Harvey Golden

What an interesting design-- it looks very practical, combining advantages of a punt with sailing canoe capabilities.  I enjoyed reading of the steering/daggerboard experiments.  Thank you!

On 5/23/2022 at 2:59 AM, Erlbon said:

It's highly likely that the wreck at Catepillar Island is the Abdera (USSB Hull no. 2274), built at Grant Smith-Porter in Aberdeen, Washington. Cancelled 1919 Mar. 25, she was later purchased by Monarch Shipbuilding for completion as a schooner, but that did not happen. The last notation of her was that her incomplete hull was renamed "Swan Island" and beached at Sauvies Island as a billboard.

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1920-06-04/ed-1/seq-22/

Thank you!  That is very interesting.  I think there had been a similar derelict across the Columbia from Caterpillar Island (on Sauvies Island), but it could have been pieces of the Cat. Island one (I recall seeing the pieces/wreck about 20 years ago).  There's still a few out there, though several have been removed in the last twenty years. 

1 hour ago, FreekS said:

Nice model - and very useful info for my just started build of my grandfathers “sail canoe/ferry” for which I only have a few images!  Nice!

 

Thank you!  I'd love to see pics of your project and the original canoe.

Thank you John.  Small and simple sure goes quickly. 

Made a nice little stand for the model-- much needed with that deep daggerboard!

Yesterday's activity, below:

That is exquisite!  Always nice to see Henry Wood Elliott's illustrations too. I haven't got the book (perhaps it explains in it...), but it seems unusual for an open boat to have a complete ceiling.   Beautifully done!

-Harvey

The bound sets do have a number of photographs-- not likely all taken by researchers, but they are well-curated. There is also updated (ca. 1980s) information and background on most of the boats included. Another very nice feature of the bound volumes is the introductory sections which include the history of the HAMMS program as well as retrospectives by a number of people involved.  A very nice surprise is the artistic and full-color plates made by some of the researchers-- there's an entire "artwork" appendix in one of the volumes.  I haven't seen sets listed for $3,000 in recent years, but have for around half that; it's actually an incredible bargain when one considers ordering all the plans individually from the Smithsonian. 

Here's a jot I wrote about these Volumes recently, for any interested: 

The Historic American Merchant Marine Survey

In the midst of the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration had many projects designed to employ workers laid off from various trades.  The short-lived Federal Project No. 6 employed shipwrights, marine surveyors, and naval architects to document ships and boats around the United States.  Despite its formal name (Historic American Merchant Marine Survey), many of the vessels surveyed were more common or anonymous than historic; a number of recreational craft and foreign-builds are also included.  During the year-and-a-half they were active (1936-1937), they recorded over 350 vessels.  Some consist of lines lifted from half-models in museums and shipyards, while others were on-site documentation of full-size vessels—some derelict, some still active.  The presentation consists of the common three-view scale drawing of a vessel’s lines, and often numerous pages of construction details, machinery details, and sail and rigging plans. 

These drawings, while available individually from the Smithsonian Institution for many years, had not been assembled into publication until 1983, when the Ayer Publishing Co. of New Hampshire turned these into a large seven volume set, complete with an introduction on the project, retrospectives by those involved, and new introductory information on each recorded vessel.  Further, the volumes include photographs of many vessels during documentation, as well as full-color and monochrome watercolor sketches made by the surveyors. The beauty of this edition is astonishing—and every drawing in it was hand inked by gifted experts, each with their own style, precision, and artfulness. The size—23-1/2” x 18-1/2” is a very worthy size for the quality of the illustrations, and many pages are foldouts. Very few libraries hold these volumes; I haven’t been able to find how many were printed.  According to WorldCat, only 11 sets are in U.S. Libraries, only 2 of which are on the West Coast.  

The range of documented watercraft is astounding.  Some of the older recorded vessels are from the 1820s, while others were just a few years old.  The survey includes dugout canoes from Nicaragua, a U.S. Revenue Cutter, sharpies, scows, schooners, barks, full-rigged iron ships, sponge fishing craft, tug boats, steamships, stern- and side-wheelers, and even two Polar exploration vessels (Peary’s S.S. Roosevelt, and what may be the only larger vessel from the survey still in existence: Roald Amundsen’s Gjöa).  Small inshore fishing craft of many designs and lineages are also represented.  

