Unidentified Indonesian Canoe

I received this query from Arnon Sheige in the Netherlands. Being unable to answer it myself, I'm throwing it open for reader input, with Arnon's permission. Please contribute any ideas via Comments. Thanks.

What can you tell us about this canoe? (Click any image to enlarge.)

Dear Bob 

As a researcher of ancient Indonesia, I would appreciate if you could let me know some details regarding a boat displayed in the Bahari Museum (photo is attached) Jakarta. The Museum Email apparently does not function. 

I am interested in the following:

1. The boat type name. (Generic name?)

2. Area of construction in Indonesian archipelago.

3. What kind of rig/sails does she have?

4. What does the figurehead symbolizes?

5. Type of construction (a dugout + sewn planks elements?) 

All the above is needed for an academic paper regarding the ancient Indonesians mariners. 

Many thanks in advance,

Arnon Sheige 

The Netherlands

The figurehead on the photo from Arnon reminded me of the elaborate carvings on another Indonesian canoe, below. I took these shots a few years ago in the storage area of the Canadian Canoe Museum. Aside from the obvious observations that it's very long, and of straight dugout construction, I have no information about it. 

Kirk Wipper is Gone

Sad news: Kirk Wipper, founder of the Canadian Canoe Museum, died on Friday. He was 88 years old. A nice obituary and capsule biography is here.


Kirk with a school group at the Canadian Canoe Museum, Nov. 2009

Kirk played an immeasurably important role it the preservation of the history of the canoe, Canadian and otherwise, and he was considered a heritage hero in Canada. Just yesterday, before I learned of his death, he came up in a conversation at the Pine Tree State Sportsman's Show in Winslow, Maine. Bob Bassett, owner of Kimball Pond Boat Barn was there displaying his wares, and he generously devotes part of his booth to promoting the Northeast (i.e., Maine) Chapter of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, of which chapter he serves as president. I was there helping Bob on the WCHA end of things, as so was Benson Gray, a direct descendant of the Grays who owned and ran Old Town Canoes for generations. Benson is an authority on the history of Old Town and immensely knowledgeable about cedar-canvas canoe history in general.



Kayaks and other skin-on-frame boats at the Canadian Canoe Museum. One of these may have been the subject of Benson Gray's story.

  According to Benson, the Canadian Canoe Museum (CCM) had acquired a historically significant Inuit kayak whose cover was in poor condition and in need of conservation. After some searching, Kirk and others of the CCM found some of the very last Inuit women with experience at sewing kayak covers from sea-mammal skins, and transported them at great expense from their home in the Far North to the museum in Peterborough to have them make repairs to the kayak's cover. These women examined the canoe and said that the cover could not be repaired: it must be replaced. Museum personnel tried to explain the conservation objective of the project, and the women tried to explain that the existing cover was no good. Neither convinced the other, but the women won, because they refused to do a job that they considered useless, and the museum had to return them to their homes with the job undone.

I met Kirk at the Maine Canoe Symposium, and found him to be easy-going and somewhat of a kidder. It took me a while to learn that he was a dedicated humanitarian and a historian, capable of great humility, sensitivity, dedication and kindness. In November, 2009, I visited the CCM with my wife and son, and we had the honor of being shown around the museum (including its spectacular storage areas) by Kirk. With all his accomplishment and esteem, he was extraordinarily open, approachable, and generous, and it's an experience I'll long remember.   


Cate, Max and Kirk at the CCM, Nov. 2009



Canadian Canoe Museum Photos

Recent trip with family to Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, was wonderful. First photo is Max and Cate flanking museum founder and canoe luminary Kirk Wipper, who showed us through and was a wonderful host. Next photo is the "figurehead" of an extraordinarily decorated 50-foot-long dugout from Irian Jaya, Indonesia (in the storage area -- not on display to general public). Follow the link to my Picasa album at the bottom for many more canoe and kayak photos.

Canadian Canoe Museum Nov. 2009

Canadan Canoe Museum - Awe Inspiring

Visited the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, today, in company with wife, son, and the museum's founder, the renowned Kirk Wipper. While there, we were shown into the new, immense storage areas by general manager John Summers. About 500 canoes in storage! A real privilege and an awe-inspiring experience. I'll post in more detail later, but just wanted to post a photo or two and report my immense good fortune. Anyone who has the opportunity to see this special museum should do so -- Peterborough is about 1.5 hours outside of Toronto.

Canadian Canoe Museum News

According to an article in the Peterborough Examiner, Jeremy Ward, the new curator of the Canadian Canoe Museum, in Peterborough, ON, is taking steps to involve the museum more closely with the local community.

The article tells of a project that Ward managed for the museum, the "construction of a 36-inch birchbark canoe in 2004." On first reading this, I thought that the reporter or editor had misread the foot (') mark and interpreted it as inches (") -- shades of the funniest scene in the movie "This is Spinal Tap!" But on further reading, it turned out to be accurate -- there is a current exhibit of miniature canoes that Ward managed.

I've never had a chance to visit, but the CCM is at the top of my list of places to go -- up there with India and northern Scotland. They don't have a terribly impressive website, but the scope of their collection of canoes from around the world is renowned. Maybe in gratitude for this tremendously valuable exposure, Mr. Ward will sponsor an all-expenses-paid trip for me and my family. You suppose?