Boat hook

“ The boy next to the bow is the bowman. The stroke oarsman is the one farthest aft, or nearest the starn. Each on 'em has a boat-hook. Now take 'em, and shove her off."
The two boys obeyed, and placing the point of the boat-hooks against the rock, shoved off with all their might; and the Zephyr receded from the shore till the wind took her, and drove her out under the lee of Centre Island. Here he directed Tony to throw the grapnel, a small anchor with four flukes, overboard, as much to assure the impatient oarsmen that there was to be no rowing at present, as to hold the boat where she was. ”

“ But it requires some skill to throw out lead attached to a fishing-line, especially when there are ten or twelve feet of line between the lead and the hook.
Hence it was then that when Arthur Temple swung the lead to and fro, and finally let it go seaward, there was a sharp tug and a splash, the lead falling into the water about a couple of yards from the stern, and the hook sticking tightly in the gunwale of the boat. ”

“ High-sided and high-housed yachts are also hard riders, the windage having a tendency to keep them worrying at their hawse. All these things must be taken into consideration when selecting a weight of anchor and a size of cable or chain, but, as it is always best to err on the safe side, be less afraid of getting too heavy gear than of getting too light. A 20-foot boat will hold to a ten-pound anchor, if the hook is well proportioned and takes a good hold in good ground, but I should not feel comfortable in turning in on a rough night with only that weight of iron out ahead of me. ”

“ The fish hook themselves, and are generally hauled neck and crop into the boat; but the careful boatman will have a gaff on board for the emergency of a ten-pounder or over. Many, however, do not affect this luxury, but treat great and small alike on the pulley-hauley principle. They say, nevertheless, that few fish are lost. The hooks are so big and strong that there is no reason why they should be lost when once they are securely hooked, as they will almost invariably be by this easy style. ”

“ Nothing for us to do but keep our mainyard aback and let them row to us. Thus fifteen or twenty minutes passed, while I was on tenterhooks over the ship's situation.
At length, after a desperate struggle, they dragged one by one under our lee. The mate had charge of getting the people aboard. Men in the main channels passed a bow and stern line to each boat, others fended them off with boat-hooks, still others helped the castaways over the rail. ”

“ Nor is it possible in this situation for the boats to render their usual assistance by running out lines or otherwise; for having once entered the young ice, they can only be propelled slowly through it by digging the oars and boat-hooks into it, at the same time breaking it across the bows, and by rolling the boat from side to side. After continuing this laborious work for some time with little good effect, and considerable damage to the planks and oars, a boat is often obliged to return the same way that she came, backing out in the canal thus formed to no purpose. ”

“ We had not caught a fish from the schooner, despite having a tackle rigged most of the days. I had fixed a bamboo rod, about eighteen feet long and very strong, on the rail of the waist of the vessel, and from it let trail a hundred feet or so of tough line. The hook was the most perfect for the purpose ever made by man. It was cut out of the mother-of-pearl lining of the Paumotuan pearl-oyster shell. ”

“ For the last two or three hundred yards the yacht had backed in a course which lacked but a few degrees of being parallel to the sea-wall, so that the anchors were but little further from the shore than the schooner herself. "Hauling off," therefore, was a tedious and not entirely simple proceeding. We first hove short on the starboard anchor, broke it out and brought it just awash. Several lashings were then passed through its ring and round and round the port life-boat, just aft of the beam, after which a line from the yacht was made fast to the anchor and the shackle knocked off. ”

“ Many accidents are the result of haste and carelessness, when letting the hook go. A mate of mine once let the anchor drop without fitting the pin in the stock; it came on to blow in the night and we dragged down on another yacht. Dropping the hook while a vessel has headway on is another cause of anchors being foul. Frequently in small yachts carrying the hook under the bowsprit, the fluke will catch on the bobstay; instead of hauling it up and clearing it, a lubber will let the stock drop down and [151] then lift the fluke up and let all go. ”

“ Almost all the Portland creeks have sand-bars; and in heavy weather the sea becomes very rough, and, to pass in safety, much skill and practice are necessary. These little ports (ports more in appearance than fact) are of small advantage. They are hazardous to enter, dangerous to leave. This evening, for a wonder, there was no danger.
The Biscay hooker is of an ancient model, now fallen into disuse. This kind of craft, which has done service even in the navy, was stoutly built in its hull,—a boat in size, a ship in strength. ”

“ The water-draught of hide boats is surprisingly slight, from five to eight inches being sufficient to float one with a full load on board. Long-handled shovel-shaped paddles are used to propel them with, and a store of raw hide, and some tallow, and an eyed awl, or large needle, for patching, enables the boat voyager to execute with expedition all the repairs his leather craft may need. All hide-covered boats, or floats, should be occasionally placed bottom upwards, on shore, to dry, in order to render the skins more durable. ”

“ There followed a banging in the cargo-space, the boatswain’s whistle began its shrill little calls, which would keep up all day, a donkey engine puffed, and a windlass rattled in the bowels of the ship; the big hook on the end of its rope swung down the hatchway, and presently a net-sling full of boxes was hoisted and deposited on the main deck. ”

“ Our tackle box should contain an assortment of sizes however. Snelled hooks are better than ringed hooks and those of blued steel better than black enamel. No matter how inexpensive the rest of the equipment is, be sure that your hooks are of good quality. Keep the points sharp. A tiny bit of oil stone, a file, or a piece of emery cloth are all good for this purpose. It takes a sharp point to penetrate the bony jaw of a fish. Always inspect your hook after you have caught it on a rock or snag. ”

