Freshwater Saga: Memoirs of a Lifetime of Wilderness Canoeing - Softcover

Morse, Eric W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802066577 ISBN 13: 9780802066572

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division, 1987

Synopsis

At an Ottawa dinner party in 1951 a group of three Canadians and three foreign diplomats planned a canoe trip on the Gatineau River. It was the first of many trips by a group dubbed by the Ottawa press the Voyageurs, whose most enthusiastic member was Eric Morse. Morse loved canoeing. This memoir is a celebration of his ruling passion and the friends who shared it with him.

As a boy Morse had found his hunger for wilderness satisfied on Canada's rivers and lakes. As an adult he chose Ottawa to settle in because of its nearness to good canoeing country. There he encountered the congenial souls who would share many of his holidays over the next fifty years.

In his lifetime, Eric Morse saw more of Canada's wilderness than most people have dreamt of. He loved the Arctic best. Recalling his expeditions in later life to the far north, he writes vividly of the Thelon, the Kazan, and the paradisiacal Taltson. In tribute to a man who knew well and loved the waters of the north, a river in the Barrens has been officially named after him.

About this title

About the Author

Eric W. Morse was national director of Canadian Clubs from 1949 until his retirement in 1971.

From Publishers Weekly

Morse, who died last year, was a lifelong canoeing enthusiast and here describes in detail his adventures on the lakes and rivers of the Canadian Shield. In 1952, he and several diplomats in the fledgling United Nations began their annual canoe treks, which are the focus of this book. Dubbed the voyageurs, after the early Canadian traders, they followed the fur routes of the country's early settlers. Morse's rather dry style is enlivened by earthy anecdotes about various mishaps and glowing descriptions of the Canadian wilderness. The author assumes the reader is familiar with esoteric canoeing terms and Canadian history, but wilderness enthusiasts will be inspired by the author's middle-aged exploitshe was 49 when the voyageurs first set offand armchair travelers will be glad to be removed from the fearsome insects, blazing sun and summer snowstorms that the authors and his hardy companions encountered. Photos and maps not seen by PW.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0802066577
• ISBN 13: 9780802066572
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 189