Ferry boat

“ The ferry-boat wheezed and coughed and sidled across the river to a floating wharf, covered, as usual, with that portion of the population, white and black, which has no interest in the arrival of trains, or anything else, excepting meals at the time for them, but which manages to live somehow by looking at other people working. ”

“ Here, where King’s Ferry crossed from bank to bank, lay my greatest chance of danger; and taking the mid-channel for it, I unshipped the oars and let the boat drift as it would in the tideway. So floating, when I was well past the line of the ferry, past all hazard of being discovered by one of our patrol boats, as I imagined, I ventured to step the mast and to hoist the little leg-of-mutton sail with which the boat was provided. The showing of the small triangle of white cloth was my undoing. ”

“ An excellent ferry-boat may be made from a green or soaked hide of ox or buffalo, or better still, from two or more hides. You will generally find willows growing on the banks of the streams; gather some of the smaller ones, sharpen the butts and drive them into the ground, so as to form an oval figure of the size of your intended boat. ”

“ Where such obstacles are common, a primitive sort of ferry-boat is made by covering a large circular bamboo basket with raw ox-hide. In one of these a dozen persons may embark, and be ferried across with safety by means of a rope stretched from bank to bank. ”

“ This ferry boat connects with a steamer on the canal, which goes to the Helder, and also with various trekschuyts. We shall take a trekschuyt to go for a short distance?—as far as to the place where we shall get a carriage. ”

“ As soon as the steamer drops anchor she is surrounded by hundreds of huge, unwieldy-looking boats—or rather barges—each manned by a dozen or more naked Indians, who swarm the decks, deafen one with their screams, and pester passengers to take the brass token bearing the number of their licensed ferry-boat. ”

“ As a matter of fact the ferry isn’t a boat at all. It is more like a house or a street car or a park full of pretty benches. It doesn’t sail, it only plies, plies between two given points at stated intervals, and could anything be more dull. Nothing is more prosaic than a ferry unless it be an ironing board.
Even a barge is superior, and a barge doesn’t pretend to be a boat. A barge goes somewhere and it gets mussed up by the real salt sea, and so do flat, old scows, honest and rough and sea-going. Any boat in the bay is superior to the effeminate ferry. ”

“ About a couple of hundred yards wide, it was navigated by a ferry-boat of unknown antiquity pulled across the river by a cable wound round a drum. Every man, woman, and child, and every vehicle that crosses America by the Pike's Peak Highway, swells the funds of the man who owns that ferry-boat. ”

“ He saw the ferry boat in the slip, with a space of one or two feet between the boat and the slip. He made up his mind that he could just catch the boat by running. He ran, and, giving a final jump, landed on the boat, knocking down one or two passengers at the same time. ”

“ At a low stage of water the ferry-boat is at the base of a sloping bank, down which in a diagonal line runs the track, never wide enough for two carts to pass each other. To get one of these large carts down this steep and shelving incline requires considerable engineering skill, and here accidents are not infrequent. When the edge of the ferry is reached the whole team must be unhitched, and each animal got on the boat as best may be. Some animals make no trouble and will give a mighty bound, landing somewhere or everywhere to the imminent peril of any passengers that may be already on board. ”

“ A very good substitute for a ferry-boat may be made with a wagon-bed by filling it with empty water-casks, stopped tight and secured in the wagon with ropes, with a cask lashed opposite the centre of each outside. ”

“ To make a ferry-boat from a wagon-bed put it in the center of a wagon-cover or other strong canvas, and then bring the edges up over the sides to the top; the leakage will then be so slight that a man with a cup can easily keep it free from water. The contents of the wagons can be passed in this boat by means of the ferry rope, the animals can swim over, and the empty wagons may be passed by fastening them down to the axles, and attaching ropes to the tongue and also to the rear. They are then drawn over by the men on the farther bank, and kept from drifting by means of the rear rope. ”

