We're Building a Raft!

The History

In 1956, three crazy Frenchmen and two kittens traversed the Atlantic on a primitive raft made of logs. Over 50 years later, the Captain of that voyage is embarking on a new journey: to see the good ship L’Égaré II rebuilt and put in a museum.

Henri Beaudout, the Captain of L’Égaré II, is now in his 80s, retired from a life full of adventure, and living in Montreal, Canada.

I met Henri when I first approached him regarding a documentary film I wished to make about the voyage of L’Égaré II. When I became aware that he intended to rebuild the raft, I saw this as a grand new adventure, and signed on to help.

Back in 1956, the Quebec Government asked Henri to ship L’Égaré II back to Quebec so that it could be displayed in a museum. But, when it got there, Henri discovered that no further plans were made to house it. L’Égaré II was ultimately fated to be picked apart by scavengers and souvenir seekers, and eventually rot away in a field.

The Impact

Myself, Henri, and a small but passionate group of individuals are working tirelessly to see that the story of this landmark voyage is not forgotten. The heroic endeavour undertaken by the crew of the L’Égaré II marks a unique but largely forgotten episode in Canadian history—a moment of quixotic inspiration, during an era of adventure characterized by the likes of Thor Heyerdahl and Sir Edmund Hillary, that Canadians can call their own. We feel the right way to do this is to rebuild the raft for exhibition in a museum, just as it should have happened years ago.

The Campaign

We are looking to raise $9,500 to go towards the building of the raft. This will cover the expenses of the materials and travel costs related to the project. A short list of the materials needed includes:

• Lumber;
• Over a mile of manila rope;
• Canvas for square sail;
• Tools for the build (these will be rented);
• And more…

What’s More…

This whole endeavour will be captured and presented as part of a documentary project on L’Égaré II. The documentary will also benefit from your participation. Thus, it will be our main vehicle for thanking our supporters.

We will be updating the project on our website with blogs, pictures and videos as things progress. We hope you’ll take the journey with us.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can’t help us financially, there are other things we need. Please:

• Ask folks to get the word out and make some noise about our campaign;
• Re-tweet, post about us on Facebook and other social networks, show that there is support of this project out there;
• Use the Indiegogo share tools to spread the word.

Our very kind thanks,

Ryan Barnett & Henri Beaudout