Canoe Travelling: log of a cruise in the Baltic, and practical hints on building and fitting canoes ... With ... illustrations and a map

Preface

. CANOEING, as a mode of aquatic locomotion, has been in practice many thousand years ; and there is as much dif ference between the canoes of different countries as between the men who use them. The single canoes of East India and the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans have made little or no progress beyond the canoes of the early Europeans, which, from time to time, are discovered in an embedded state ; though the double and outrigged canoes of the former are a shade better. In Canada, canoeing is one of the regular modes of travelling, and some wonderful feats — both in distance accomplished and dangerous rapids safely cleared — are performed in single canoes built of birch-bark and manned by one, two, or more paddlers. VI

PREFACE.

. The Greenlanders use canoes made of sealskin and built with enormous " kink ; " in these they make long sea-voyages and fishing expeditions, often in bad weather ; but, owing to their being decked all over, the great kink , and the skill of the canoeist, they seldom come to grief — at least, we seldom hear of it. Modern canoeing on the rivers in England has — with, perhaps, the exception of coracleing — been in pursuit of exercise and pleasure, rather than of fish or commerce. A few light canoes were to be met with, scattered along the banks of the Thames, chiefly at Eton and Oxford, for the last twenty or thirty years ; but the earliest publicly recognized summer cruising abroad dates only from 1865, when the Rob Roy was paddled and sailed on the con tinental lakes and rivers. Since that time, hundreds of canoes have been built, vast improvements made, other long foreign voyages successfully accomplished ; the experiences of each, when made known, helping in the general improvement of canoes and their fittings, till, already in these few years, the first travelling canoes bear no comparison with those of the present time. In canoe travelling there are two distinct pleasures :

PREFACE.

. VII one, the healthful enjoyment of a free and easy life in fine weather and varied scenery ; and the other, the more sensational, cracking on under sail, and working her suc cessfully through and over heavy seas ; not in the foolhardy sense " courting danger," though this term is often applied to a man without knowing what really is danger to him. A cockney on a cab-horse might accuse a huntsman of " courting danger," for merely jumping a fence ; and in the same way with canoeing, a man may be starting in his canoe to cross some hilly water ; no one can tell by guess ing whether these seas will be a danger to him, owing to his want of experience and caution, or a pleasure, owing to his perfect boat and knowledge of how to work her. Yet there are men who do court danger, either that it may seem bold to others, or to enjoy for a short time the excitement of flitting along the brink of eternity.

There are many lovely wild spots on lakes, rivers, and seas, to which no man can get in his yacht : no railway, no horse, not even his own legs, can take him there. In some cases a rowing boat might avail, but in bad weather the heavy seas would render any open boat work dan gerous, if not impossible ; or if once there, might detain

PREFACE.

. him beyond his time or will : whereas a good cruising canoe, at once his lifeboat, portable yacht, and house, is equally efficient whether the water be deep or shallow, rough or smooth. Many imagine that canoe travelling must necessarily be a solitary performance : on the contrary, I think the more the merrier and the safer, provided that each man is " skipper of his own boat." To some men there is an intense enjoyment in being alone with their thoughts in a foreign country for months together, the spell only to be broken at intervals by the necessary intercourse with the natives. I have enjoyed many a short solitary cruise, solitary because mine was the only canoe in those parts of the world ; but on a long trip I should prefer as many companions as possible, for, even when two are together, every trouble is halved and pleasure doubled.

What can be more enjoyable to a lover of yachting and boating, than to form one in a fleet of these miniature yachts on a cruise ; a separate interest is felt for each little ship and its doings, it is one continued regatta and picnic ; and while I enjoy an unimpaired brain, I will never get the Nautilus " under weigh " for a long cruise, under a self imposed sentence of solitary confinement.

PREFACE.

. IX One of the great recommendations of canoeing as an invigorating national amusement, is its inexpensiveness. The canoe calls for no heavy outlay in fitting out ; no crew to eat their heads off ; she is easily housed and easily transported to any portion of the globe. The oak travelling canoe, with gear, built by the best Thames builders, costs about a guinea a foot. During our Swedish tour, a period of two months, we each spent 45/., staying at the best hotels, and travelling first class when on steamboat or railway ; so of course it could be done cheaper. Details of that tour will be found in the following log, accompanied by some of its sketches. Those who contemplate canoe building or travelling may be interested in the particulars of various methods of construction and fittings described in Part II. May, 1S71. CONTENTS.

