canoe #355 and my canoe #368 are only 13 canoes apart and it begs the question as to why was a different numbering die set used on the two canoes? It may again be significant of nothing.

Attached is a photo of my Crandell that shows the planking pattern. Also attached is a picture of the planking pattern of the marked Crandell that John helped out with. Adam attached above a picture of the planking pattern of the canoe that started this thread. The three look the same to me.

The seat frames on all the canoes look to be the same style. Simple frames with no rounded edges. The number of caning holes differs from canoe to canoe. Again this may be significant of nothing. The stern seat on mine, John’s and Bill Conrad’s canoe as well as the subject canoe all use a short brass tube as a spacer. All the thwarts match. They are flat on the bottom with a sharp edge and rounded over top. My canoe is the only one where the ends of the thwarts are not stamped with Crandell’s name.

Sometimes I think we over analyze these canoes that have variations from the norm. I believe what Adam has and the canoe that John worked on are genuine Crandells albeit with a different deck style. In his catalog Howard Crandell said he only built 17 ft. canoes because he felt that was the best but that he would build “other sizes” if requested. I think what we are seeing is one of the “other” ones.

Attached are photos of my canoe and a photo set of the canoe John worked on.

JimC

 

Photos of the canoe John Fitzgerald helped out with.

 

What a great picture! Now if I had seen that picture earlier I wouldn't have had to do so much thinking. You were holding out on us Miller!

Bill Conrad told me that Howard Crandell worked for and learned the trade from John Robertson. I always presumed that is how Crandell met and married Mabel Robertson - the boss's daughter.

Jim

 

I appreciate both of your input on this canoe and adding to the photo database both here and on Dragonfly. Dan, the photo on here is great! I think we have helped future owners or researchers and think we still have some unanswered questions. It would be interesting to find out if the two decks were used concurrently.

Adam

 

I presume he was boarding at Robertson's because he married Mable the year before. Their marriage record is as follows:
"Crandell, Howard Emery, reside Newton, MA, occupation Station Agent, age 26, born Pine Plains, NY, parents Edwin H. & Mary E. (Rowe) Crandell; Robertson, Mabel Elizabeth, reside Newton, MA, age 19, born Nicholville, NY, parents John R. & Lydia F. (Cutting) Robertson. Married Sept. 4, 1898 in Auburndale, MA. It was his second marriage, her first. Source: "Massachusetts Town & Vital Records 1620-1988," Ancestry.com

Mabel was born in 1879 in Nicholville. Nicholville is about 25 miles from Canton where Rushton had his shop and where John Robertson at some point worked. 25 miles is a bit of a stretch for a commute back in those days so I don't know how that worked.

Howard Crandell's first marriage was to Fannie Louise Shelton on June 12, 1894 in Newton, MA. They had one daughter, Hazel, b. 1895. Presumably Fannie died because Howard married Mabel Robertson in 1898. I have often wondered if Mabel was the babysitter/housekeeper for Howard after Fannie died.

Jim

 

A quick look at the 1870 census for Canton lists the following:

John H. Rushton, 26, occupation "Clerk in Store," living with Joseph Ellsworth, 41 and family. Ellsworth is listed as a "Boot & shoe manufacturer and dealer." [1870 census, Town of Canton, St Lawrence Co., NY, Series M593-1097, pg. 48B]

John R. Robertson, future father-in-law of Howard E. Carndell is living with his parents John Robertson, Sr. and family. John Sr. is listed as a shoemaker. [same census, three pages earlier]

Maybe the shoe making business is how Rushton and the Robertsons got together.

Webmaster Dan, It seems to me that this whole thread is in the wrong section, shouldn't be in the Canoe Photo Index area.

Jim

 

JimC,
What's the liquid in the jar you are brushing onto the canoe?
Davidc