250 year old canoe!

[bojit]

The national maritime museum in cornwall is currently
working on preserving what could be the oldest birch bark canoe in existince.
The canoe was found in a barn on an estate in Cornwall ,the museum are going to preserve it to put on
display before it is sent home to Canada.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-11954324
http://www.intheboatshed.net/

Craig............

 

[bb07]

Very interesting.Amazing something so fragile lasted so long.Thankfully no one tried out their firesteel on it

 

[robin wood]

Fantastic story, I love the in the boatshed blog.

Lets add a link to the best birch bark canoe film for anyone who has not seen it http://www.nfb.ca/film/Cesars_Bark_Canoe/

 

[rommy]

Lets add a link to the best birch bark canoe film for anyone who has not seen it http://www.nfb.ca/film/Cesars_Bark_Canoe/

I really enjoyed the link, thank you.

 

[robin wood]

I did a blog about this and Henri Vaillancourt replied filling in some of the background. For those that don't know Henri has worked for 30 years making bark canoes and recording native crafts, he is one of my craft heros so it is nice now to be in touch. This is his site http://www.birchbarkcanoe.net/

Henri Vaillancourt said...

When George Hogg contacted me last february about what I might be able to tell them about an old canoe they had found, my jaw dropped when I saw the pics he sent. The canoe, while clearly identifiable as to tribal type, showed many features that had largely disappeared on canoes in the 19th century , but were corroborated by pictoral and written descriptions of the time period.The canoe's value to research was immense and I impressed upon Mr.Hogg that it be preserved at all costs.After many emails back and forth [ I was asked to write the Enys family at one point in support of getting it to a museum on this side ]the stage was set for its donation to the Canadian Museum. This is truly a happy ending for a valuable piece of material culture that might have been otherwise lost.Hats off to the Enys family for their generosity and to the Maritime Museum for their interest in making this available for future study.

http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.com/2010/12/250-year-old-birch-bark-canoe-found-in.html

 

[Tengu]

What a lucky find.

Its a shame it is being sent back to canada...its not like its going to be a pest to display, is it?

We could put it next to the oldest complete Kayak, in Hull