Part I. Log Of

A CRUISE ON THE BALTIC. CHAP. PAGE I. Whither? — The Ship — Rigging — Gothenburg i II. Gotha River — Sleeping in Canoes— Lilla Edit — Lively Landlady 6 III. Falls of Troli.hatten — Lake Wenern— Carlstad — A wet Run ii IV. Cow "Making Tracks" — Night in a Hut— "Touch and Go" — In the Surf 17 V. Pike and Mosquitoes — Mariestad Prison — West Gotha Canal 22 VI. Yacht Club — Motala — Towing Canoes— Lake Roxen 27 VII. Invisible River — Norrkoping — Deer-stalking at Qvarsebo 32 VIII. First Day on the Baltic — A Shout in the Dark — Oxlo Sund 38 IX. Orsbaken — Thunderstorm — Nocturnal Visitors — Cross Seas 43 X. Municipal Duties at Trosa — Head-wind and Sea — Bullock-Cart 49 XI. In for the "Lady's Month" — Sticky Water — Luncheon Afloat CONTENTS. XII CHAP. PAGE XII. Stockholm from the Malar — Experiments — Our Special Artist *. 61 XIII.

CARLSKRONA HARBOUR— ARRIVAL AT MALMO— BATHS 66 XIV. "Doctor of Swimming" — Drowned Rats — Brass Band 7° XV. Tin Hatch — Bound for Copenhagen — A North- Wester 74 XVI. Crossing the Sound — Swan Chase — Sleep on Saltholm 7S XVII. Mirage — Ticklish Footing — Seals— Harbour after Dark 82 XVIII. Copenhagen — Thorwaldsen— Kiel Harbour — Prussian Fleet — Hamburg 87 XIX. Stream Work — Alster Lake — Sunk ! but all Hands Saved 91 XX. "Put that Sail down"— Green Lights — Street Canals 95 XXI. Water Labyrinth — Close Shave in a Lock — The Elbe at Last — "The Berlin" — Starting for London — The Thames 99

Part II. Practical Hints On Building And Fitting Canoes

XXII. "Nautilus" No. i —Defects— Diving— Sinking— No Cabin 105 XXIII. "Nautilus" No. 2 —Dimensions— Rigs — Life-boat Qualities 109 XXIV. "Nautilus" No. 3— Dimensions— Bulkheads, &c 113 XXV. Building — Wood — Weights of Wood, &c CONTENTS. XIII CHAP. PAGE XXVI. Rigs — Lateen, Settee, Chinese — Dipping Lug — Revolving Lug — Standing Lug — Spreet Sail — Sliding-gunter — Sliding-spreet — Dandy — Foresails 121 XXVII. Fittings — Paddles — Steering — Rudders — Camping-out — Leeboards — Centreboards — Outriggers — Sideboards — Wheels — Cleats — Pumps — Ballast — Sail-making and Rigging — Hatches and Aprons 140 XXVIII. Navigation — Charts — Compass — Bearings — Soundings — Variation of Compass — Currents — Leeway — Instruments 160 XXIX. Cooking and Clothing — Stores of Food — Ship's Stores — Useful Articles — Wood Fires — "Rob Roy" Cuisine — Fresh Water on Salt — Canoe Wardrobe — Night-Cloak — Overland Stores and Town Rigs LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PART I. PAGE

Crossing the Sound Frontispiece. Map of the "Track" Facing I Turned In 7 The "Isis" Running iS Which Way? 34 Lighthouse on the Baltic 41 Snow-Plough 56 A Clipping Breeze Facing 97

PART II.

"Nautilus" No. 3 Facing 113 Lateen and Settee 124 Chinese Rig 1 2 5 Standing Lug and Mizen 128 Spreet-rigged Wherry 1 3 1 Sliding-Gunter Brass 133 Sliding-Gunter Rig 134 Sliding-Spreet Rig 136 Rudders and Gear 143 Leeboard 147 Sideboard 148 Canoe Wheels 1 50 Cleats 151 Pump 152 Sail-cutting 155 Compass Cards 162 Coast Line

PART I. LOG OF

A CRUISE ON THE BALTIC.

