808 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 10, 1889. 



THE COLLINGWOOD FISHING BOAT. 



THE OoRingwood fishing boat, the peculiar craft of the fisher- 

 men of the Georgian Bay in particular, and the Canadian 

 fishermen in general, is perhaps the largest and most powerful 

 hoat over designed and developed for use solely upon fresh water, 

 and she is certainly strong, speedy and seaworthy to a degree that 

 entitles her to respect and fame. Although as a general rule tile 

 hoat of the local fisherman is marvelously well adapted for the 

 work it has to do, it is only under exceptional circumstances that 

 the local fishing hoat ceases to bo but a variation of the common 

 type and rises to the dignity of becoming entitled to he classed as 

 a distinct species. The Collingwood fishing boat is certainly, by 

 vh±ue of her peculiar lines, sharp stern, deck and rig, a distinct 

 type, and although she approaches closely in all these particulars 

 to the canoe yaw], she is nevertheless indigenous in the strictest 

 sense of that term, having been developed in the locality, the 

 name of which, for the lack of a better, she bears without being 

 affected to any appreciable extent by exterior influences. 



The conditions under which she was developed, the general 

 characteristics of the Georgian Bay and of the Great Lakes are, 

 however, exceptional enough to justify all the individuality she 

 possesses, and to tax them seriously upon occasions. Nowhere 

 else in the world do the winds find as large areas of fresh water 

 to exert themselves upon as they do in Lakes .Superior. Huron 

 and Michigan, and nowhere else are such tremendous seas piled 

 up upon fresh water. 



The Georgian Bay in particular has certain characteristics in 

 this respect which are not of the variety it is pleasant to trifle 

 with. It is nor. only the largest of fresh water gulfs,and by virtue 

 of the purity of its limpid water and the infinite variety of 

 its rocky and wooded shores, one of the most beautiful bodies 

 of water in this continent of beautiful waters; it is perhaps 

 the mast dangerous of the water stretches of the Great Lakes, 

 and that is saying a good deal. Not even Lake Superior 

 itself, that fierce destroyer which gives not up its dead, can 

 surpass the furiously angry and broken sea which the Geor- 

 gian is quite willing to organize, in a most disorderly fashion, to 

 please a nor'wester, and Ihe greatest of the Great Lakes is too 

 majestic to go off in a tantrum of the most vicious description 

 merely because a thunder cloud has dared to cast a dark shadow 

 on its bright waters. This bay has also acquired the most unde- 

 sirable habit of beginning a summer day as placidly as a fish pond 

 and finishing it one seething, heaving mass of foam-clad water- 

 hillocks. 



Lake;Huron has a good deal to answer for in this connection; it 

 is too anxious to pour in a great rolling sea. through the "Gap" 

 between Cabot's Head and the Manatoulins, without consulting 

 the wishes of the Georgian, and the bay, feeling aggrieved, 

 promptly loses its temper and rages at the Lake seas in a manner 

 somewhat trying to the nerves of the sailormen, who, for their 

 sins, are trying to make way against this watery eommqtion. In 

 spite of all it* tantrums, however, a right glorious cruising ground 

 is this Georgian Bay, and even the Thousand Isles are tame com- 

 pared to the beauties of the Christians and the Maoatoulins and 

 the deep fiords of its southern and eastern coast. It must he con- 

 fessed, however, that if these same coasts are not iron hound, 

 they are rock bouud to a degree that makes it unpleasant to 

 attempt to cultivate anything approaching a shore acquaintance 

 between them and the planking of a boat. Unless, therefore, the 

 man who goes down to the Georgian Bay in a boat wishes to dis- 

 pense with" a coffin, he needs a craft under him that will not only 

 ride a. broken sea like a cork, but will go to windw T ard in a smother 

 of foam and stand up under sail enough to make her do it in a 

 gale. 



The fury of the autumnal and even the short lived summer 

 gales on t he Lakes is phenomenal, but as a species of compensa- 

 tion therefor, tiiey frequently relapse into a placid and breath- 

 less calm, which is as trying to the sailor's temper as the gale is 

 to his seamanship and endurance. As the fishermen must get to 

 their nets in a calm, as well as when there is a chance of storm, 

 the craft which he uses upon these waters must not only be able 

 to carry her canvass, and if needs be weather a gale; hut must 

 not be either too big or too heavy to do fairly well under an ash 

 breeEc, and that not stronger than can be supplied by two men 

 and a boy at most. The Collingwood fishing boat was designed to 

 meet these varying conditions, she has been developed in accord- 

 ance with them, and if she dees not do so to a degree that renders 

 improvement impossible, she is so superior to any other type or 

 class of boat in use on the Lakes, that by comparison she does so 

 perfectly. She is very fast and powerful, a regular wind jammer, 

 and whether under sail, or when picking up nets, is very dry. 

 Although big enough to face either Superior or Huron, without 

 being dismayed, and to cairy her gear and berth her crew, she is 

 easily pulled, and more easily handled by her normal crew of 

 two men 



The dimensions of a typical Collingwood fishing boat are as 

 follows: 



Length, extreme 32ft. 



L. W L 3lft. 



Beam, extreme 8ft. Sin. 



Depth, amidships , 35in. 



bow — . ,., COin. 



Draft of water 18in. 



Distance from stem to foremast 2ft. Oiu. 



mainmast 21ft. 



Length, foredeck 10ft. 



cockpit... 18ft. 



Size of centerboard 7ft.x3J4t't. 



Ballast 3,0001 bs. 



Lenght of foremast 34ft. 



boom 18ft. 6in. 



yard 15ft. 



Area of sail 113 sq. ft. 



Length of mai"mast 32ft. 



bo m 21ft. 



yar 14ft. 6in. 



Area of saii 357 sq. ft, 



These boats are invariably clinker built, the planking being of 

 clear white pine, three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and they 

 are strongly framed, the timbers being put in about live inches 

 apart. Their lines are long and easy, and they have a good deal 

 of dead rise, but carry their beam well down for all that. The 

 bow and stern tines are. nearly alike, and they take their greatest 

 beam about the center. In some of the older boats the rule, "a 

 cod's hpad and a mackerel's tail," has been followed to a modi- 

 fied extent, the fore body being fuller than the after, but this is 

 the exception, not the rule. Hollow lines are carefully avoided, 

 and, in fact, with the exception of the dead rise which these boats 

 have, the problem of combining stability and speed under arm 

 power, has been worked out in their lines in much the same man- 

 ner that it has in the Canadian canoe. Their decks are not mere 

 after thoughts or painful excrescences, but a very important 

 part of their buing, and treated as such. The cockpit islarge, but 

 the cockpit rail is high, and the covering board is wide enough to 

 justify its being called a deck. As it goes far enough aft to allow 

 of a simple tiller on the rudder bead being used from within the 

 cockpit rail, the cockpit tape rs almost to a point at the stern, 

 and is something of the shape of an extremely long and small- 

 ended egg. Taking them all around, they are not only fast and 

 powerful, but they look it, and their long, clean lines, tine sheer, 

 and good proportions make them graceful and beautiful as well. 



Their rip is peculiar to themselves, at least upon the Great Lakes, 

 They cany no sail forward of the foremast, which is invariably 

 a very substantial stick, and as it is unstayed ifneeds to be. The 

 sails are cut op the lines of the ordinary fore and aft mainsail, 

 the universal sail upon the Lakes, the only modification being 

 that in sonic cases the gaff is well peaked, and the sail is there- 

 fore unusually narrow at the hpad. The material used is a heavy 

 canvas, 22in, in width, .and the use of tanned canvas is not un- 

 common. 



The first boat of this type ever produced was not a Collingwood 

 fishing boat in the present sense of the term at all; she was merely 

 a 22tt, sharp-sterned centerboard skiff, Her builder, Mr. Win. 

