FOREST AND . STREAM. 
man at wheel; lighted by lamp in cabin. 
In General — Anything necessary for the completion^ of 
yacht ready for sailing not herein specified to be in- 
cluded as part of the contract and be furnished by the 
builder. 
Skippet Hansen's Fast Time. 
Sailing with the assistance of a terrific gale, Capt. Ole 
Hansen, said to be the most fearless sailor on Lake 
Michigan, brought his schooner, Alice, into the port of 
Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 30, 1901, after having established 
a new record for speed on the Great Lakes. He made a 
run of 140 miles in a few minutes less than nine hours. It 
was a wonderful performance, but to-night the crew of the 
little schooner are exhausted by a nine hours' fight against 
one of the roughest seas that ever prevailed on the lake. 
In pitch darkness Capt. Hansen found the vessel off 
Point Betsy on the Michigan shore at 2 :30 o'clock Friday 
morning. He had agreed to be in Kenosha this morning. 
He realized the danger of the trip, but submitted the mat- 
ter to the five men of the crew, and the two women who 
were with him. The vote was unanimously in favor of 
the trip, and the schooner was turned from the land into 
the storm. 
Great waves were already breaking over her, but the 
cargo of tanbark was safely tied down. Capt. Hansen, 
sending the women to the staterooms beneath decks, took 
his place at the wheel and-ordered the crew to shake out 
all the canvas. The waves washed over the decks, and 
the vessel, rolling in the trough of the sea, seemed in 
immediate danger of going down. Wet to the skin and 
almost frozen, Capt. Hansen kept in his place at the 
wheel and headed the vessel for the Milwaukee Harbor. 
At dawn more than thirty miles had been covered, and 
the captain was forced to relinquish his hold on the 
wheel. During the remainder of the trip the men took 
his place, and each held the wheel until he was forced 
to leave his place from sheer exhaustion. During the 
morning hours the rolling of the vessel grew so great 
that the furniture and dishes in the cabin were thrown 
from their places, and the deckload was in danger of 
being lost. 
At 11 :30 o'clock Capt. Hansen, who had returned to the 
wheel, steered the boat into the shoal water off Mil- 
waukee. The men went below and slept, exhausted by the 
trip. 
One of the men in describing the. run said the storm 
was the fiercest that he had seen on the lake. The fastest 
time was made when the wind was at its height, shortly 
after daybreak. In an hour the schooner covered a little 
over twenty-one miles. The two women, who remained 
in their cabin during the night, say they were not at any 
time in fear of the outcome, feeling certain that Capt. 
Hansen would sail the boat safely into port at Kenosha.— 
Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
The Theory of Measurement Rules. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your correspondent, Sextant, is of course right 
in saying that for purely local racing the restricted classes 
give the best sport. But my article was an endeavor to 
propose foundations for an Internatioal Rule of Rating, 
and although Sextant objects to the introduction of 
L. and D. because they are not speed producers, but re- 
sistance reducers, it seems to me that this is a distinction 
without any practical difference. His suggestion that S., 
the motor, should only be taxed in the rating of a speed 
formula in sailing yachts is tantamount to rating the 
speed efficiency of a steam yacht by her handicaped 
horse-power alone; whereas we all know that a rating 
rule for steam yachts should certainly acknowledge the 
weight driven at speed. 
Lord Rosebery sums up his policy in the one word — 
efficiency. So, in yacht racing, the rating rule should be 
a measure of a yacht's speed efficiency, and consequently 
must deal with more elements than sail area alone. 
Thalassa. 
Yacht Club Notes. 
On Dec. 30 the Town Board of Hempstead, L. I., at 
their regular meeting, granted a lease of town land at 
Woodsburgh to the Keystone Y. C. This organization 
will immediately commence work on its new club house, 
which will be erected on the property. 
The members of the Ardsley Casino have decided to 
establish a yachting department to be run in connection 
with the Country Club. Several members have been 
chosen to look into the matter. The committee is com- 
posed of Frank F. Chrystie, chairman; Edwin Gould, Na- 
thaniel A. Campbell and F. S. Jaffray, secretary. A one- 
design class has been organized and several members have 
agreed to build. The boats will be 26ft. 3m. over all, and 
4ft draft, with i,20olbs.. of outside ballast, making them 
non-capsizable. Races will be held off the club house on 
the Hudson River. 
