The Voyageur... | SouthernPaddler.com

The Voyageur...

oldyaker

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
1,949
31
The era of the Voyageur facinates me....been doing some reading.
The Canoe dumaiture~~~A Canadian Fur Trading Canoe...Length 36 feet, width 6 feet, draft 3 feet, weight 600 pounds~~~3 tons of cargo, gross weight 4 tons, 6 inches of freeboard when fully loaded.
 

oldyaker

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
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31
Ya know Chuck.....We could have used that honey boat to put his scotch in to carry out to outhouse key! :lol:

RULE #1 Paddling with Chuck....the tide will always be against your paddling direction! :roll:

Cargo for 12 Voygeurs

*six100 pound kegs of hard biscuit.

*sixty90 pound pieces. (Sewn, sealed packs of trade goods.)

*99 gal rum...(ten gal kegs)

*Two 100 pound kegs of salt pork

*Two 100 pound kegs of beans

*Two basket packs for cooking untensils and kettles

*Fifteen, 40 pound packs for fifteen voyageurs

*Blankets and matching oil skins

*One tent for bourgeois or clerk

*Guns as appropriate for the trip

*Bundle of ten foot setting poles

*Two heavily oiled red tarps for rain cover and sail

*One mast and rigging

*60 yards of rope

*Two tins of pine pitch

*One roll of waltap(spruce root)

*Spare rolls of bark

*Axe, 22 bailing sponges

* Narrow 4 foot paddles for the milieux

*Six and nine foot paddles for the lesbouts

*Two iron cooking pots

*One 100 pound keg of flour

*One 50 pound keg of sugar

*Four wooden boxes, iron strapped for medicine, instruments, valuables, glassware and cash.


***Each Voyageurcarried, six 90 lb. packs(plus his ownkit), two packs each time(tumpline only), 180lb. lift, ten minute carry or half mile, stop(pose), return, pick up two more packs, carry 1/2 mile, pose, return, pick up two more packs, carry 1/2 mile~continue to the end of the portage in this manner.


WOW! Now these were some tough guys! :shock: To think how much our canoe gear for cooking, sleeping, clothing, etc has improved and is so much lighter........These hardy souls would be shocked!
 

CamperDave

Active Member
Nov 12, 2005
25
0
Southwestern PA
Voyager

Hey Jimmy...
You are the consummate 21st century voyager....you would have had no problem at all keeping up with those guys way back then....by the way, (serious question) do you know if there were any 'lady' voyagers? That thought just crossed my mind as I was typing this post....camperdave
 

oldyaker

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
1,949
31
Re: Voyager

CamperDave said:
Hey Jimmy...
by the way, (serious question) do you know if there were any 'lady' voyagers? That thought just crossed my mind as I was typing this post....camperdave

WHEW! Women Voyaguers? :shock: I never heard of any but I don't think I would want to meet one! At least in some dark woods.....I would guess pretty rough Camper Dave. Of course....your into rough women! :roll:
 

Deer Slayer

Active Member
Sep 4, 2006
37
0
Rainy Lake......around a warming fire, voyageurs are heard softly singing En Roulant Ma Boulle as the day ebbs into night....one voyageur (Kayak Jack :wink: ) steps forward, and sezs.......

Je peux porter, barboter, marcher, ou chanter avec n'importe quel homme que j'ai a jamais vu

Un canoeman a I été pendant vingt-quatre années, et dans le service pour quarante

Il n'y a aucun portage à longtemps pour moi

Cinquante chansons étaient mon jour

J'ai sauvé les vies de dix voyageurs

J'ai eu douze épouses, et six chiens courants

Tout mon argent que j'ai dépensé dans le plaisir

Étais je des jeunes encore, ma vie où je vivrais les mêmes plus de

Pour lui n'y a aucune vie plus heureuse puis la vie du voyageur
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
... and I don't speak frog. DANG!

Something about a solo paddler, hanging down, and signing songs. No wives, pleasure from somewhere ...

If the French are coming to town, I'd best hurry out and tie up all the dogs.
 
Voyageur%20Canoe.jpg


there are still several traditionals groups up here floating and building these. I've seen them many times.
Where I live...Wasaga Beach Ontario, there is an anual celebration where folks act and live the era of the Voyageurs. They do a lond canoe ride down the nottawasaga river to an old fort site and re enact the fight that took place there. The canoes are incredible
 

Swampy

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
1,736
0
Southeastern North Carolina
mmmmmmm I know sum of these boys and they ain't about to go out in no river er lake without their booze ( rum?) , gritz , nor meats frum home .... now mac will catch his dinner , but the rest of us will settle down with Trail Mixes or MREs ...

They strictly worked and at rapid paces . Rough waters had to be blasting before they ruled out venturing out in the lakes and rivers. Something geezers would not allow ... well most of em anyways ... ( sorry Bro Bar) :p

Jack thars something about Portage ... and 4 of em ... and I think a commetn on yer women in the woods ...

swampy
graduate o' Shadetree School of French Speakin Lessons ...
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Thanks, Swampus Educaticus - we need an interrupter there to translate from Klingon into Cardassian into Swahili into Braille into American. I figured he's poking fun at us. I'm waiting for his readable version so's I can laugh at myself.
 

Deer Slayer

Active Member
Sep 4, 2006
37
0
Kayak Jack said:
... and I don't speak frog. DANG!

Something about a solo paddler, hanging down, and signing songs. No wives, pleasure from somewhere ...

If the French are coming to town, I'd best hurry out and tie up all the dogs.


I can carry, paddle, walk or sing with any man ever I saw

I have been 24 years a canoeman, and 41 years in the service

Fifty songs were my day

There is no portage too long for me

I have saved the lives of ten voyageurs

I have 12 wives, and six running dogs

I have in pleasure spent all my money

Were I again young, I would live my life the same way over

For there is no life, more happier then the life of a voyageur
 

Kayak Jack

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Aug 26, 2003
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Thanks, Deerslayer. I couldn't hack the Klingon without help. Someday, over a few beers, I'll regale you with some of my beer drinking songs, limericks, and stories.

I like to sing while paddling along. I see more wildlife, though, when I'm quieter. (Actually, I see a fair amount of animals when I sing too - but they're all glassy-eyed and drooling.)
 

JEM

Well-Known Member
Kayak Jack said:
Thanks, Deerslayer. I couldn't hack the Klingon without help. Someday, over a few beers, I'll regale you with some of my beer drinking songs, limericks, and stories.

I like to sing while paddling along. I see more wildlife, though, when I'm quieter. (Actually, I see a fair amount of animals when I sing too - but they're all glassy-eyed and drooling.)

Jack is rumored to have help out Francis Scott Key come up with a song based off of an British drinking melody.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Frank never would've recognized the signs, had I not been there to show him. I preferred the tune to Sentimental Journey, but he was more familiar with the drinking song. Breeding shows, I guess.

Most of the animals recover, though not all. One manatee on Outhouse Key refused to stop chasing Jimmie - even after three choruses of "North to Alaska" and an encore of "Tea for Two" (Spike Jones style).
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Good on ya, Deer. I did a few 50 milers with Boy & Girl Scouts. Cub Scout Den. Taught merit badges for backpacking and canoeing.

Also taught them how to inflate water balloons using 2 litre pop bottles, and a fw other skullduggery-type practices.
 

BEARS BUDDY

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2003
1,492
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BAY CITY MI
Matt, get yer facts straight... Jack actually wrote the Olde Englishe song for Friar Tuck & the boys. Francis just copied the tune years later.