Flatboat

“ The water, the drift, and the flatboat are all moving in the same direction at precisely the same speed.”
“Oh, I see,” said Constant, with an astonished look in his eyes. “We’ve nothing to measure by. We can’t tell which way we’re going, or how fast, or anything about it.”
“Why not come to anchor, then?” asked Irv. “If we keep on floating, nobody knows where we may go to. If there should be any gap in the line of levees anywhere, we might float into it. It would just tickle this flatboat to slip off on an expedition of that sort. Why not anchor till the fog lifts?” ”

“ In half an hour the pumps ceased to “draw.” That is to say, no water came out in response to their activity. But the flatboat was still aground.
“Never mind about that,” said Irv Strong. “The river is still rising rapidly, and it will soon float us.”
“Yes,” answered Phil, “if we are on a level bar and if the boat has undergone no strain. You see as long as we have bottom [121] under us, we shan’t leak to any serious extent. But when we float again, the great weight of our cargo will make every open seam admit water to its full capacity.” ”

“ We simply must find the leaks and stop them. The tarpaulin helps very greatly, but it isn’t enough.”
“But how?” asked Ed.
[260]
“First of all cast the flatboat loose and let her float,” said skipper Phil. “It’s daylight now.”
“What good will that do?” asked one.
“None, perhaps. Perhaps a great deal. It will put us into a river for one thing. We’re in about as bad a place for sinking as there could be. Maybe we shall float into a better one. Maybe we shall come to some place where the land is still out of water and let the boat sink where we can save part of the cargo. Maybe anything. ”

“ There are very serious duties for the captain of a flatboat to do. He must be able to expose himself in all weathers, which I can’t do. He must be ready in resource and very quick to decide. In an emergency, it is far more important to have a quick decision than a wise one, and especially to have the one who decides a resolute person who will carry his decision into effect.”
“I see,” said Irving Strong. “What we need in a captain is ‘obstinate pertinacity.’ I move that Phil Lowry, as the possessor of a large and varied stock of that commodity, be made captain of The Last of the Flatboats.” ”

“ But it was Phil’s rule of life never to let anybody “do anything in the swimming way” that he couldn’t do equally well. He had once seen somebody dive under a steamboat and come up safely on the other side. [94] So he straightway dived under the same steamboat and came up safely on the other side. After that, diving under a flatboat was a mere trifle to him.
MAP OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
Prepared expressly for this work under the personal direction of Lieut.-Col. Alexander McKenzie, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army. ”

“ Flatboats, just like this one, carried most of the produce to New Orleans; but as flatboats couldn’t come back up the river, there were a good many keelboats that brought freight and passengers up as well as down stream.”
“What are keelboats?”
“Why, they were large barges built with a keel, a sharp bow, and a modelled stern—in short, like a steamboat’s hull. These keelboats floated down the river, and the [103] men then pushed them back up stream with long poles. When the current was too strong for that they got out on the bank and hauled the boat by ropes. ”

“ The flatboatmen had laboriously acquired the art of piloting the commerce of the West through this mazy, shifting channel, but as steamboats developed in size and power the man at the wheel had to become almost a superman. ”

“ There were barges and flatboats bearing families and farm produce. Then came steamboats, which carried everything,—passengers, grain, coal, merchandise, and even circuses and menageries. We can imagine the excitement among the small boys of a river town when the circus boat told of its arrival by the fierce blast of a loud steam whistle. There are steamboats yet and a127 busy river front, but great railroads center here, and trains run to Pittsburg and Philadelphia, Cleveland and New York, Chicago and St. Louis, Nashville and New Orleans. A vast business is done. ”

“ Some minutes later it cast anchor at the extreme point outside the port, as if it wished to hold itself in readiness to set sail at the first signal.
"Our yacht will pass the night alone in the bay," said Falmouth, "for the mystic appears disposed to set sail."
"Between ourselves, your Gazelle will have little regret for its company," I replied, "for I have seen this boat by day, and it would be impossible to meet a ship of worse appearance; compared with your elegant and coquettish schooner it has the air of a hideous beggar before a pretty woman." ”

“ 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. ”

“ If danger is apprehended, it is usual to ring a slow bell, and run easy. If danger be apparent, the boat should land or stop entirely, and let the flat-boat pass.'
John F. Farrell says, 'it is the duty of a flat-boat to straighten itself in the river, ease its oars, and pursue the course with the current, and the steamboat must avoid her.' The snag in the river, Douglass says, was one hundred feet above the bow of the steamer when the boats struck. ”

