264 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June, 1921 
Gallery Special 
CALIBER RIM-FIRE 
UU CARTRIDGES 
and a good rifle provide the 
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ment and at the same time 
practice up on marksmanship 
which some time might stand 
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If marks to shoot at, such as are 
naturally offered in the country 
districts, do not meet with your 
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in many cases, furnish them free 
of charge. For those who want 
cartridges of other styles, for 
Pistol, Revolver, Rifle and Shot- 
gun, in 
JlMcm 
Ammunition 
There’s a Size For Every Gun 
WESTERN CARTRIDGE CO. 
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Mention this Magazine. 
A BUILDER OF CANOES 
A SHORT SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORK 
OF THE MASTER CRAFTSMAN W. F. STEVENS 
By F. H. FR0L1NG 
HE world-famous ca- 
noe-builder, W. F. 
Stevens, celebrated 
the seventieth anni- 
versary of his birth 
at his home at Booth- 
bay Harbor, Maine, 
on November 17th, 
1920. 
. He was born at 
Arcadian Mines, 
Nova Scotia, where 
his parents had 
moved from Vermont. When he was 
nine years old, the family returned to 
the United States and settled at Wool- 
wich, Maine. After a few years the 
boy went to Bath, where he served his 
apprenticeship with Samuel R. Baily, 
the well-known carriage maKer. 
At the age of sixteen, young Stevens 
built his first sailboat, an achievement 
that would have been a credit to an 
adult. Being fond of outdoor life and 
sports, he became an oarsman and won 
many sculling contests on the Kennebec 
River. Thus he became interested in 
the building of high grade racing shells. 
In 1878, he moved from Bath to 
Lowell, Mass., and from there to Port- 
land, Maine, where he worked about a 
year with Mike Davis, the noted shell 
builder and sculler. He returned to 
Lowell in 1890, where he became asso- 
ciated with Edward Williams, also a 
prominent builder of rowing shells. 
While in Lowell, Stevens came to 
the notice of the late Paul Butler, who 
was considered the world’s greatest 
authority on the sailing and building 
of canoes. From then on, he nuilt all 
the canoes designed and owned by Mr. 
Butler, and soon among canoeists the 
names of Butler and Stevens became 
inseparable. 
From Lowell he again went to Bath 
in 1898, where he built several of his 
most famous boats. Here he remained 
until 1906, when he went to Marble- 
head, Mass., to engage in canoe build- 
ing with W. Starling Burgess, well- 
known naval architect and sportsman. 
After two years at this place, Stevens 
retired to a farm at Boothbay Harbor, 
Maine, where he now lives. At the 
time of his retirement he was recog- 
nized as the foremost canoe builder, not 
only in the United States and Canada, 
but throughout the world. Having de- 
cided to retire, he built no more canoes 
for several years. However, in 1913, 
when he consented to build still an- 
other boat, the zenith of his career was 
reached in the designing and building 
of the world-famous “Mermaid” for 
Mr. Leo Friede, of New York City. 
D URING the winter of 1912-13 ex- 
citement was created in canoeing 
circles by the announcement that 
the New York Canoe Club had received 
a challenge for the International Sail- 
ing Trophy, held by that club. The 
challenge had been sent by the Gana- 
noque Canoe and Motor Boat Club of 
Gananoque, Ontario, Canada, in behalf 
of Ralph Britton, Canada’s foremost 
canoe-expert. During the summer of 
1912 Britton had won every sailing 
race at the American Canoe Associa- 
tion meet on the St. Lawrence River. 
Among other prizes he had captured 
the National Sailing Trophy, emble- 
matic of the championship of the 
United States and Canada. 
Encouraged by this, it was but natu- 
ral that the Gananoque Club, of which 
Britton was an active member, should 
issue a challenge for the International 
Cup. This prize, originally offered for 
competition in 1886, by the New York 
Canoe Club, had never been won by 
any foreign contestant, but when a 
challenge was received in behalf of the 
undefeated Britton, everyone interested 
in canoe sport realized that the coveted 
prize was in jeopardy. The Interna- 
tional Challenge Cup is to canoeing 
what America’s Cup is to yachting, 
and is symbolic of the championship of 
the world. 
Leo Friede, at that time almost un- 
known as a canoeist, came to the de- 
fense of the Trophy by requesting Stev- 
ens to design and build a canoe capable 
of not only defeating the fastest Amer- 
ican canoes in the elimination trials, 
but also speedy enough to defend the 
national honors against the Canadian 
challenger. Stevens found no easy task 
before him, but his genius asserted it- 
self, and the result was the “Mermaid,” 
a perfect creation from the viewpoint 
of naval architecture. In the trial 
races, to the astonishment of all, the 
In Writing to Advertisers mention Forest and Stream. 
W. F. Stevens at seventy years 
It will identify you. 
