1926 Old Town
War Canoe Pages
War Canoes were commercially built from about 1895 through 1950 (a 25' is still available from Old Town as a special order for about $11,000.00). The sizes ranged from 24' - 35'. The most common size was the 25' model which, if you can find one for sale--there are a few - usually run from $4,000.00 in poor shape on up to about $10,000.00 for one totally reconditioned. We have never found a 34' or a 35' for sale in any condition.
A 25' War Canoe was made with an extreme width of 41", a depth of 14 1/2" and total weight of 200 pounds. Later versions (after 1935) were 44" wide and 16" deep and weighed 250 pounds--these were designed for youth camps where more stability was needed and the ability to load more "crew" came to play.
The 34' Old Town War Canoe (like the 2 that Troop 123 owns) have an extreme width of 44" and depth of 15" and weighs about 325 pounds.
Their great bulk and weight makes handling them difficult on land. While their great size gives the impression of ruggedness and strength, they are actually more fragile than normal canoes and must be handled with extreme care. Care must be taken to never bridge the canoes. Crews should be thoroughly drilled in handling these craft. To launch or beach these canoes, the crew lines up on both sides of the canoe, carrying it by the gunwhales. When at the water's edge, feed the stern in and feed the canoe through the hands, forward until the canoe is totally in the water without scraping the bottom of the canoe. When the canoe is totally in the water, start loading by having the coxswain go first and take his seat at the coxswain's position (the only seat), next the 4 primary stern paddlers, the the 5 power (amidship) paddlers, and, finally, your 4 primary bow paddlers. The coxswain does not paddle, but calls the stroke and gives the steering instructions--in essence, he is the captain. We usually try to have a person of smaller stature as the coxswain, since he does not paddle (however, he needs to have a loud voice and strenght enought to be able to rudder the canoe). All paddlers must kneel in the boat, so a closed-cell foam pad is a kindness to the knees. If the canoe is to launched from a dock, after placing the canoe into the water, draw it to the dock. The primary bowman and the coxswain will hold the canoe to the dock as the others take their positions--then the bowman enters and pushes the bow off, then the coxswain enters and the away side crew draws away from the dock, while dock side crew push away.
When cruising or taking a canoe camping trip, usually 9 crew are used (4-bow, 4 stern and coxswain), with the amidships used for gear. For fun, we have had a maximum of youth 19 crew - the boat ran about 25 knots!
Remember - the boat weighs over 300 pounds and with the weight of the crew, there is a lot of mass carrying the boat - is coasts a long way and will not stop on a dime.
Thomas Costello (Scoutmaster of Troop 123 from 1958-1983) first starting using our canoes when they were owned by what is now Florida Southern College in Lakeland. At time there was no college crew, so many colleges used to race war canoes. They would be loaded onto flat bed rail cars and hauled to various colleges for races. In the 1930's, when these were not being used, Mr "C" (as he has always been called) made arrangements for the troop to use them in return for maintaining them.