“ Crossing the river by ferry boat a long stretch of beach is reached, but the firm white sand will be found to have given place to loose gravelly shingle, along which no great speed can be made by the pedestrian, and yet, as he will learn from the ferryman, it will be needful to put his best foot forward. ”

“ Puffing its way between these vessels is a little white cock-boat of a steamer, that seems tolerably well crowded with men, whose white sun-helmets and yellow silk coats give quite an Indian air to the scene. These persons are probably business men coming over in the ferry-boat from North Shore, where we can see some of their villas from the wharf. ”

“ The tourists are ferried over, as also are the donkeys on which the tourists ride. Now here arose a great financial question. The reis or master of the ferry-boat to which the clerical guide applied was a mighty man, some six feet high, graced with a turban, as Arabs are; erect in his bearing, with bold eye, and fine, free, supple limbs—a noble reis for that Nile ferry-boat. ”

“ We see the high, steel cable strung across the river, with the running block and gang ropes connecting it with the side-railed flat barge or ferry. These floats are often propelled across stream by the force of the current. Just as a ship makes headway by the side wind running off her sails obliquely, so does a boat cross a stream by the action of the tide, if care is taken to have the boat’s head turned partly against the current. ”

“ And tho' the Ferry is over an Arm of the Sea, very broad, and sometimes very rough, those fair Ferriers manage themselves with that Dexterity, that the Passage is very little dangerous, and in calm Weather, very pleasant. In short, we made choice of those that best pleased us; who in a grateful Return, led us down to their Boat under a sort of Music, which they, walking along, made with their Oars, and which we all thought far from being disagreeable. Thus were we transported over to Port Passage ”

“ The ferry boats here are very poor and make slow passages. Common flat boats are used, propelled with oars; they have to tow them up the shore a quarter of a mile before crossing, to prevent landing below their mark on the other side. ”

“ Finally, we examined the horse ferry-boats. These boats consist of two vessels joined together, have a common deck, and are of an elliptical form. Upon the centre of the deck is a round house, in which six horses work, turning a horizontal, which moves two common wheels between the boats, provided with paddles, as in the steam-boats. The carriage, and twenty-two two-horse carts crossed at the same time, standing on both sides of the round house. There are two rudders, one at the stern, the other at the bow.
The trade in timber and boards is one of the capital branches of internal trade. ”

“ These ferries are powerful vessels, and are capable of getting quickly under way. They have no bows or sterns—or, if you prefer, each end is bow or stern, depending on the direction the boat is travelling at the moment. The two ends, to make it plain, are identical. Each is round on deck. Each has a sharp “cut water” over which the round-ended deck projects. Each has a rudder, and each a propeller, save the old-fashioned ones—of which there are a few still in existence—that are driven by side paddle-wheels. ”

“ To me, accustomed to the scrambling, and shouting, and hauling up above high-water mark, the running of naked-legged boys into the water, and the energetic doings of the crew when a fishing boat comes to land at home, there is something of the comically sublime in the contrast presented by these good Flemings. As one of the old brown tubs rolls towards the shore, looking as if she scarcely had made up her mind which end to send in first, you see a man quietly pitch a small anchor over the bows, and then down come the two sails. ”

“ At the foot of a flight of broad stone steps leading to the water from a wharf on the quay near one of the bridges, a superior sort of ship’s boat was moored, where her crew, some resting on the benches, some lounging on the steps, were grouped in conversation, evidently directing their attention to a beautiful ship of small tonnage but perfect symmetry that lay at anchor at a short distance, easily distinguished from the numerous vessels in her neighbourhood by the smartness of her rigging and the elegance of her build. ”

“ She can be pliant as a racing yacht and as pig-headed as a mule. And she only obeys him who knows her down to her smallest technicalities.
In this spirit we practised for weeks, round about, above and below water. We studied our boat, and tried not only to become familiar with all her possibilities, but to penetrate into the inner mysteries of this nautical amphibian. And when we returned from the stillness of the bay to the ear-splitting noise of the riveting hammers and the restless hum of the dockyard, we would sit for hours with the constructors and exchange our experiences. ”