“ Everything with the exception of the masts had been swept from the deck, while the hold was still nearly full of water. In the cabin, however, we found a variety of useful articles, besides a good supply of provisions. All sorts of things, however, had been thrown out of their places, and lay scattered about the wreck. Having collected, however, as many things as we could carry, we were about to return with them to the boat.
“Stay,” said the boatswain, “we have forgotten the arms. See, here are four muskets against this bulkhead, and Mr Hooker’s fowling-pieces. ”

“ Buck and Hop were attending to the mules on shore, and I saw no one on the lower deck.
Moses Brickland and Ben Bowman were in their rooms, and I called them. I told them what had happened. They had heard the shot; but some one was shooting about all the time in the vicinity of the boat, and they paid no attention to such sounds. We searched every part of the lower deck, even opening the trap into the paddle-box, made to allow a workman to get in when repairs were necessary. We could find no person. ”

“ Simultaneous with the thud of the shutting gate is the clank of chains and the rattle of clamps and clogs, as of the striking off of fetters and handcuffs, an asthmatic jingle of a bell somewhere in the body of the boat, a slight slush of revolving paddle-wheels, and the great brute, as steady as a spirit-level and as powerful as a battering-ram, separates itself from the dock like the opening blade of a penknife. ”

“ They are carvel-built—that is, the planks are placed as in a ship. Boats in general are clinker-built—that is, the planks overlap each other; but as they are difficult to repair, the other simpler method is employed. A ship generally carries seven boats—two or more large, and the rest small. They are suspended by cranes, or davits, in a row outside the rigging, on either side of the ship, and another astern, so that they can be directly lowered into the water. A smart crew will man and lower a boat in the space of a minute, and be away in chase of a whale. ”

“ From under the lee of the wrecked yacht a giant roller, which had failed to burst upon the outer reef, foamed in a huge smother, and swept down upon the small boat. Smart had kept her head to the sea, and was allowing her to drift back very slowly, so that in case he saw a bad place he could pull out and away without turning around. ”

“ We got the launch and skiff out of danger, carefully overlooked our lines and fenders, but still the tug bumped against the side. How the wind blows, and the waves dash against the side of the tug driving her against our side with a steady succession of blows. It worried us to know that the safety of the boats depended on a single one-inch rope, and the tug lashed against the outside strained on it. The rope was tense as a fiddle-string. If it broke the stern of our boat would swing out and throw us on an ugly snag that projected slightly about six feet below us ”

“ To hold the arms properly in place, a strap should be drawn around the sticks at the middle; and to insure a good prop make a block 6 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 7⁄8 of an inch thick, with two pins at each end, as shown at C in Fig. 15. The pins will fit into small holes in the long sticks, and when the strap is buckled tight the block will be held securely in place. A large flat hook can be lashed fast to this block, and when sailing along before the wind it can be caught over a stout leather belt to help support the weight of the sail. ”

“ The boat is built with considerably higher gunwales at the bows and stern than in the centre, while four to six feet of the space at either end are water-tight air-chambers. A heavy iron keel is attached, and a nearly equal weight of light air-cases, and cork ballast cases are stowed betwixt the boat’s floor and the deck. “No other measures are necessary to be taken in order to effect the self-righting power. ”

“ Unless it does it is liable to strain the spar. I nearly lost a mast once by the jib stay sawing into the wood and sticking. It parted in a sea-way, and the shock broke the bobstay shackle. Every cruising boat should have two shrouds to a side. On pole-mast boats one of these should run to the hounds and the other to the masthead. Don't set them up to bands; eye-splice and put them over the spar. You never can trust the eye in a band. The rigging screws should be just twice as heavy as what the average man will tell you to use. The screw is the weak part. ”

“ I have experimented with several of those built for yachts and have in every case found them inferior to the common anchor. They are useful sometimes as stern-holds, and for dropping on ragged bottom, where a common hook is liable to foul. ”

“ These places are the remains of a point or island, and are good places to fight shy of. The worst boats to take ground are flat-bottomed craft like sharpies; when they go on they generally make a perfect job of it. They are bad things to strand on a sand-bar or flat, the bottom of the boat sucking like a leech to a turtle's hindquarter. Unless you can get the tide to lift one of this kind off, it is either jettison the ballast or dig out. A man who knocks about a sandy land in a sharpie should always carry a shovel with him. ”

“ They pull down the sail, and in a stiff gale help to hold it so that all the stress may not bear upon the tack.
HOOK AND BUTT. The scarphing or laying two ends of planks over each other. (See Butt-and-Butt and Hook-scarph.)
HOOK-BLOCK. Any block, of iron or wood, strapped with a hook.
HOOK-BOLTS. Those used to secure lower-deck ports.
HOOKER, or Howker. A coast or fishing vessel—a small hoy-built craft with one mast, intended for fishing. They are common on our coasts, and greatly used by pilots, especially off the Irish ports. Also, Jack's name for his vessel, the favourite "old hooker." ”

“ There is a wide variety of hooks, not only for the different fish, but variations in design for the same fish, the choice depending on the skill and preference of the fisherman. The straight hook, or one in which the point is in line with the shaft and not bent to one side, is generally regarded as the most profitable to use, although the great majority of hooks are made with flatted, ringed, knobbed, or plain ends. ”

“ Again, because the gear for night work in small craft must be as simple as possible, such boats usually carry only a mizzen and a dipping lug—the latter a large, very picturesque, but unhandy, sail which has to be lowered or 'dipped' every time the boat tacks. Neither comfort nor safety is provided by the three feet or so of decking, the 'cuddy' or 'cutty,' in the bows. To sleep there with one's head underneath, is to have one's feet outside, and vice versa. In rough broken seas the open beach drifter must be handled skilfully indeed, if she is not to fill and sink. ”