Chapter I. Whither

? — THE SHIP — RIGGING — GOTHENBURG. The upper portions of the Thames, with a light boat and fine weather, may be satisfactory enough to one man, whilst to another the conditions of recreation will be better fulfilled by roaming through distant countries, with some what of danger and difficulty to overcome. A stiff breeze, wild scenery, freedom of dress and action, with the per plexities of a strange language, may be preferred to being guided by a tourists' handbook from a first-class Swiss railway carriage to the comfortable monster hotel, with its obsequious English-speaking waiters. Freedom of action, a good canoe, and plenty of water, was certainly my idea of the best heading to a chapter on " summer cruising." I Freedom of action would commence as soon as ever I took my seat in the canoe and shoved off.

Next comes the canoe. She was of the Rob Roy type, fourteen feet long, two feet two inches beam, and one foot deep from deck to keel, built of oak below, the deck and topstreak being of cedar. I had found the standing lug rig awkward to handle in sudden squalls ; without a mast-traveller, on letting go the halliards, it was apt to bag out to leeward, then bang about in a most disorderly manner, and finally fall into the water ; and with a traveller it would often refuse the duty of coming down at all. Of course these little eccen tricities could nearly always be "nipped in the bud," but still it was not quite the style of rig for a long cruise. The sliding-gunter appeared to me the best rig to try, only that it had to be altered in most of its details, so as to adapt it to so small and light a boat.

This was accomplished by degrees, till at last a handy, as well as good-looking, rig was fitted to her. Then the ship's instruments and stores had to be collected and stowed — a compass, aneroid thermometer, charts, lamp, knives, clothes, as well as sleeping, cooking, fishing, carpenter's and artist's gear ; stores of pre served soup, tea, coffee, sugar, &c. Boatswain's stores of spare blocks, lines, sails, &c. ; carpenter's, of nails, red-lead, varnish, wire, &c. Then followed a two-days' trial, of all THE START. 3 the new fittings, on the Thames, and most satisfactorily they performed their various duties. The difficult question then arose, of " where to go ? " One can scarcely tell by merely looking at maps, how far a country may offer really enjoyable water-travelling ; for instance, on a map, the banks of the Thames, below London Bridge, look just as pleasant as those above Kingston.

Books of European travels are generally confined to the description of towns, roads, and railways ; they rarely mention the forest -surrounded lakes and rivers, which form the backbone of a canoe tour. After due consideration of Europe in general, Sweden appeared to us the most promising water-country. My friend H. and I, therefore, planned to go in our canoes right across Sweden, from Gothenburg on the west coast to Stockholm on the east coast. In round numbers this would give us nearly 300 miles of various lakes, rivers, and bays, besides 50 of the Gotha Canal, and another 50 of the Baltic Sea.* We proposed to go by steamboat from London to Gothenburg, and after some 400 miles of canoeing, to steam home again via Copenhagen and Hamburg. The evening of July 17, 1869, closed upon us as we dropped down the Thames, having our canoes, the Nautilus * We did, however, paddle eighty-eight miles on the Baltic. and the Isis, safely slung to the beams on the between decks of the S.S. Mary.

With the exception of fouling a brig in Gravesend Reach, the voyage was accomplished without any noteworthy incident, and on the 20th we arrived at Gothenburg, a cheerful-looking thriving town. We paddled along some of its numerous canals, only succeeding after some delay in finding the Gotha Kalary Hotel, for which we had been inquiring, under English pronunciation of its letters, whereas the Swedish pro nunciation is Yota Chillery, g and j before a vowel an swering to our y ; and k being generally sounded as ch soft. The town is built chiefly of stone ; broad streets at right angles to one another, a canal running down the centre of each, with a wide road and lumpy pavement on either side of it. All heavy traffic goes on the canals, — carriages and light carts only being allowed on the road.

