Seminole Canoe

[Rob Stevens]

Is anyone aware of  articles or books on building Seminole canoes? Are there any lines drawings (plans) of the canoes? Also any information on paddles, poles or other equipment, if any, that they would have carried? Thanks, Rob

[Flex Kayakfari.com]

Following up on the suggested 'Gladesmen' book by Simmons, these links have a lot of info if you'd rather make a Glades skiff instead:

http://www.southernpaddler.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9869

http://www.southernpaddler.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9900&...

http://www.southernpaddler.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9900&...

[Rob Stevens]

Flex, Thanks for these sites. They look interesting. Rob

Flex 029 Kayakfari said:

Following up on the suggested 'Gladesmen' book by Simmons, these links have a lot of info if you'd rather make a Glades skiff instead:

http://www.southernpaddler.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9869

http://www.southernpaddler.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9900&...

http://www.southernpaddler.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9900&...

[Rob Stevens]

Daniel, I keep meaning to thank you for this lead. There's a great photo on the cover of a skiff. The skiff on the cover has that great "broken" sheer of a Seminole skiff. It has ribs which show a turn to the bilge rather than a hard chine. I almost wonder if it is a true dugout stiffened with ribs.
 
daniel said:

i know this is off the beaten path a little, but there are instructions on how to make an old school glades skiff in the the book "gladesmen", if anyone's interested... 

[Rob Stevens]

 As you can see I'm very slow to respond. If you have a chance you should build a birchbark canoe. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. I went from hanging 3" oak planks on a 125 footer to a couple of days later taking a class building a canoe with nothing but a crooked knife, an axe, and an awl. If you watch the different videos of First Nation people building canoes the secret seems to be to have a grandchild helping.
 
XAVIER AND DIZZY said:

its not a seminole canoe but this may be of some interest to you.

 

http://www.nfb.ca/film/Cesars_Bark_Canoe

 

[daniel]

hi rob, no sweat. i like that book a lot. and i don't know if you saw the back section of it, kinda of like an addendum, but there are explicit instructions how to make a boat. funny i didn't see your post till now--i've been in the bushes all week, and re reading "gladesmen" every night. 

[Rob Stevens]

I found a set of lines drawings for a Seminole Canoe in Forest and Stream, May 1922, page 210. Not surprisingly, they are rather simple.

[waysouth]

 I believe there is at least one Seminole tribal member building canoes in the traditional manner. Check out the Upper Room Art Gallery in Ft. Lauderdale... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmmYGVhltAg

[Rob Stevens]

Thanks for this tip. I think my computer is haunted. It obviously can't be me. I've tried following this tip and I've gotten as far as a movie being made about a Black Seminole Resistance Fighter but I haven't been able to find if it was ever finished. The more I search the less I find. Must be the computer, can't be me.

   I've got a friend here in Maine who's trying to get a project going of building a dugout, then a birchbark canoe, and finally a Biscay shallop to celebrate the Native Mainers maritime heritage. That would be really something.