The West Coast is well represented for some areas, but in the Retrospective, a contributor expresses regret at not getting the program into and up the Columbia River.  Columbia River watercraft have since received attention and documentation, courtesy of the Historic American Engineering Record, established by the National Park Service in 1969.  The closest-to-Astoria vessel in the HAMMS set is the Steam Schooner Willapa, built in Raymond, Washington in 1908. The Willapa is masterfully recorded in over 17 sheets of drawings.  The volumes include a number of vessels of this type as well as other lumber carriers, including sailing vessels built in the Puget Sound—no doubt many serviced ports on the Columbia River. 

That this project was ever created is a bit of a miracle; its success is perhaps even more miraculous given the necessary organization and its brief existence.  At one point, the director of the project (Eric J. Steinlein) was faced with an overwhelming backlog of work the very day before the official termination of the project.  He penned a letter that afternoon beginning “Dear Mr. Roosevelt…” which bought them six more months to work. 

That this was the right project at the right time cannot be understated. A collapsed economy and widespread poverty spelled a quick end to many already aged wooden vessels. The age of working sail was effectively over, and steel was becoming the material of choice for smaller and smaller craft—eventually fiberglass would replace the smallest of wooden work boats. During the Great Depression, the older relics had not yet rotted completely away, and they were ripe for documentation.  These volumes provide a glimpse of what was—a diverse fleet no longer in existence, captured in its twilight. Also captured in these volumes are the mastery of draftsmen trained by hand, shipbuilders trained by eye, and the ever-pressing urgency of historical documentation. 

Completed.  Just a scrap of book-cloth for the sail-- holds a nice shape. I could add sail lacing to yard and boom, but the artist in me says 'done.'  Here's pics of the completed model, followed by a bit more old ephemera, including another book by Willy Goepferich, this one on how to build a folding kayak (no date, ca. late 40s).  Thanks for following! --Harvey

Ca. 1938

I had the great luxury of baby-sitting a set of these for about a year-- they are incredible beyond belief!  I have tried to find out how many sets were printed, but haven't had any luck. Enjoy your set!

Best, 

Harvey

The Segelkanu is nearly done!  The rudder is in place and the steering lines are run through the coaming back, through fairleads on the coaming sides, and to the foot pedals.  The mast is stepped, and the forestay and shrouds in place. (I think it's quite pretentious to have these on a vessel this size, but I admire the designer's restraint in not including a bowsprit.) Just need to whip up a sail and all is done. . .

I found an old postcard of a similar vessel.  It is labeled a "Perissoire," being French, but unlike many French Perissoires, this example has slab (plumb) sides.  The fore-deck is a bit of a mystery-- looks lumpy for some reason.  The admiral's haughty contempt is rather charming, though I pity her crew:

Lastly, the full-size-- woefully behind the model's progress. . . 

Working on the steering gear, etc. The canoe has a wooden pedal-steering unit, with lines that run back through the cockpit to the rudder horns. Also, the daggerboard is made, sheer trim in place, and a perfectly sized brass grommet for the mast hole. 

The full-size is progressing well, too.  Building the model has sure streamlined the process for full-size, but quite the difference in time, cost, and material quality though!

Picked some colors for the canoe-- sort of mirroring the colors on the cover of the book, but still off-the-shelf colors. The brightwork of the coaming, floorboards and stems is redwood.  A little trim will clean up the sides/deck joint. 

I'm also building this canoe full-size.  I'm using marine plywood instead of solid planking as spec'd in the instructions. 

5 hours ago, wefalck said:

Yes, the NEPTUNIA-article also talks about perissoirs, which were, as the name indicates, quite perilous craft. The Musée de la Batellerie (Inland Shipping Museum) in Conflans-St. Honorine (near Paris) has several specimen, one of which was home-built. 

Thank you for posting these-- that's quite a beautiful book.  I've made a Perissoire model from the book below-- from ca. 1944; I'll probably build one full-size at some point.  Thank you also for the mention of that museum-- hope to visit someday.  Best, H-

Some more progress:  I carved the curved deck beams that fit to the frame molds. The middle one will have stub beams to support the coaming's inner carlins, as it is in the middle of the cockpit.  Also glued up the centerboard trunk and cut the slot in the hull. 

I didn't get a photo of the carlins in place, but you can see them below adjacent the cockpit; the deck is in place!