There is nothing ancient to be seen ; but Gustavus Adolphus judged wisely that such a harbour would soon attract an immense commerce, and great has been the boon to succeeding generations, constantly numerically increasing, who have thriven and prospered on the results of his foresight. Vessels were here from all parts of the world. Whilst paddling about we came to the swimming-baths, a portion of the harbour being railed off, with dressing- A SURPRISE. 5 boxes built on the top of the railing. Thus there is a square of dressing-rooms supported two or three feet above the water, the entrance door being on the land side. We looked about to find any way of getting withinside these railings, and spied out one portion whence some bars had been removed to allow the swimmers access to the river. We put the boats through this opening and managed, by bending down, to glide on under the rails, and thus surprised the bathers by the sudden appearance of two canoes in the centre of their swimming-bath.

Chapter II. Gotha River

— SLEEPING IN CANOES — LILLA EDIT LIVELY LANDLADY. 21st July. — At 5 A.M., after a cup of coffee, our boats were carried down by four men to a canal, and off we paddled, under convoy of a rush of spectators along the banks, men of larger growth as well as such boys as chanced to be already up. Having traversed short por tions of canal, we emerged on the fine full-bodied river Gotha, and set sail to a north-westerly breeze. We intended to proceed as far up as the current might permit, and soon found it necessary to take in sail and paddle against a strong head-wind ; the wind having shifted. About I p.m. we hauled the canoes ashore on a rocky point, marked on the map as Kattleburg, and quickly had a blazing fire with our soup boiling above it. This, our first test of the commissarial resources of the boats, proved satisfactory.

The rest of the day we paddled through magnificent rocky wooded passes, with here and there an LOOKING FOR QUARTERS. 7 opening showing us some house or a farm couching upon its pasture, and on one island a fine old ruin. Turned In. As evening lowered we looked out for some house at which we might put up for the night, but nothing earthly could we see within half a mile of us, large beds of reeds always dividing us from solidity. So we pushed on ; and, by every mile of paddling, our chance of finding a house seemed lessened. At ii p.m. we determined to go no further, not having tasted food since one o'clock, and the night turning very cold ; we had now passed beyond all rushes, and at the same time beyond all hope of houses, the steep rocks bristling to the water's edge. We stumbled on shore in the strange semi-darkness caused by the faded western glow which gives a false appearance to surrounding objects, so that one cannot distinguish where the water ends and the land begins.

After many a flounder and bump on the rocks, we succeeded in placing the two canoes side by side, on a flat portion a short distance from the water. We soon had fire and lamps alight, and soup and coffee under weigh. After supper, we prepared for the night by fixing our mackintosh coats over the hatchways of the canoes, laid a rug on each bottom, and then began the artful dodge of stowing five-feet-eight of man — head and shoulders under the after-deck, legs and feet under the fore-deck, body in the well. This little manœuvre has to be achieved by shoving two-thirds of your body, counting from the foot end, under the forward-deck, and then carefully putting your head under the after-deck, and hauling yourself aft by your hands. Cover the hatch with the GOTHA RIVER RAPIDS. 9 mackintosh, leaving a small aperture for air, shove the life-belt under your head, and blow it out into a convenient pillow.

This mode of sleeping is very well as long as you are dry ; but that night, as on many others, our rugs, coats, trousers, &c, being completely wet, the cold compelled us to rise at three o'clock. Broad daylight, but the mist so dense that we could not see many yards. We climbed the rocks, and found that the fog lay low and heavy along the whole valley of the river. As we had no meat or bread in the storeroom for breakfast, we paddled on, at first cold and shivering, through the soft white veil ; but by 9 A.M., when we caught sight of a farmhouse half-a mile inland, the sun was already burning-hot, the delicate wreaths of vapour had vanished. We walked off to the house, purchased eggs, black bread, and butter, returned to the river, and made our breakfast, then spread sails, clothes, and kits to dry, and we ourselves rolled into the grass for a good sleep.

By midday, thoroughly refreshed, with a rattling breeze and fine weather, we scudded on our course up the river, until we reached the first rapid. On landing we found the river had made a heavy bend, the rapid being off the point. We therefore lifted the boats out, and carrying each in succession, launched them above the rapid. After paddling through long picturesque reaches, and deep quiet pools, which reflected the sun gleaming from between the clouds, we arrived at Lilla Edit, a small village at the last waterfall on the Gotha River, surrounded by saw-mills worked by the cascade. Running parallel to the river is a short canal, with a set of locks at each end, through which vessels are enabled to get above the falls. We found there was a small inn, so had our boats carried into the sitting room, and indulged in the luxury of sleeping in a house and in a bed.

