Around Long Island By Canoe 
An Eight-Day Cruise Made By Two “Knickerbockers” 
By Paul M. McBride 
M ANY cruises have been made by canoeists 
over all parts of America's vacation land; 
some by the nature of their “carries” re¬ 
quiring an outfit reduced to the lowest number of 
pounds, others where heavier boats and outfits 
were made possible by the absence of portages, 
and of the necessity of making long rail shipment 
to the point of starting. On practically every 
cruise the canoeist usually has to decide whether 
he prefers the fast water of some turbulent river, 
the quiet placidity of some small inland lake or 
Long Island. * * You have the immense 
stretch of Long Island Sound, portages over land 
to shallow lakes and creeks, leading into inland 
bays of all sizes and dimensions, shallow and 
deep, through ocean inlets, over sand bars where 
the surf boils, and then a stretch of the Atlantic, 
before you are on your last leg home through 
the New York Bays and up the Hudson from the 
Battery, dodging the maelstrom of New York’s 
harbor and river traffic. 
We were not out for a record nor did we strive 
there into the Great Peconic bay; then through 
Canoe Place into Shinnecock bay, Moriches bay. 
Great South bay; Hempstead bay to the inlet 
back of Long Beach; through the inlet to the 
Atlantic, landing at Edgemere; a carry from the 
ocean into Jamaica bay down to Rockaway inlet; 
through Rockaway inlet out on the ocean around 
Coney Island; up Gravesend bay, through the 
Narrows, the upper New York bay to the Hud¬ 
son, and home. 
Our outfit consisted of an eighteen foot Old 
Now and Then we Took White Water. 
Rustling for Fuel on the Rocky Shore. 
chain of lakes, or the uncertain weather to be 
encountered on some large bay, river or lake. In 
any case, he very seldom obtains any two of 
these in combination, and, therefore, for the bene¬ 
fit of the adventurous canoeist near New York 
waters, the tale of a Cruise around Long Island 
by two Knickerbocker Canoe Club men may serve 
as an inspiration for your vacation trip next year. 
It is a trip one may add to or subtract from mak¬ 
ing all of it leisurely, or finding a desirable spot 
along the way and spending the greatest part of 
his vacation there and returning by the way he 
came. No matter how you plan it, I am confi¬ 
dent you will term it one of the most enjoyable 
cruises ever taken. 
In my opinion, there is no faster canoe trip in 
America, nor one more varied, by reason of the 
changing water conditions, than the trip around 
for one. We simply had a week’s vacation, and 
we decided to make the most of it. We had not 
contemplated making the “Sound” trip until one 
week before our vacation was to commence. 
Then, after the purchase of a U. S. Geodetic 
Survey map of Long Island, we decided there 
was plenty of excitement in store for us in a 
week’s trip around the Island. 
The course we outlined for the trip was as fol¬ 
lows: From 167th street and Hudson river up 
through Spuyten Duyvil, down the Harlem river 
and through the Bronx Kills above Randalls 
Island to the north shore of Long Island; up the 
Sound three miles east of Horton’s Point Light 
on the north shore of the Island; we had a carry 
into Shelter Island Sound, which would bring 
us to the western end of Shelter Island ; through 
Noyack bay into Little Peconic bay, and from 
Town Rag (canvas) boat and a sixteen foot 
canvas covered Kennebec. Each had a canvas 
cover forward and was rigged with sail and lee 
board, the sixteen foot boat carrying forty feet 
of sail, and the eighteen foot boat fifty square 
feet. The outfit of the longer boat consisted of a 
grub box, a bag of mess dishes, a duffle bag car¬ 
rying two suits of clothes and other necessities 
to be used in case of mishap, a large duffle bag 
carrying all the canned food, and other edibles 
for the trip, a large personal duffle bag carrying 
change of camp clothes, towels, sweater, acety- 
lyne lamp, carbide, etc., a wterproof sleeping-bag 
with two double blankets, a Jewel stove and a 
pneumatic life belt and water bottle. The sixteen 
foot boat carried a Jewel stove, a gallon can of 
oil. lantern, large duffle bag with tent stakes, axe, 
etc., a large personal duffle bag, a sleeping bag, 