The Swede-form hull is very evident in these pictures. 

Mostly done, but a lot of little things to add . . . 

Thank you again, Eberhardt.  That book looks pretty interesting, sort of along the lines of "The Boy Mechanic" series popular here in the early 1900s.  I look forward to seeing your Neptune article-- are the 'kayaks' of the Perissoire form?  (Those are another boat type of interest to me). 

Folbot made both folding and non-folding kayaks as well as kits.  Of course, any kayak or canoe is a folding type if one puts in the effort. . . .

There were quite a number of folding kayak companies in Germany back then-- Klepper is one that is still around; I think Nautiraid in France goes way back, too, but not as old as Klepper (1911?).  I think Folbot might be English in origin, but it moved to the U.S. at some point.  Here's a link to a German folding canoe/kayak site . . . gives a hint at just how popular these were: http://www.faltbootbasteln.de  

Recreational paddling in the West has an interesting history, I suppose starting with John MacGregor and his immensely popular "Rob Roy" canoeing adventures, as well as the travels of Nathaniel Bishop.  The emerging middle class, the concept of week-ends, outdoor health, light weight portable vessels (to build or buy), gave many the chance to captain their own yacht.  Indigenous designs from North America were quite influential to this movement.  

Thank you Wefalck-- I couldn't remember the name of it.  I'd love to know the title of the book you mention, as it doesn't sound familiar. 

Best, Harvey

I've had this book on the shelf for years, and was finally inspired to make a model of the canoe featured in it.  The book, which is un-dated, comes with fold-out plans and complete instructions. I'm building it in 3/4"=1' scale, from paper and wood.  First. . . the book: 

The canoe has a lugsail, and perhaps a little pretentiously, a forestay and shrouds.  A daggerboard is used, along with a foot-steered rudder.

I can't read or speak German, but fortunately, Google translate makes quick work of the text, so there won't be any issues there . . .

 
The hull is markedly Swede-form, and has slab sides and a flat bottom.  Just five molds/frames are used to build the boat.  Lofting doesn't get much easier than this.  I inked it right on the paper that will be the hull-- the paper is about 1/16" thick, is dense pressed, and has a very polished finish. . . anyone know what this paper is called? (I get it at the local artists' 'scrap' store.)

After cutting out the panels, I glued up the five frames onto the floor panel.  With this dry, I glued the side panels onto the frames, bending the bottom up at the ends so it's edges mates flush with the curve (rocker) of the side-pieces.  Hmmm . . . I'm almost done!  

Thank you for posting. Towards the bottom of the link is a photo of their exhibit at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, Oregon. https://www.crmm.org/current-exhibits.html

What a lovely mix of technical and artistic representation!

Here's a "D" Adze-- a small hand adze commonly used historically on the Pacific Northwest Coast.  I've no idea how widespread this form is, but it's superb for close controlled detail work.  This example is a late 20th C. example with a large steel file blade; handle is probably Alder or W. Maple.  The historic image shows on on the PNW coast used to dress a canoe hull. 

I've used an adze a bit, and while I never came close to whacking myself with it, when one sets it down, the edge and a corner are upright, so naturally . . . I've stepped on one, with bare-feet, alas(!)  Quite the trail of blood . . . 

I think any culture that made boards from trees or did any hollowing of wood probably used adzes-- at least till they were replaced by planes and metal gouges/hollowing drawknives.  With regards to Alaska, Iron (of terrestrial origin) had been traded across the Bering Straits as far back as 2,000 years ago.  Any metal-fastened parts of shipwrecks that drifted ashore would've been put to good use as tools/weapons.  The oceans sort of provided a pre-contact globalization of certain materials.  

2 hours ago, wefalck said:

OK, different peoples, but do they relate to the Haida dug-outs in some way?

I can't speak to the relation/differences, but I believe each group (Haida/Tlingit) had several types of canoes each, used for different purposes/environments.  The forms varied, but the general technology behind their creation was probably very similar.  The book above covers all this in great detail as well as presents information on forms long extinct.

Thanks for posting this Bill!  Here's a link about the project: https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2016/02/traditional-tlingit-dugout-canoe-being-carved-sitka-national-historical-park  The NPS is doing updates just on FB so far, but no doubt on-the-water/completed pics will trickle out elsewhere in time.   

BTW, this superb book recently became available, written by two of the most capable scholars on the subject: