Several years ago I saw a photograph of a sailing canoe from the 1880's. This was the beginning of my fascination with decked sailing canoes. On this page I hope to post historical photographs and sketches of decked sailing canoes.

Most of the photos here have been scanned from classic sailing books/ journals that I've collected or obtained through interlibrary loans. There are large photo archives of the "golden era" of decked canoe sailing (1880-1900) housed at the New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY; the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain, NY; and the Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut. Many of the originals of the photos I've posted here are located at the aforementioned museums.

I'd truly love to be able to catalogue and post these outstanding collections - unrealistic perhaps because of property rights but I can still dream. But I'd bet that there are still many, many photographs kept in family albums that have never been seen outside the family home. If you know of anyone who has historic photos of decked sailing canoes plead with them to allow a duplicate or electronic scan to be made and sent to me. I'm willing to cover the costs. Let me know.