 VV atts. of Collingwood, designed her upon the lines of the ordin- 

 ary sbarp-sterned skiff, of Canada, to satisfy the demands of the 

 local fishermen, who wanted an able and weather! v craft to use 

 m the off-shore fisheries. This was about 1S60, and as at that 

 time there were plenty of fish to he. had about the south shore of 

 the bay this open craft filled the bill verv well. As time went 

 on and the number of the fishermen increased the fish— salmon 

 trout and whitefish— decreased in quality, and the Collingwood 

 men found themselves compelled to go further afield; across the 

 bay at first, then out into the Great Lakes. This created a demand 

 for a. more powerful, more seaworthy craft, and about ten years 

 ago Mr. W atts turned out a decked double-ended craft of about 

 dUit, keel. 11ns boat was so mucb superior to anything else the 

 hbhei men could get hold of that a great number of them were 

 built m a few years, and the details of their rig and fittings were 

 giadually worked out uuLil the present type became decided, 

 inuring ner short lifetime a good many modifications of form 

 naye taken place, always in the direction of increasing power 

 and speed under both sail and oar and her seaworthiness, 

 ihey are now used not only t.y the Collingwood fishermen, a 



fi«w™»n SC l0, A y ' hnt , by a11 th6 ba >' ™ en aud by the Canadian 

 fishermen on the Great Lakes generally, 

 ihe Goodrich men have a breed of hulking square-sterned 



COLLINGWOOD FISHIXC DO AT. 



craft, half decked, and generally schooner rigged, which they 

 cling to witli great pertinacity. There is a great deal ol rivalry 

 between the men using the sharp and those who use the square- 

 sterned craft, and several very exciting match races have been 

 sailed between champions of the two varieties, resulting in the 

 complete victory of the doublc-enders on nearly every occasion. 

 Nor is the fame of these boats confined to the Great. Lakes. A 

 goodly number of them are being used by the whitefish nevters of 

 Lake Winnipeg. Although built as a fisherman's boat, and used 

 mainly as such, the chances seem to be that before very long the 

 yachtsmen of the Lakes will take up this type and use it exten- 

 sively as a means of catching what is of more value than fish- 

 health and pleasure. The "select few who have discovered the 

 beauties of the Manatoulins and the Christian Islands, and of the 

 Georgian Bay generally, now use them as pleasure craft, almost 

 to the exclusion of any other type. A few of them are to be 

 found also among the miscellaneous collection of catboats, 

 skimming dish sloops and open sailboats that make up the small 

 fry of the yachting fleet, and their good qualities are, having their 

 due effect. As she is far better adapted to the conditions which 

 the yachtsmen as well as the fishermen have to deal with on the 

 Great Lakes than any other form of boat in use thereon, the more 

 popular the type becomes the better it will he. Ret aw. 



A CRUISE ON LAKE SUPERIOR. 



{Concluded from pttffe 4A'S.) 



AT earliest dawn the skipper is on deck in very scant attire, 

 and hurrah! it is blowing half a gale from the north and off 

 shore, just the thing we want for our run in the big lake. He is 

 so eager to get off and make the most of it that he gets the boat 

 under way without waiting to get more than half dressed, and is 

 nearly frozen to death in the icy wind, and has run ten miles and 

 got clear of the Nipigon Archipelago, and is plowing the open 

 lake before he can get the other two up to relieve him at thehelm 

 and get him a cup of coffee. Oh that sail, with that bleak iron- 

 bound coast on the weather beam, to "looard" 200 miles of open 

 water. The sails straining at their sheets and the little craft 

 lying well down and tearing through the wind-tossed water with 

 a wisp of spray ever and anon blowing across her fore deck. I 

 have had many a sail, ay! and paddle too, along that same coast 

 since then, in winter and summer, fine weather and foul, until I 

 know every deut and crease in the rocky coast, and every rock 

 and shallow as well as I do the furniture in this room, but proba- 

 bly never again shall 1 feel the same zest and awed, subd ued ex- 

 citement that held me spellbound all that morning. There was 

 a majesty and hugeness about the great mountains and the vast 

 expanse of water, which I have become used to since, and w hich 

 never affects me now r in the same way. 



Toward noon the wind dropped a little, and as the sun came out 

 between the hurrying lead-colored clouds we began to feel less 

 cowed and awestricken. Abreast of us to leeward were the Slate 

 Islands, of which more anon, and away ahead a blue cloud hung 

 on the water, which a reference to the chart showed us must be 

 the Pic Island. We still had a fine fresh breeze, and with all her 

 rags hung out Winnie was jogging along with unabated speed, and 

 at 2 P. M. we ran into the smooth channel between the Pic Island 

 and the mainland and had our lunch. An hour later wo hove to 

 to allow Munro to laud on a barren reef to get some gull's eggs, 

 but, it was too late in the season and the eggs were bad. He 

 brought them away, though, greatly to the disgust of the mother 

 bird, who sailed over us shrieking "cuss words" in gull language 

 for a long time. "Fill away again!" and off we go for the extreme 

 northeast corner of Lake Superior, where the chart shows a land- 

 locked harbor, and an hour later we enter it, and beating slowly 

 up it, with great mountains ahead and alongside and a broad 

 strip of sandv beach showing underneath theni, we pronouuee it 

 as beautiful as it is safe and commodious, and christen it Port 

 Monro, which name it bears to this day. The whole of this north- 

 ern coast is wild and picturesque, and well worth seeing, but this 

 particular corner is something more. 