YACHTING NEWS NOTES. 
Messrs. Gardner & Cox, the naval architects and 
marine brokers, have had Mr. Paul Eve Stevenson, the 
well-known writer of sea stories, compile for them a 
most interesting little book, which is filled with valu- 
able matter pertaining to yachting and marine matters in 
generaL * « « 
The Tebo Yacht Basin Company was recently incor- 
porated at Albany, with a capital stock of $150,000. _ The' 
directors of the new company are: James W. Haviland," 
Charles B. Haviland James W. Haviland, Jr., Frederick 
H. Ketchum and Clinton H. Wheeler. 
* 16 
The holiday numbers of the two English yachting pub- 
lications, the Yachtsman and the Yachting World, have 
■been received at this office. Both these issues are larger 
and better than any previously issued, and deserve more 
than passing notice. The winter number of the Yachts- 
man is made up of 100 pages, filled with thirteen in- 
teresting stories and forty splendid yachting pictures. 
In addition to these, there are four full-page supplements. 
There is also a design for a 52ft. L. R. racing cutter, de- 
signed by Mr. C. F. Herreshoff. The design gives a 
good idea of the type of Nevada, Mr. Herreshoff's suc- 
cessful 52-footer of last season. The Christmas and 
Mediterranean number of the Yachting World contains 
many handsome illustrations and numerous stories. There 
is also the design of the steam yacht Titania, 138 tons, 
designed and built by Messrs. Day, Summers & Co., Ltd. 
^ ^ ^ 
Mr. Theodore Berdell, a member of the New York Y. 
C, died at his home in Summit, N. J., on Dec. 30 last 
Mr. John M. Wilson, also a member of the New York 
Y. C, died at Cincinnati, O., on Dec. 30. 
— — 
American Ganoe Association, J90J-J902, 
Commodore, C. E. Britton, Gananoque, Can. 
Secretary-Treasurer, Herb Begg, 24 King street, West Toronto, 
Canada. 
Librarian, W. P. Stephens, Thirty-second street and Avenue A, 
Bayonne, N. J. 
Division Officers. 
ATLANTIC DIVISION. 
Vice-Corn., Henry M. Dater, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Rear-Com., H. D. Hewitt, Burlington, N. J. 
Purser, Joseph F. Eastmond, 199 Madison street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
CENTRAL DIVISION. 
Vice-Corn., C. P. Forbush, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Rear-Com., Dr. C. R, Henry, Perry, N. Y. 
Purser, Lyman P. Hubbell, Buffalo, N. Y. 
EASTERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Com., Louis A. Hall, Newton, Mass. 
Rear-Com., C. M. Lamprey. Lawrence, Mass. 
Purser, A. E. Kimberly, Lawrence Experimental Station. 
Lawrence, Mass. 
NORTHERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Corn., G. A. Howell, Toronto, Can. 
Rear-Com., R. Easton Burns, Kingston, Ontario, Can. 
Purser, R. Norman Brown, Toronto, Can. 
WESTERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Com., Wm. C. Jupp, Detroit, Mich. 
Rear-Com., F. B. Huntington, Milwaukee, Wis. 
Purser, Fred T. Barcroft, 408 Ferguson Building, Detroit, Mich. 
Forest and Stream is no longer the official organ of the 
American Canoe Association, this organization having 
selected another paper in which to print their official 
notices. This change will not, however, affect the canoe- 
ing department of Forest and Stream, and a certain 
amount of space will be devoted" to the sport, and articles, 
photographs and designs of canoes will be published as 
heretofore. 
Birch Bark Canoe Building. 
A writer in an article in one of our magazines in the 
December and January numbers has in his story given 
what he probably thinks a correct description of canoe, 
building. His description is as follows: "The Indian 
had terminated a long two days' search by toting from 
the forest a number of strips of white birch in its green 
state; pliable as cotton, thick as leather, and light as air. 
These he had cut into arbitrary patterns known only to 
himself, and was soon sewing as a long, shapeless sort 
of bag or sack to a slender beechwood oval. Later it 
was to become a birch bark canoe, and the beechwood 
oval was to be the gunwale. 
