Canoe of Mont-Dore

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Canoe of Mont-Dore

Post by Anatol » Tue Mar 05, 2019 6:39 pm

A stamp issued by New Caledonian Post in 1948 shows a canoe sailing with an outrigger against the backdrop of the island "Porc-Epic". The top of the island is covered with excellent kauri pine. The island is located near the city of Mont Dore, in the south of New Caledonia. The inhabitants of the city built "sea canoes". (See photo). Researcher M.S.MONTAGUE writes: "Sea-going canoe" have a length of 6 to 9 meters and can accommodate from 8 to 10 people.Тhe best specimens, which come from the south of the island, are made trom the trunks of the kauri pine, though several species of hard woods, known collectively as “up”, are more generally employed. The trees used for this purpose are contined to special districts in the mountain forests, many of them a long distance from the coast, and their cutting and transportation is an undertaking of great magnitude employing much time and many men. The log, when cut, is roughly shaped and hollowed on the spot. It is burned out with hot stones and the charcoal is chipped away with a small stone adz (оkono). The log is then dragged down to the coast along special routes by means of ropes of twisted creepers, and there a canoe hull is being built. Тhe gunwale of hull, after processing, is completely drilled is pierced all the way around with holes about 3/4 inch in diameter and 3 inches apart, by means of which the washstrakes are attached. The washstrakes range from 3 to 4 inches to more than 1 foot in height and their lower edges are pierced with holes, corresponding to those in the dugout, to which they are attached by lashings that pass over a split sapling previously laid over their junction. The strakes are a little shorter than the cavity of the dugout and the interval between them is inclosed at each end by a flat breakwater. Therer still remains an open space between the breakwaters and the ends of the canoe ; this is decked in by a thick piece of light wood bound on in the usual manner. All cracks and joints intended to be watertight are calked with a waxlike substance made by chewing the buds of a shrub. The booms are attached to the top of the washstrakes, which are cut out to receive them so that the platform deck may lie flat. (see fig.). The outrigger apparatus is precisely as in the other canoes except that the “Y” sticks are necessarily longer and that the booms projecf slightly over the opposite side of the hull Supported by the booms and washstrakes is a deck of planks that projects over both sides of the hull, particularly on the outrigger side. A hole for the mast is pierced through this near each end, and there are one or more hatches leading down into the hull. In the old canoes this deck was doubtless lashed on. In sailing, the float is sometimes carried on the weather side and sometimes on the lee side. The Outrigger must be to windward as a counterpoise to the distended sail. A large paddle serves as a rudder. There is a low balustrade on one side. The mast is about 9 or 10 feet high and is some times supported by a stay on each side. The sail is almost square with a light gaff and boom. The proximal end of the boom is attached to the lower portion of the mast by a loop of cord and the throat of the gaff is simply hitched over the top of the mast, winch tapers shortly to a point. The peak is held up by a bamboo sprit, which is generally held in the hand and has to be taken out and slipped in on the other side of the sheet when nutting about. Though this method may appear clumsy, halyards are entirely dispensed with and the sail can be lowered in an emergency with great ease and certainty by simply dropping the peak. Two of these canoes were occasionally attached to each other to serve as a double canoe for turtle fishing (Montague. MS). Figure-Sea-going canoe, New Caledonia, elevation and plan (drawn by Paul Montague).
New Caledonia1948;1,0f. Source:A. Haddon, John. Hornell: Canoes of Oceania.1937.Volume II. https://translate.google.ru/#view=home& ... =Porc-Epic
Attachments
img2431.jpg
MDore Conception Canaque Pirogue(1).jpg
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Porc Epic.jpg

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