In 1874 Nathaniel Bishop went from Quebec to Albany in a wooden canoe, then commissioned Waters of Troy, a builder of racing shells, to build him an ultra-light canoe of Baden Powell's Nautilus design, using his laminated paper process. He paddled down the Hudson to Staten Island, then traveled by river and waterway to the Delaware, and by coast and inland waterway to the St. Mary's River in Florida. From there he portaged across to the Suwannee River, and thence to Cedar Keys, Florida.

This was an interesting book, besides the details of the voyage itself it was full of information as to what the Southern States were like about ten years after the Civil War. Nathaniel depicted things as he saw them, but it might be offensive to those who believe Political Correctness is more important than historical accuracy.