The Pic. Island is nearly 800ft. high, and some of the moun- 

 tains on the mainland are much higher than that. Some (as the 

 island) are almost bare; others are wooded to their very tops, 

 long fiords and bays run far in among them and beautiful trout 

 streams come tumbling down into them. At the time I write of 

 the solitude and loneliness was impressive and awe-inspiring, 

 and it is scarcely less so now, but three or four times a day the 

 camper will hear the scream of the locomotive whistle and see 

 the train rattling along to the Pacific Ocean, sometimes banging 

 half way up the. face of a bold bluff, whose foot is washed by the 

 waves of the lake, anon disappearing into a short tunnel and 

 again reappearing for a moment only to curve around the foot of 

 the mountain and follow the valley of some little stream, inland 

 and emerge again on the lake shore a couple of miles further on. 

 The Kocky Mountains and tho Selkirks are no doubt more im- 

 posing ancl magnificent, but for variety, richness of coloring, un- 

 expected turns and changes from high to low, interspersed with 

 glorious views of tbo great oceanlike expanse of Lake Superior, 

 the fifty or sixty miles ride along the lakeshore and in and out 

 among the hills, between Pays Plat and Peninsular Harbor is 

 unique in its way, and more than one tourist has pronounced 

 ■'that, morning's ride along the north shore" as the "best of ihe 

 whole trip from ocean to ocean." I spent nearly three years on 

 the coast, locating and building the railway, and I never tired of 

 it, and look back now upon it as the most beautiful spot on earth 

 that I am yet cognizant of. 



The next morning was given up to a ramble through the woods 

 and up the valley of the stream which emptied into the bay, and 

 it was getting late in the afternoon ere we beat out of Port Mon- 

 roe and met the southerly swell rolling in from the lake, the wind 

 was almost dead and we had a tedious drift, round the cape and 

 the Red Island into the sheltered basin of Peninsula Harbor, but 

 we got round at last and brought to under the Peninsula, in a 

 harbor large enough to accommodate all the vessels on the lakes, 

 and to give them room to swing to a long range of cable. The 

 woods were mostly burnt on the mainland, however, and the 

 scenery was not to be compared with that of the harbor we had 

 left, but we had a comfortable, quiet night and went on our way 

 next morning rejoicing. 



The wind blew very softly from the south, and the thirteen 

 miles beat to the mouth of Pic River took us nearly all day and 

 was tedious and uninteresting, but we hove to off the bar at last 

 and went off with the canoe to investigate the depth of water and 

 the chances of getting in for the night. After taking a few sound- 

 ings and getting some advice from an entering fishing boat, we 

 concluded to risk it and got in with the slightest possible bump as 

 a large swell dropped us into the succeeding trough and rushed 

 forward after its predecessors to try and climb the land dunes 

 back of the beach. A quarter of a mile up the river we came to 

 opposite the Hudson's Bay Company's post, and a number of In- 

 dians and half-breeds gathered on the shore to have a look at the 

 first keel boat many of them had ever seen. An Indian's curiosity 

 is, however, always kept within bounds, and theTe was no excited 

 talk or crowding around of canoes, and our canoe was left per- 

 fectly unmolested while we were on shore stroRing about. 