Next day we went to the salmon-fishery, which has fallen off much of late years. We tried for hours with flies and spinning, but fruitlessly. The natives catch them with nets. The current here was too strong to paddle against, to make any reasonable progress. There fore we determined to await the arrival of the steamboat for Wenersborg, and then to avail ourselves of it thus far. At midnight, the steamer entered the locks. H. and I started from the inn ; seizing the Isis, we carried her down to the steamer, and were returning for the Nautilus, when we met the landlady and her daughter running down the hill at a good trot, with the Nautilus under their left arms and bearing the two paddles in their right hands.

Chapter III. Falls Of Trollhatten

— LAKE WENERN — CARLSTAD — A WET RUN. By I A.M., with daylight approaching, Captain Ericson, who spoke English well, said it was no use to turn in, as we should soon come to the waterfalls of Trollhatten. We therefore made ourselves comfortable on the -bridge, enjoying the grand, wild scenery in the dusky morning. The roar of a waterfall became distinct, louder, and heavier, as we neared it, when, on rounding a point, suddenly the glorious sight of the locks of Trollhatten broke upon us: a mountain face, as it were, with locks rising one above another — a stupendous marvel ! Vessels stepping up before one's eyes, from lock to lock, to a height of 120 feet from the lower part of the river into the Trollhatten canal above, which deposits them back again in the river, but above the waterfalls.

There is a grand old canal, which was blasted and cut through half a mile of solid mountain, forming a huge narrow dyke, with a series of locks along its bottom, but this is now left unused, owing to the still greater work since achieved. When the steamer entered the first lock, we went into the captain's cabin and he regaled us on Swedish punch ; we then started ashore to see the falls. All the paths and roads were covered with sawdust, and a mill appeared at every single spot where water could be caught to turn the wheel. In some of these mills they mash great logs of wood into pulp, pack it in casks, and send it away long distances to be finally con verted into paper. The falls consist of a long wild cataract, the water bounding down over stones and rocks, with here and there a large troubled pool whence the same body of water again launches forth, hissing and crashing round and over islands and rocks, forming many channels, again uniting, some having passed through quiet shady pools, whilst others have had it rough all the way, making a last grand leap into the river below, and gliding quietly away to be mixed with the waters of the vast North Sea.

We mounted the heights, and rejoined our steamer in the Trollhatten canal, and, after a few miles of the Gotha river, entered another canal, the " Karlsgraf," which takes a short cut across country into Lake Wassbotten, thus escaping another series of falls. It was not until after entering this Karlsgraf canal that the passengers — some ten or fifteen — began to come on CARLS TAB— UPPER UD. 13 deck. They had slept through all the grand scenery, and were just in time for a fine view of the flat marshes around Lake Wassbotten, a kind of bay of Lake Wenern. Cap tain Ericson now told us that, after touching at Weners borg, he was going to Carlstad, and thence on a cruise on the N.W. side of Lake Wenern, and proposed that we should accompany him, promising to bring us back again to Wenersborg, from which town we wished to start in our canoes.

To this plan we agreed ; and after landing the passengers we enjoyed this fine inland sea, along which we steamed all day. Lake Wenern is the largest lake in Europe excepting Ladoga, being about IOO miles long by 50 broad (in places). Towards evening we reached Carlstad, built on an island formed by the two mouths of the river Klar, and connected with the mainland by a magnificent bridge. Here we found passengers ready for the cruise awaiting the steamer, and by 10 p.m. we were off again. Next morning we were still steaming on, bound for Upperud, a small village, whence a new series of cuttings are now in course of formation, to connect one lake with another, to gain a direct communication with Christiania ; thus it becomes an enterprise of great commercial interest. Through a net-work of lakes, rocky crags, and wooded hills, we at last reached Upperud, where we all disem barked from the large steamer into a small one of about thirty tons, better suited for canal work.

