Help me to Sherlock Holmes this Indian(?) Style Canoe: Floating off the Florida Keys

We came across this canoe floating off the coast of the Florida Keys. It is 15' - 18' and looks to be made of fiberglass.

I've searched like mad online and can't find anything. I assume it is a replica of an Indian canoe from Canada.... looks like a maple leaf and an O for Ontario or just part of the design... the I....



And here is a terrible cutout:

A few more photos:

At least they knew enough to paint the inner bark on the outside of the boat on this one...

Did you bring to shore or leave it floating? Also, any pics of the inside?
Jim

Boatman53 said:

Did you bring to shore or leave it floating? Also, any pics of the inside?
Jim

Click to expand...

The boat we had just wouldn't work for getting it onboard. No photos of the inside... it was after a long day of work on the water and we weren't thinking about photos as much as we should have. It is now in shallower water and called in as a navigational hazard.

Glad it is reported.
Jim

Looks to be a voyageur style replica. White paint pattern on the bow was the typical decoration on these canoes. It could be a hull made by Ralph Frese (1926 - 2012) of Chicagoland Canoe Base. He was famous for making authentic looking bark canoe replicas out of fiberglass for expeditions and films.

Articles about him here:

https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/life-and-times-of-mr-canoe

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/201...-with-street-sign-after-50-years-of-paddling/

Murat V said:

Looks to be a voyageur style replica. White paint pattern on the bow was the typical decoration on these canoes. It could be a hull made by Ralph Frese (1926 - 2012) of Chicagoland Canoe Base. He was famous for making authentic looking bark canoe replicas out of fiberglass for expeditions and films.

Articles about him here:

https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/life-and-times-of-mr-canoe

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/201...-with-street-sign-after-50-years-of-paddling/

Click to expand...

Thanks!!!!

Murat - I think you nailed it! I found this photo online and it sure seems to match fairly closely. Seems like Ralph was a real treasure!

For a while there were a lot of these faux bark canoes that found their way into 18th century living history events. We made one out of an old Mad River "Explorer" that was given to me. With the good ones, you had to paddle pretty close before you realized it wasn't a true bark canoe. They really added to the flavor of events when they paddled into the group.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

The hull looks a lot line one of Ralph Frese's Canadiennes, but from the gunnel condition, it looks like it's been reworked, which wouldn't surprise me as the wood can rot.

Ralph made several different lengths of those boats, and what I remember was a 14-6, a 16, a 17-3, an 18-6, a 20-6, a 26 and a 34 footer. I think the 14-6 and the 18-6 and larger ones had high ends in the mold, but the 16 and 17 footers did not, at least when I frequented the place in the early '70s. Back then, they couldn't have had the high ends like the boat in the above pics. They could have been added by the owner and work covered with the paint. I'm not sure about the birch pattern, but the pitch marks looked like his work to me. The gunnel work did not look like that, which leads me to believe that the owner had trouble with it and replaced it and the lashings at some point in the life of the hull, if it is in fact one of Ralph's boats.

Hey, I'm going from memory here, and that's about a 50 year gap.