354 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June, 1918 
THE CANOE THAT NESSMUK MADE FAMOUS 
THE “SAIRY GAMP”, DESIGNED BY NESSMUK AS THE PERFECT SAFE, LIGHT WEIGHT CRAFT, 
IS NOW USED BY THE GOVERNMENT AS A MODEL FOR NAVAL AIRPLANE LIFEBOATS 
Illustrations from drawings and photographs by W. Starling Burgess 
T HE canoe is com¬ 
ing to the front, 
and canoeing is 
gaining rapidly in 
popular favor, in 
spite of the disparag¬ 
ing remark that ‘‘a 
canoe is the poor 
man’s yacht.” “For 
myself,” said Ness- 
muk, “I freely accept 
the imputation. In 
common with nine- 
tenths of my fellow 
citizens I am poor— 
and the canoe is my 
yacht, as it would be 
were I a millionaire.” 
Not one man in fifty 
lives near enough to 
yachting waters to 
make a yacht desir¬ 
able—or feasible, even. It is different with 
the canoe. A man may live in the back- 
woods, a hundred miles from a decent 
sized inland lake, and much further from 
the sea coast, and yet be an enthusiastic 
canoeist. 
Nessmuk was one of the first to advo¬ 
cate a light canoe which could be easily 
managed by one man, paddling steadily for 
many miles or carrying over portages. In 
his book “Woodcraft” Nessmuk has told 
of his endeavors to get a builder to con¬ 
struct the type of craft he wanted. He 
says: 
Much is being said and written at the 
present day as to the “perfect canoe.” One 
writer decides in favor of a certain type. 
In the same column another says, “the 
perfect canoe does not exist.” I should 
rather say there are several types of the 
modern canoe, each nearly perfect in its 
way and for the use to which it is best 
adapted. The perfect paddling canoe is 
by no means perfect under canvas, and 
vice versa. The best cruiser is not a per¬ 
fect racer, while neither of them is at all 
The “ Sairy Gamp ” can go anywhere that a muskrat can 
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM 
W. STARLING BURGESS OF THE 
BURGESS CO., MARBLEHEAD, MASS. 
5 0 ME weeks ago Mr. Geo. C. 
Maynard, Curator Div. Mechan¬ 
ical Technology, Smithsonian Insti¬ 
tution, most courteously loaned the 
“Sairy Gamp” to my Company that 
zve might use her as a model in de¬ 
veloping life boats light enough to 
be carried in flight on naval airplanes. 
Last Saturday she was cradled 
aboard my car and run to the New 
Hampshire border for a taste once 
more of woods and running water. 
My son and I dropped down the 
river that afternoon; and picking her 
out of the water at the edge of the 
forest carried her back to camp. 
It zvas high adventure in our little 
camp that night—thrilling indeed, the 
reading of “Woodcraft” with A J ess- 
muk’s very boat amongst us. 
perfect as a paddling 
cruiser where much 
carrying is to be done. 
And the most perfect 
canoe for fishing and 
gunning around shal¬ 
low, marshy waters, 
would be a very im¬ 
perfect canoe for a 
rough and ready 
cruise of one hun¬ 
dred miles through a 
strange wilderness, 
where a day’s cruise 
will sometimes in¬ 
clude a dozen miles 
of carrying. 
Believing, as I do, 
that the light, single 
canoe with double- 
bladed paddle is 
bound to soon be¬ 
come a leading—if not the leading—feature 
in summer recreation, and having been a 
light canoeist for nearly fifty years, dur¬ 
ing the last twenty years of which I ex¬ 
perimented much with the view of reduc¬ 
ing weight, perhaps I can give some hints 
that may help a younger man in the selec¬ 
tion of a canoe which shall be safe, pleas¬ 
ant to ride, and not burdensome to carry. 
Let me premise that, up to four years 
ago, I was never able to get a canoe that 
entirely satisfied me as to weight and 
model. I bought the smallest birches I 
could find; procured a tiny Chippewa dug- 
out from North Michigan, and once owned 
a kyak. They were all too heavy, and they 
were cranky to a degree. 
The difference between a lone, indepen¬ 
dent cruise through an almost unbroken 
wilderness, and cruising along civilized 
routes, where the canoeist can interview I 
farm houses and village groceries for sup- I 
plies, getting gratuitous stonings from the I 
small boy, and much reviling from ye an- I 
cient mariner of the towpath—I say, the I 
difference is just immense. Whence it I 
comes that I always prefer a very light, I 
open canoe; one that I can carry almost as | 
easily as my hat, and yet that will float me | 
easily, buoyantly, and safely. And such j 
Ccab. I V « )' 