A desolate God-forsaken looking spot is this Pic post, dry sand 

 everywhere, drifting with every gale that blows and stretching 

 away to the bare rocky hiRs a half mile back from the river. In 

 the course of a walk we came across some bones half buried in 

 the sand which looked astonishingly human and a few rotten 

 planks around testified to the burial place of some old voyager 

 before the days of steamboats whose last rest had been disturbed 

 by a freshet in the river and a sand storm. Higher up among 

 the sand dunes was a more recent grave of a young man whom I 

 had known and who had perished by drowning, Sadly we turned 

 back to the past and after a chat with the good-natured little 



Orkneymau who kept the post, and the 

 and pork, paddled out to the yacht ai 

 the monotonous roar of the surf on th 

 awoke to liud a fresh southerly breei 

 tting our stc 



purchase of a little flour 

 d went to sleep lulled by 

 ' bar. Next morning we 

 e blowing, and hurriedly 

 _ se was t urned homeward 

 d close hauled she leaped triumphantly over the great rollers, 

 and went surging majestically out on the large sea outside. Our 

 time was getting short and we must get hack as soon as possible, 

 so we stood boldly out to sea toward a faint blue cloud which 

 proclaimed the whereabouts of the Slate Islands, nearly thirty- 

 live miles away, and which lay on the air line between ourselves 

 and Nipigon Bay. 



It was a glorious sail right out into the expanse of blue water, 

 and our spirits rose as we left the land behind, and rose that ahead 

 under the pressure of the spanking breeze ou our beam. At noon 

 we had the. Pic Island under our lee, and were counting on an 

 early arrival in port, when, oh, misery! the wind began to fall off, 

 and finally left us roRing heavily in the trough of the great swell, 

 live miles from our haven, with the boom swinging about and 

 taking charge of the deck and the canvas slatting about in an ex- 

 asperating way. The throat halliard finally chafed through and 

 let the saU down by the run, and it required considerahle tenacity 

 ou the part of the crew to cling to the swinging mast and reeve it 

 again, but he managed it at last, and received the plaudits of the 

 rest of the ship's company 



Darkness began to cover the face of the deep, and stRl no wind, 

 and the swell roRing on unabated. We could distinctly hear 

 them thundering against the cliffs of Bottle Point, seven miles 

 away. With the canoe's paddle we managed to keep the boat 

 drawing gradually ahead, but it was midnight before we slid 

 quietly into the harbor, and rouuding a little sandy spit, which 

 we could just make out iu the starlight, let go, and turned in 

 thoroughly tired out. 



Sunday had come round again and it was late beforo there were 

 any signs of life on the Winnie, but when we did come on deck 

 the sight was worth the whole trip to come and see. The morning 

 sun was shining brightly, and a light breeze just, ruffled the water 

 of the harbor and kept the Winnie bows to the laud. In front 

 was the sandy beach we had rounded the night before, curving to 

 right and left and forming a perfect semicircular cove. North 

 and south were rocks aud precipices, as usual, but clothed in soft 

 green and brown witn only enough of the red rock showing 

 to make a contrast. Aud behind us stretched the main channel 

 which divides the two islands, dotted over with smaRer islets and 

 rocks between which we could catch glimp-;es i f great expanse of 

 water beyond. Sail is got on tlseboat and oy noon we have worked 

 clear of the islands and are reaching fcr the eu trance to Nipi- 

 gon Bay. We should have saved time by keeping straight up the 

 lake outside of Batt le Island Light and St. Ignace, but we didnot 

 care to repeat the experience of the previous night, and preferred 

 a longer round in sheltered waters. The breeze freshened and 

 came more aft as we entered the bay, and before dark we had 

 threaded the islands aud were abreast of Pays Plat. Still the 

 breeze held fail', and we ran on and on through the night, in spite 

 of ominous looking thunder clouds and occasional flashes of light- 

 ning iu the west. 



Two P. M. found us off the entrance to the Nipigon Straits, and 

 there the breeze left us and we were obliged to let go in about 

 eight fathoms in the open bay, leaving the cabin boy to keep an 

 anchor watch. About i the storm burst upon us, but the tired 

 skipper and crew knew it not, and the faithful watch, although 

 half scared to death, would not wake us so long as the anchor 

 held. 



The storm was succeeded by a dead calm, and it was 11 A. M. 

 before the south wind came in and enabled us to beat into the 

 Straits. All day we beat backward and forward, and 4 o'clock 

 found us at the outer entrance abreast Fluor Island. A second 

 thunder storm killed the wind for the day, and we took shelter 

 behind a little island and made snug for the night. 



