An old Native American canoe found in a barn near Penryn could end up being the oldest example in the world.

Staff at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall and the Enys family, one of most influential on the county’s history, are working together to conserve what could be the oldest birch bark canoe in existence.

Estimated to be over 250 years old, the canoe has been stored on the Enys Estate near Penryn, housed in one of the Enys family’s barns.

The canoe had lain unused and unloved for years but plans are afoot to resurrect the craft on Wednesday, December 8 at 11am by the boat restoration and curatorial team at the museum.

The rare find will be lifted and transported to the Maritime Museum where she will conserved and preserved, put on display to the public and then repatriated to Canada.

Andy Wyke, boat collections manager says: “Moving the canoe is the beginning of a whole new journey back to Canada for this incredible find. For over 200 years, the canoe has belonged to the Enys family having been brought to Cornwall by Lt John Enys after his time fighting in the American War of Independence in 1776.

“Lt Enys sailed from Falmouth in a Packet Ship to join his regiment in Canada to relieve the city of Quebec which was under siege from the Americans. He fought many military campaigns and toured the area for his personal interest – discovering this canoe along the way. It’s incredible to think its legacy has been resting in a barn in Cornwall all this time.”

Wendy Fowler, a descendent of the Enys family, called the Maritime Museum to ask would they look at the canoe lying in the Estate’s barn.

She said: “The estate is very special to us and holds many secrets but I believe this is the most interesting to date. The Maritime Museum are brilliantly ensuring and repatriating another element of our great family history and I’m most grateful that my great, great, great, great, great Uncle’s travels have led to such a major chapter of boating history being discovered in Cornwall.”

Captain George Hogg, archivist and trustee of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, said: “When we received the call from the Enys family to identify their ‘canoe in a shed’ we had no idea of the importance of the find. We knew we had something special, but having worked with the British Museum on the artefacts and the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, we now believe that this is one of the world’s oldest Birch Bark Canoes. This is a unique survival from the 18th century.”

During the canoe’s time at the museum, teams will be researching her history, conserving the remaining wood and preserving what’s left as well as preparing her for the trip back home and representing what she might have looked like over 250 years ago.

After September, the Native American canoe will be repatriated to Canada where the Canadian Canoe Museum will research to see where the boat may have been built and by which tribe.

A museum spokesman said that curators from the Canadian museum are especially excited to receive this rare and unique part of their history as rarely do they have ‘live’ historic canoes of this far reaching history to help them reveal their own past.

The birch bark canoe will go on display at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall from late January to September 2011.