L. ast summer 

 my brother and 

 I paddled down 

 the Waccamaw 

 River, follow- 

 ing the path of 

 a daring 19th- 

 century 

 naturalist 

 named 

 Nathaniel 

 Bishop. In 



1874 



and 1875, 

 Bishop made an 

 extraordinary 

 voyage along 

 the Atlantic 

 coast. He 

 traveled nine 

 months and 

 2,500 miles 

 from Quebec to 

 the Gulf of 



Mexico in a 56-pound canoe built of 

 varnished paper. 



Bishop chronicled his remarkable 

 journey in a long-forgotten book called 

 "Voyage of the Paper Canoe." This 

 important travel log features the most 

 intimate, down-to-earth portrait of 

 post-war coastal North Carolina. 

 During his passage, Bishop discovered 

 a remote world of fish camps and 

 seafaring villages never seen by 

 wayfarers confined to roads and 

 shipping channels. 



Passing along the Outer Banks, 

 Onslow Bay and the Waccamaw 

 River, Bishop experienced the best 

 Southern hospitality 1 9th-century 

 North Carolinians had to offer. He 

 hauled fish nets with local families, 

 shared the lodgings of secluded 

 mariners and took part in three 

 weddings and other community 

 "jollifications." 



A HISTORIAN'S COAST 



Voyage of the 



Paper Canoe 



By David Cecelski 



My brother and I set off along a 

 part of our coast described in "Voyage 

 of the Paper Canoe," hoping to 

 rediscover this lost classic and to see 

 how much the coast had changed since 

 Bishop's day. 



By the sweltering morning when 

 Richard and I began our voyage, I had 

 learned a few things about Bishop's 

 life. Born in Dedham, Mass., in 1838, 

 he had always been a restless spirit. 

 By the age of 15, the young explorer 

 had already hiked solo from Boston to 

 New Hampshire's White Mountains, 



a 21 -day trek. 



Two years 

 later, in 1855, 

 Bishop ship- 

 ped out of 

 Boston as a 

 sailor, eager to 

 make a name 

 for himself at 

 sea. But he 

 deserted ship 

 in Buenos 

 Aires to hike 

 1,000 miles 

 across South 

 America, a 

 journey he 

 later described 

 in a book 

 called "The 

 Pampas and 

 Andes." 

 Bishop 



began his voyage to our coast in 

 Quebec, Canada, on July 4, 1874. By 

 the time he reached North Carolina on 

 Dec. 8, he had already overcome 

 several calamities, including a 

 terrifying capsize on Delaware Bay. 

 And he had suffered much skepticism 

 about his "paper" canoe. This 

 featherlight, 16-foot craft, the Santa 

 Theresa, was made of moistened 

 paper overlaid on a wooden frame, 

 then waterproofed and varnished. 

 Inspired by the kayaks of Inuit 

 Eskimos, the design was briefly 

 popular for New England racing sculls 

 and other small recreational craft. 



Bishop entered our state on North 

 Landing River and paddled south into 

 Currituck Sound. The Santa Theresa 

 glided over dead remnants of vast 

 oyster beds destroyed a generation 

 earlier when a hurricane closed 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 13 