Morning brought us a. gentle breeze and the Winnie worked out 

 through the iuside channel, past our friend of Lamb Island, past 

 the great haystack -looking rock which the old voyageurs christ- 

 ened the Roche de Bout, through the devious channels of the 

 Archipelago of the same name, and at last lay becalmed close to 

 the Amygdaloids, but not for long. A new breeze came up right 

 astern, and with the boom away out to port we howled along 

 faster aud faster as it freshened, past the Amygdaloids and Point 

 Magnet, through tho channel inside 'Porphyry Point, across Black 

 Bay, aud as dusk was coming on we bore down on Silver Islet 

 and rounded to opposite the wharf. 



Here, also waiting for daylight, is our old friend the Kate 

 Marks, and Munro paddles off to her for news of home and 

 friends. He finds everything right and returns to the yacht, and 

 we prepare to turn in. "Hallo! has the Kate shifted her position?"'' 

 "No, but we have." The anchor is got in and the stock is found 

 to have unshipped. We soon beat hack to our berth, but we had 

 a narrow escape from being blown out of the harbor and against 

 the bluffs of Thunder Cape while fast asleep. 



Morning finds the breeze almost dead again, but we. work out 

 and around the cape and into the Welcomes. A mile out from 

 Prince Arthur's Landing we lie almost becalmed again, and are 

 boarded by a reporter of the Daily Sentinel, eager to get a local 

 item. "Puff," with scarcely a minute's warning, down comes a 

 half gale from the northwest, and with rail under the Winnie 

 covers the last mile of her 500 in something like nine minutes, and 

 sweeps up to her buoy as if she had been making the same tim« 

 all through, instead of idling nearly a whole day away on the 23 

 miles from SUver Islet. Crew and boat are sound and whole, and 

 ready for another cruise as soon as they get the chance. 



The Winnie has waxed old since then, hut it is an honorable old 

 age, unsullied by a single piece of cowardice or bad behavior. 

 She plowed the waters of Thunder Bay often after that, and 

 though she found the bottom more than "once, it was not because 

 she could not olaw off a lee shore or because she was cutting 

 across lots to avoid a gale. She has been succeeded by the Sylvia, 

 a boat with some claims to speed and beauty, besides possessing 

 the honest, trustworthy character of her predecessor, and which 

 has already earned a reputation for herself as a cruiser. If any 

 of your readers who has the sailor spirit about him (no matter 

 about the experience) wants to take a cruise next summer in new 

 waters, let him correspond with me and I will try to help him. If 

 he has a good honest boat of his own let him fetch ber along; he 

 will enjoy himself better in bis own thau in a strange craft, hut 

 let him launch no centerboard skimmer on Lake Superior, or he 

 will surely rue it. True, our fishing boats are almost without ex- 

 ception centerboards, but they are not skimmers, but good whole- 

 some 4-beam boats carrying ballast, and even they have come to 

 grief over and over again and drowned many a gaRant, hardy 

 fisherman. To poke about the coast and enjoy the fishing and 

 camping a good staunch Mersey canoe would probably be the best 

 thing, as harbors are numerous, and he can enter the mouths of 

 many streams and rivers which are closed to the deep-draft 

 yacht, but if one wants to enjoy sailing first, and is not particu- 

 lar where he fetches np so that he is safe and comfortable, a good 

 honest deep-draft cutter, yawl or schooner is the thing torhim, 

 and he will find variety, excitement and ozone-laden air such as 

 even the Maine coast cannot afford him, and better sport with 

 rod and gun." Henry K. Wicksteed. 



DORCHESTER Y. C. OFFICERS, 1889.-Com., Lieut. John C 

 Soley, U. 8. N.; Vice-Com.,W. T. Lambert; Sec, W. B. McClellan; 

 Treas., H. B. Callender; Meas., Hartford Davenport; Asst. Sec, 

 W. A. Underwood: Directors, C. H. Nute. Erastus Willard, W. A. 

 Savage; Regatta Committee, A. J. Clark, Francis Gray, W. H. 

 Wilkinson, L. M.Clark; Membership Committee, A. L. Jacobs. 

 W. O. Gay, T. W. King, Chester Guild, Jr., H. R. Callender, F. W, 

 Payne; House Committee, Jesse Wiley. A. J. Clark, C. L. Perrim 

 W. B. Everett, C. H. Whiting; Asst. Meas., C. H. Dodd. 