In this we pro ceeded through more lakes until our course was arrested by a waterfall. Here the steamer turned into a set of locks on the right-hand side, which raise boats up into a large iron aqueduct, which crosses the river at the top of the falls, and through which we steamed into the lake above. Here we got ashore, as the water looked good for salmon, whilst the other passengers went on, enjoying a noisy brass band and many tedious locks up to the end of the new canal, where they were to turn round and come back to Upperud. After fishing in the best-looking places for two hours, without one rise, we had the pleasure to learn that there was not a single salmon or trout in the water. So we walked off across the hills, finding our way back to Upperud. There we launched our canoes from the big steamer, and took a cruise amongst the lakes, where we had good perch and pike fishing until evening, when we rejoined the steamer, started for Carlstad, and arrived there early next morning.

Having landed the passengers, we now turned towards the N.E. corner, for a small village, Skattkarr, where we took in a cargo of steel and iron, and returned to Carlstad and Wenersborg. Here the weather continued so dirty that we waited a couple of days hoping it might clear, but this it declined to do, so we could delay no longer, and on the 29th our canoeing life commenced in earnest. CAPE UDD. 15 The morning was anything but propitious, a fresh south-westerly wind blowing, the barometer at 29.9, a heavy sea, and every prospect of rain. Our first course lay from the lighthouse at Wenersborg to Cape Udd, about 10 miles, over which we ran before a heavy sea, which increased as we distanced the land, and made sailing impracticable. At Cape Udd we landed on one of the numerous rocky islands — about two acres of thickly wooded mossy rocks, which would have formed a delightful dining-room but for the pouring rain.

We soon had a good fire and our dinner cooking on it. All stores and baggage were wet, for what little water there was in the bottom of the boats was well washed about by the heavy seas. The seas were so short we had been unable to use our sails, for, even when paddling easy, we had some difficulty in keeping the boat's nose from running under the sea in front of her, when she would be lifted astern by the next sea, and either be capsized or ship a lot of water, neither of which would be pleasant whilst four or five miles from the nearest land. During our halt on the island the wind shifted from S.W. to N.E., in a heavy rain-squall, so, for the rest of the evening, we had to paddle against a head-wind amongst numerousislands, on one or other of which we landed several times to take bearings of the headlands in sight, in order to find the position of the canoes on the chart.

Waste of work enough we had, for want of a deeper water, or rather for want of a truer and minuter chart to guide us ; the result of error involves one in the " square root of a negative quantity." Divers were our errors, and divers were the miniature voyages of discovery we made up small bays which invariably ended in a swamp, yet at last we happened upon one sufficiently flooded to float the canoes across to a bay belonging to the other side of Cape Udd.

Chapter IV. Cow

"MAKING TRACKS" — NIGHT IN A HUT — "TOUCH AND GO" — IN THE SURF. No house, no sign of human life, darkness increasing, rain coming on again, we cast about for a moderately dry spot for the night. Presently from out of the forest of fir emerged a woman and a cow. Happy thought ! the woman must have some place to sleep in, and, as it is so late, her home may probably be near. I blew my whistle to attract her attention, instead of which it scared her, and off she ran, as fast as she could go into the wood. We landed as near as possible, hid our canoes in the bush, and made for the forest, but our Atalanta had sped so swiftly as to leave no impress of her foot behind her. Happily her cow was heavier; we discovered its track, followed it, and after a long wander through pine-woods, found a cottage.

There we saw a man smoking his pipe, so we approached and asked him, in Swedish, for milk, eggs, and a bed. The whole family turned out, were very polite, and said " ja " to everything we wanted. So we led our host back to show him our boats, and, whilst we paddled round, he, on land, guided us to the next bay, at the head of which was his cottage, to which we had before gained access only by the roundabout track through the forest. Thb " Isis " Running. 2,0th July. — We started with a heavy sea and fresh breeze from S.W., with double-reefed sails and jibs ; and THE HINNA-BAK. 19 having to cross a good stretch of rough water from one headland to another, we kept our life-belts handy. The seas ran very high ; at times I almost lost sight of H. and his canoe, only the top of the mast being visible whilst in the trough of the sea.