“ Every time a huge ship went out of the entrance to the harbour, all on board rushed to the yacht’s deck to see if her bowsprit was about to be carried away. The manœuvring of the big vessels by tugs in a limited space is, however, wonderful, and though we had one or two narrow escapes, either the position was not so perilous as appeared, or we became accustomed to alarms, for we finally lived there quite comfortably. We landed either by boat across the docks, or by scrambling up a wharf like a houseside by means of a lengthy and somewhat shaky ladder. ”

“ On the more sheltered parts of the deck are men and women, holding on by ropes and bulwarks: they are all looking one way out over the water. What are they watching for? See, it comes now in sight,—only a black speck in the golden path of the sunlight! No, it is a boat sent out two hours ago to search for some island where the people might find refuge when the ship should go to pieces. Do you wonder that the men and women are watching eagerly? ”

“ We seat ourselves on deck to watch the start. There is as much noise and confusion as if the boat were on fire. The moment has come to cast off, when it is discovered that two of the crew are absent, no doubt dallying in some coffee-house. We cannot wait, they must catch us as they can. The stake is pulled up; the plank is drawn in; the boat is shoved off from its sand bed with grunting and yah-hoo-ing, some of the crew in the water, and some pushing with poles; the great sail drops down from the yard and the corner is hauled in to a wild chorus, and we take the stream. ”

“ So again while a pull is being taken on each halyard in its turn, the steersman luffs up, thereby relieving the sail of the pressure of the wind, but without stopping the vessel’s way.
And now we approach our moorings; the tide and wind are both with us. We lower our head sails, steer the yacht so that she takes a sweep round into the wind, and we haul in the mainsheet as she comes up. We bring her up head to wind, and she loses her way just as we are alongside the mooring buoy. A hand forward picks up the buoy rope with a boat hook and secures it. ”

“ Each boat has a little lamp at the prow, and in the soft yellow light that twinkles above the polished surface of the stream, you can catch glimpses of the black-haired, dark-skinned women busy with the vending of their merchandise, and all the time laughing and chattering with the glee of a carefree people. ”

“ When fishermen are out drawing up their nets, he skims so low over the boat that he may be stunned with an oar, and he is so attracted by bright and gaudy colours that he will shoot down recklessly on to the pennants of ships as they flutter in the wind, swinging to and fro with the roll of the vessel. ”

“ It is an excellent plan also for the ship concerned, as it obviates the necessity of lowering her own boats while in port. They sail like the wind, and are quicker in motion than any other boat we ever saw upon the water. One can not look about the harbor but he will see them on every hand, gliding about with the swiftness of an arrow, yet collisions seldom if ever occur. ”

“ This is the place where schedules said nothing of a boat to convey the tourist across the inland sea—of thirty miles' width—to the railroad on its south shore,—the line which bears on its rolling stock the ominous initials W. A. R, but passes through the most peaceful country nevertheless. Yet our genial host's assurances that such a vessel will come are not to be doubted; and, after a dainty repast, a group sits on the pier, watching ghostly ships and smaller craft emerge from and vanish into the mist. ”

“ The narrow belts of sea, which divide their ocean-girded homes, have constantly to be ferried across, and many a boat which has gone out manned with a gallant crew has never returned or sent a waif to tell its story. ”

“ Boats abound—row-boats, sail-boats, and steam-launches for excursion parties. The river consequently presents an animated appearance in the season, and the prettiest effects are produced by the white sails dipping about among the green islands. The favorite boat is a canoe with a small sail stepped forward, which is steered without centre-board or rudder, merely by a change of position in the boat of the man who holds the sheet. ”

“ As we had not been able to get an observation for several days, I hurried on deck with my sextant. Just as I had braced myself against the port rail, the man at the wheel carelessly let the ship yaw, and a great wave that must have weighed tons came aboard, smashing the starboard quarter boat to flinders, dashing in the cabin skylight, and sweeping the decks in a terrible manner. ”