The six items you ideally need camping... c1905

[emma_melbourne]

In 1905, war correspondent Richard Harding Davis wrote about camping in his day. Specifically, what equipment he saw used by travellers, explorers, army officers and war correspondents. I began drafting a write-up of the top 6 items, but I can't find why I did with the original story link damnit. Sorry! (Perhaps someone here has it.)

In any case, Davis had pearls of wisdom. He writes about the conviction in which an individual prides themselves above all on their set-up and kit:
"On a campaign, you may attack a man's courage, the flag he serves, the newspaper for which he works, his intelligence, or his camp manners, and he will ignore you: but if you criticise his patent water-bottle he will fall upon you with both fists."

And this pearler reflecting on different set-ups of equipment needed for different conditions:
"What on one journey was your most precious possession on the next is a useless nuisance."

I want to share Davis’s top six items of equipment which he finds most useful for "heavy camping" with transport. (Similar to our modern idea of car camping.)

 
1) Tent shelter – 213 x 305 cm with cross-ventilation

The number 1 priority on Davis's list is a tent, measuring 7 feet by 10 feet (213 x 305 cm), with a fly, and which is open at both ends. He recommends one with a window cut in one end, to provide a draft of air. (Cross-breeze ventilation as we would call it today.) Davis also recommends interior pockets, for storing small articles.

Comparing the advice to today’s tents, much of this still rings out with truth. The importance of a shelter with liveable size and space, good cross-ventilation – plus storage pockets.


2) A folding bed / cot stretcher to put your sleeping bedding on.

Next priority on Davis's list is a Gold Medal bed: light in weight, strong and comfortable.

"When at your elevation of six inches above the ground you look down from one of them (Gold Medal beds) upon a comrade in a sleeping bag with rivulets of rain and a tide of muddy water rising above him, your satisfaction, as you fall asleep, is worth the weight of the bed in gold."

 
3) A folding chair

Davis note that many men scoff at a chair as a cumbersome luxury, but after a hard day on foot or in the saddle...
"when you sit on the ground with your back to a rock and your hands locked across your knee to keep yourself from sliding, or on a box with no rest for your spinal column, you begin to think a chair is not a luxury, but a necessity."

A chair offered rest and comfort, and was so highly valued that cigars were traded for a turn to sit in one. In the early 20th Century, a number of designs existed. From Elliott arm chairs made of wood and sold at army stores, to the Willisden chair made of green canvas and thin iron supports which broke into two pieces.

 
4) Cooking kit

Davis described a cooking kit with utensils carried in the same pot used for boiling water, and the top which turns into a frying pan. He envied the Preston cooking kit and water bottle - invented by Captain Guy H. Preston of the Thirteenth cavalry. The type that Davis carried was a German army kit, who borrowed the design from the Japanese.
"It is made of aluminium, - weighs about as much as a cigarette-case, and takes up as little room as would a high hat."


5) Two collapsible water buckets
Davis finds two water buckets as being rated amongst his most valuable assets. In the early 20th Century, these were made of rubber or canvas. Why two water buckets, you may well ask. Well this seems specific to Davis travelling in those days by horse.
"...as soon as you halt, instead of waiting for your turn at the well or water hole, you can carry water to your horse, and one of them once filled and set in the shelter of the tent, later saves you many steps."

Amusingly for us modern-day readers, Davis notes that the bucket can be used as a nose-bag, and to carry fodder!


6) Lanterns
Of the lantern options available in 1905, Davis preferred the durable collapsible brass lantern over aluminium.
"A lantern is an absolute necessity. When before daylight you break camp, or hurry out in a wind storm to struggle with flying tent-pegs, or when at night you wish to read or play cards, a lantern with a stout frame and steady light is indispensable."


I found a few archival images of similar pieces of equipment to the type he's referring to, some slightly the wrong era, but will help to give you a general sense.

And yep my job is as an archaeologist / historian, hence my interest in the subject.

Best,

Emma

[mypace]

Thanks Emma

I've enjoyed the whole piece but my favouite part would have to be the dangers of criticising the patent water bottle!

[tastrax]

http://www.online-literature.com/richar ... pondent/6/

[Mark F]

Emma - by the 1960's not a lot had changed. For bushwalking gear the conventional choices were:
Paddymade japara tent - a bit smaller and a lot lighter but still cotton. The high thread count cotton in the japara and wax proofing meant the fabric was largely water resistant but would leak if touched. An accidental touch was cured by running a finger down the tent fabric so the water would drip on an unoccupied point. That was the reason for wanting a fly over the tent.
The folding bed was replaced by a ground sheet and often cut foliage for a softer sleep - tents generally didn't come with a floor. The ground sheet, often pvc coated cotton but for the more advanced plastic film, separated the sleeper from the "rivulets of rain".
The folding chair had fully disappeared by this time but is making a comeback.
Cooking kit, billies and ex-army mess kits (dixies) ruled the day along with enamel plates and mugs. Army water bottles, often with their felt covers, were also quite standard.
Collapsible water buckets continued but in a different style - triangular cross section in either japara or pvc coated cotton.
From https://farm9.static.flickr.com/8417/30 ... dca2_b.jpg
Laterns were replaced with battery powered torches - all relatively heavy.