Canoeists on the Hudson

The Sailing Race at the Spring Meet of the Hudson River Canoe Clubs. Drawn by M.J. Burns https://oldprintshop.com/product/12869

Editor's note: The following article was originally published in Harper's Weekly, June 13, 1885. Thanks to Contributing Scholar George A. Thompson for finding, cataloging and transcribing this article. The language, spelling and grammar of the article reflects the time period when it was written.

CANOEISTS ON THE HUDSON.
A chronic case of the canoeing fever sends its victim early into camp, which explains the long line of tents by day and fires by night that last week greeted the eyes of early Hudson River tourists along the beach at Plum Point.  This promontory is midway between Newburgh and Cornwall—a curving reach of shingle, well lined with the flood-wood essential to al fresco comfort, well shaded by the trees that grow on the forgotten ramparts of Fort Mackin—a Revolutionary relic, and commanding an altogether charming outlook down the northern gateway of the Highlands.
    
Hither, on invitation of the “Dock Rats,” as the Newburgh Canoe Club styles itself, came the Hudson River clubs for their spring “meet.”  There were the New York, Knickerbocker, and Brooklyn clubs from salt-water, the Shattemucs from Sing Sing, the “Dock Rats” aforesaid, the Mohicans from Albany, the Rondout clubs, and numerous unattached canoeists from everywhere alongshore.
    
This year interest centered upon a new model, the “Sunbeam,” by Everson, of Brooklyn, which, it is believed, combines the best features of all the famous models that have gone before.  She differs from her favorite predecessor, the “Shadow,” in having greater depth, no “tumble-home” of sides, less rake to stern-post, a straighter stem, a somewhat fuller, but still very fine, entrance, and greater breadth aft.  The length is fifteen feet and breadth thirty inches.  The mainmast is stepped twenty inches from the bow, a folding centre board is provided, and the usual water-tight compartments and fittings are constructed with an eye to the best results.
    
The favorite rig is generally known as the “Mohican,” though, as is often the case in great inventions, many of its features had been simultaneously devised and used by another experimenter.   It is in effect a happy combination of the well-known lug and lateen rigs.  The leading canoes, as shown in the illustration, carry this rig.  Mr. Vaux has this spring father improved upon it in the rig of his Sea Bee, a canoe of the new Everson model.  In this the spars are all of the same length, facilitating stowage, and securing at once the advantage of a moderately high peak, with a wide spread of canvas well aloft.  Mr. Vaux has also improved the set of his sails by having them cut so that the whole after “leach” is selvedge, the seams running parallel to it throughout.  Two sets of sails have been made in this way for canoes of the “Sunbeam” type, and both have already shown first-rate qualities on all points of the wind.
    
In the sailing races at Plum Point the wind was extremely baffling.  The first race started with a fine breeze, the boats getting away well together, as our artist has shown, affording a sight dear to the canoeist's heart as they stood over toward the eastern shore.  The second stake-boat was well up the river, and the wind fell away to a calm, varied by fitful cat's-paws, so that the last half of the affair called for a combination of luck and seamanship that left it any one's race till the finish, when everybody not personally interested was glad to see Mr. Gibson with Snake come in a winner.  In the second race the programme was reversed.  The start was hardly a start at all, owing to lack of wind, but midway of the race the river craft were seen booming up through the Highlands wing-and-wing.  They brought the wind with them, and the racers were presently staggering under all they could carry.  Mr. Whitlock's Guerm, with her enormous lug mainsail, was half a mile to the fore at the finish, and the rest of the fleet was all over the river, having drifted in all directions during the calm.
    
​A picturesque feature of the modern canoe is the barbaric fashion adopted by the original Indian canoeist of painting a “totem” or device of some sort on the sail.  Thus the Mohicans carry a turtle, and General Oliver's Marion has in addition a little one in bronze posted on the bow of his boat.  A dock-rat “rampant,” a muscalonge, a sea-horse, and so on, are among the devices adopted by the various clubs, and these, with the registration number of the canoe in large figures, as required by the rules of the American Canoe Association, lend a kaleidoscopic effect to a fleet under sail.  The increasing interest in canoeing was evinced by the attendance of many spectators, including a number of ladies, who, in spite of rain, actual and threatened, inspected the camp, and curiously watched the proceedings; and one—a pretty girl she was—sat unconsciously for her portrait, gracefully wielding a double-bladed paddle while she watched the racers dash off before the short-lived breeze.

---

If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!

Donate Now

Join Today