Vob span

A while back, I came across this intriguing print on LiveAuctioneers.com with the listing title of "Original Albumen Photograph American Indian Guide".


"INDIAN GUIDE, c. 1870".
Details from the site mentioned a date of circa 1870. An original period photograph, it measures 2.25" x 3.5" and is housed in a beveled 5.25" x 8.25" period mat. The subject, according to the pencil notation below the image, "INDIAN GUIDE, c. 1870", is seen standing leaning on a canoe paddle. Unfortunately, no details regarding the identity of the subject were available.

Later, thanks to an email from blog reader Luc Poitras, I learned the image is of Gabriel Acquin, a Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik) guide who was the first to permanently settle on land that would eventually become St. Mary's First Nation.


Gabe Acquin (St. Mary's), c. 1866
University of New Brunswick Archives
In the photo Acquin is holding a rough looking paddle with an elongated grip typical of this region. Found a detailed bio page that mentioned some pretty neat stuff about the man. Here's an excerpt...

A turning-point in Gabe’s life occurred in 1860 when the 18-year-old Prince of Wales visited Fredericton. Passing by Government House in his canoe, Gabe was hailed by the prince, who asked for a ride. Against the remonstrances of equerries and household, Gabe paddled the future king across the river and into the mouth of the Nashwaak River before returning. Gabe was subsequently invited to England, first in 1883 as one of Canada’s entries in the International Fisheries Exhibition in London. With his canoe and wigwam and wearing an outfit beaded by his wife, an extraordinarily talented craftswoman, he set up camp on the ponds of South Kensington, renewed old friendships with royalty and officers he had known, and became, in the words of William Austin Squires, “the greatest social lion of the day.” Gabe is reputed to have gone to England again in the 1880s though this claim is undocumented. He was 82 when he took his last trip there, in 1893–94 with Paul Boyton’s World’s Water Show.

An old thread on the WCHA forums with Marilyn Monroe in a canoe resulted in post by Dave Osborn featuring other Hollywood actors lounging around in wood canvas boat.

Of course, wooden canoe fans first tried to I.D. the beautiful boat and the conclusion was a Kennebec. After that folks were guessing at the ID of the couple with no definitive answers. Recently I came across an ad posted on EBAY ad featuring the same shot, which identified the actors as Joel McCrea & Maureen O'Sullivan, who played the original Jane in the first Tarzan movie! They starred in a film together in 1935 called Woman Wanted. This shot may be promo photo or image from the film. Either way, it's one of my favourite vintage canoe pics.

September 2015 Update: CORRECTION - It turns out the lovely actress in the canoe is not Maureen O'Sullivan but another Hollywood legend,  Fay Wray, the female lead in the  original King Kong (1933) movie. See updated post HERE.

Another movie still featuring lounging around in a canoe. This one features Ann Rutherford and Richard Crane from Happy Land (1943)

Came across an exciting new resource for canoe history junkies. The LA84 Foundation has all the archived issues of Outing magazine which features some fantastic reads (all in .PDF format)

Outing was a late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American magazine covering a variety of sporting activities. It began publication in 1882 as The Wheelman and had four title changes before ceasing publication in 1923. Since all of these US works were published before 1923, they are considered to be public domain according to US Copyright Law so over the next little while I'll be featuring some great articles and photos.

To start off, I found an article entitled, "Frederic Remington, the Man" by Edwin Wildman. It documents the personality of one of America's most well-known illustrators and outdoor artists. The article also includes a stunning photo of the artists by the shore holding his paddle and his birchbark canoe by the shallows.


With his bark canoe


Paddle Closeup
Some of Remington's paintings feature a bark canoe with a dramatic sheerline (online gallery here and here). It seems his real canoe served as the model for one of my favourite pieces of his, Coming to the Call (1905)


Coming to the Call
Frederic Remington
c. 1905


The Howl of the Weather, aka The Squall
1905/6, published 1907 in Collier's Weekly