"The loose sack of birch bark sewed to the long beech 
oval was slung between two tripods, Injun Charley 
had fashioned a number of thin, flexible cedar strips of 
certain arbitrary lengths and widths. Beginning with the 
smallest of these, Thorpe and his companion were catch- 
ing one end under the beech oval, bending the strip bow- 
shaped inside the sack and catching the other side of the 
oval. Thus the spring of the bent cedar, pressing against 
the inside of the birch sack, distended it tightly. The 
cut of the sack and the length of the cedar strips gave 
the canoe its graceful shape." 
Now, while it might be proper to make a canoe in this 
way as an object of worship, as it certainly would not 
be "in the likeness of anything in the heavens above, or 
the earth beneath," it would not be a success for the 
purposes for which a canoe is usually built. As the 
building of birch bark canoes is fast becoming a lost 
art, and soon there will be no one to tell of how they are 
made, I will give as clear a description as I am able of 
the manner in which the Penobscot Indians used to build 
their canoes. 
Our canoes for up-river use were usually eighteen feet 
long. For salt-water (the term Indians always used 
when speaking of the sea), twenty to twenty-two feet 
long. The Passamaquoddy Indians made larger canoes, 
often twenty-five feet in length, as they used them mostly 
for sea-going. The bark was nearly always in one piece. 
In the many hundreds of canoes I have seen, I have 
never seen. one in two pieces, except in one or two in- 
stances. The bark, after being taken off, was rolled up 
tightly with what was the inner side out. The bark 
was usually from four to five feet in width, and a roll of 
good winter bark would weigh from forty to sixty 
pounds. 
When the canoe- was to be made, a perfectly level bed 
was made on hard ground of the length the canoe was 
to be; then the bark, after it had been soaked till it could 
be unrolled, was laid on the bed and heavy stones were 
laid all along the center for nearly the whole length; 
then cuts were made in the bark, beginning about two 
feet from the bow and making a cut from fifteen inches 
to two feet in length about every fifteen inches. A 
twenty-two foot canoe which I have has some fifteen of 
these cuts on each side. Enough was taken off from the 
sides of these cuts to make the bark the desired shape. 
Then these cuts were sewed up with split spruce roots; 
also a piece of from four to five feet in length and from 
six to ten inches in width was sewed to the top of each 
side in the center, to make the bark wide enough at that 
point. After the sewing was finished, the bark was 
turned up on the sides into nearly the desired shape and 
held in place by stakes driven all along the sides. Then 
the bow, as it was called, was placed inside of the bark 
Dan. iij xgdi, 
and a cedar gunwale placed on the outside with the bark 
between them, and they were tightly sewed together with 
spruce roots passing round the wood and through the 
bark. The sewing was done by taking from five to eight 
turns around the gunwales about eight inches apart for 
the whole length. 
The bow and all the ribs and lining were always pre- 
pared beforehand. The bow was of two pieces of cedar 
as long as the inside was to be. These pieces were nearly 
square on the sides, usually about two inches in thick- 
ness in the middle and tapering toward the ends; they 
were mortised on inner sides for five thwarts, which were 
also sewed firmly in place beside the mortising. In a 
twenty-two foot canoe the two end thwarts were twenty- 
eight inches long, two inches wide and one-half inch thick; 
the next two twenty-five inches long and the center one 
thirty-one inches. These last three are two inches wide 
next the gunwale and tapering to V/2 in center and are 
one inch in thickness. They are placed 2j4 feet apart, 
and the end ones are five feet from the extreme 
end of the ca'noe when the canoe is finished, as the side 
and top gunwales are much longer than the bow which 
holds the thwarts. 
After the side gunwale is on, the top gunwale, which is 
some two inches wide and about two-thirds of an inch 
thick, is pegged to the wood below with long wooden 
pegs. The top gunwale is rounded on the edges and, 
like the side one, is much longer than the inner bow. 
At each end the four pieces of the two side and two top 
gunwales are" sewed to the bark and to each other by five 
or six turns of spruce root in three places some six inches 
apart, and this bound into one solid piece, and at a point 
where they are separated about six inches a strong stay 
is put in by passing several turns of strong spruce root 
across and around each side and then winding it cross- 
wise so as to make a round stay as large as one's finger. 
The ends are then cut into the desired shape and sewed 
twice, so that the stitches cross each other. A rib of 
cedar about an inch square at the inner end and tapering 
nearly to a point is bent to fit the curve of each end, and 
fastened inside to support it. 
Next the lining is put in; this consists of yery thin 
strips of cedar, each strip a little more than half the 
length of the canoe, and shaved thin at the ends, where 
one overlaps the other, so that where they join they will 
lie perfectly smooth. These are placed lengthwise, and 
fitted so nicely as to make a perfectly tight inner lining — 
so tight that not a particle of gravel can work in between 
the bark and lining. 
Then the knees or ribs are put in; these are all bent in 
pairs, each center one having the next smaller bent in- 
side of it and a wide band of cedar bark holds them iit 
place, after bending till they are dry. The ribs are 
rounded on their edges and tops slightly from center to 
ends, and. are sloped at the ends to hold when driven 
under the inner bow or gunwale. The end ones are 
driven first, and then the next in order. The driving 
is done with a mallet made specially for this purpose, 
which used to be called a "half moon" mallet. This is a 
piece of wood shaped like half a saucer with a handle on 
the thickest side. This shape enabled them to drive in 
the ribs without scarring the soft wood. 
Lastly, the so-called head boards were placed. These 
were three smooth, pieces of cedar, some eighteen inches 
long by eight inches width, tapering, and rounded at the 
ends, so as to form an elongated oval, and were bent 
and sprung into each end and solidly fastened into a 
notch in the piece which was bent to support the end; 
before being placed the vacant space in the end behind 
this was tightly filled with cedar shavings, which, while 
very light, gave a good deal of support to the bark and 
kept it from being pressed in and crushed. 
The seams were then pitched, a cloth being put the 
whole length of the sewing at each end to protect the 
sewing. This pitch was made of rosin and oil or grease 
boiled together. That used in cold weather was usually 
made thinner than that for summer use. 
A canoe when finished weighed from 90 to 125 pounds. 
Those of winter bark weighing more than those of sum- 
mer bark — besides the difference in length. Our canoes 
were usually carried by one man, using a "head board" 
and a cedar band across the breast and face — head as 
Thoreau describes. 
The only wood I ever saw used in the construction of 
canoes was cedar, with the exception of the thwarts, 
which were usually of maple. The roots were dug by the 
squaws. A root as large as one's finger was cut at the 
large end and pulled out its entire length by cutting any 
side roots; then the bark was removed, and with a knife 
a thin slice was cut, beginning at the large end and hold- 
ing one part in the teeth and bending it with the hands 
to make it split even. Very few white men could split 
a root evenly till they had been shown how. The root 
after splitting was coiled up and was thoroughly soaked 
before using. 
An Indian would measure a canoe with a piece of 
basket stuff, making a few notches in it, and go into the 
woods, get out his frame or bow and bend all the knees, and v 
when he made his canoe every part would fit and it would 
be of the exact shape of the one he measured. It seemed 
perfectly marvelous to see how every part would fit, and 
the nice work they could do with only a crooked knife 
to work with. 
The Passamaquoddy Indians fastened the bark to the 
gunwales by nailing instead of sewing. The Tobique 
canoes had the ends cut at an angle to the bottom, in- 
stead of being gracefully curved as ours were. The 
Micmacs built a good sea-going canoe, but not graceful 
in form — looking more like an inverted ox yoke than 
anything else I can compare them to. North of the St. 
Lawrence many of the voyageurs- canoes were thirty- 
three feet long and were carried by two men on the 
portages. 
In picturing canoes, unless photographed, artists 
almost invariably make the mistake of putting in a wrong 
number of cross-bars or thwarts. I have usually seen 
canoes pictured with four or six ribs. It is very seldom 
that one has the correct number of five. I do not think 
any canoe was ever built with an even number of cross- 
bars. Five is the invariable number of Maine built 
canoes. The artist who illustrated the article from which 
I quoted deserves great credit for making so good a 
drawing when he was obliged to make his drawing illus- 
trate such an incorrect description. I have purposely 
omitted describing how the bark was peeled, as it would 
make too long an article. M, H, 