“ But our queer, snorting, fussy little tug-boats march away with every floating thing to which they are hitched—even dragging huge Atlantic steamships at their sides—because they reach deep down into the water, where their big screws, driven by very powerful engines, obtain a mighty hold. Because our tug-boats are so small, and yet so strong, they are able to move swiftly when they have no burdens to carry. In the boatman's dream that I spoke of they would seem like those water-spiders that many of us have seen darting hither and thither on the top of placid pools. ”

“ A part of the machinery is always above this deck; where the connecting-rod, in a strong and lofty frame, is seen working away like an iron top- sawyer. There is seldom any mast or tackle: nothing aloft but two tall black chimneys. The man at the helm is shut up in a little house in the fore part of the boat (the wheel being connected with the rudder by iron chains, working the whole length of the deck) ; and the passengers, unless the weather be very fine indeed, usually congregate below. Directly you have left the wharf, all the life, and stir, and bustle of a packet cease. ”

“ As a rule, sailing-boats and small yachts are "trimmed by the stern;" that is, the bow is slightly elevated from the water, the boat being pressed, by the position of its ballast, deeper into the water at the stern than at the bow. But every yacht is a law to itself; and no rule will do for all. The position of the ballast has also much to do with the steering qualities, as well as affecting speed: if it be placed too far forward, the yacht will "yaw," and at times, before the wind, be almost unmanageable. ”

“ If when trimmed to sail on the wind a boat shows herself to be hard on the helm it may be the result of her form, of the position of her ballast, or centerboard, or through having too much after sail. If she gripes—that is, tries to go up in the wind—slack off a little mainsheet, and if she has a jib trim it flatter. If she tries to do the other thing run off to leeward; ease the jib sheets. The worst fault a boat can have is that of carrying a lee helm. Never buy a slack-headed boat; they are an abomination. ”

“ Then they have the platform, as in the case of the double canoe, and sometimes they have a sort of upper deck, or pilot-house, on the platform, where the captain stands to direct the movements of the craft. All these forms of boats are steered by means of paddles, and not with a rudder."
"I wonder somebody in the civilized world does not take something from these savages in the way of boat-building," said Frank, as soon as the Doctor paused. ”

“ Inasmuch as the whole balance of the boat depends upon the out-rigger, it would never do, of course, to have the large, heavy sail, bearing the weight of the wind, on the opposite side of the boat; consequently, when sailing up in the wind, where tacking is necessary, instead of putting about or jibing, the crew assemble and, lifting the mast with all the rigging, carry it bodily from the bow to the stern, where it is stepped anew; the stern then becomes the bow, and the man at the helm has to scramble quickly to the other end of the boat to find out which way he is going. ”

“ A sailing-boat is so constructed as to resist this tendency to capsize. Either she is made narrow and deep and is weighted with ballast as far as possible below the water-line, or she is shallow but of considerable beam. The deep and weighted boat will heel over more readily than the beamy shallow boat, but the further she heels the greater pressure of wind is necessary to make her heel still more, for the leverage of her ballast increases as she heels, and many boats with lead upon their keels are practically uncapsizable. ”

“ A boat intended for both rowing and sailing should be partly decked, and have as high a coaming as possible round the cockpit. A folding centerboard should be fitted as in Fig. 10, so as to avoid the awkwardness of a trunk, which in a small craft takes up too much room. Outside ballast is not necessary; a few bags of sand will do instead. An open boat under sail is dangerous except in the hands of a skilled boatman. ”

“ When we got down to the landing-stage, the boatman said:
"Let me see, sir; was yours a steam-launch or a house-boat?"
On our informing him it was a double-sculling skiff, he seemed surprised.
We had a good deal of trouble with steam launches that morning. It was just before the Henley week, and they were going up in large numbers; some by themselves, some towing houseboats. I do hate steam launches: I suppose every rowing man does. ”

“ The Una boat is not easily capsized—the beam prevents that—but she soon becomes altogether overpowered by sea and wind. Like all flat-bottomed boats, she pounds heavily into a head sea and is very wet. The weight of the mast, being so far forward, makes her somewhat liable to run her nose under water and fill. She steers wildly too before a sea, and will broach to more readily than other boats, while the length of her boom renders an accidental jibe dangerous. ”

“ The ends of the suspension ropes are fastened securely to the cradle, and by altering their length the workmen can adjust it to the proper height for working. These boats are usually constructed with a framework of iron and fitted with edge boards and guard rails all round. Like the “ boatswain's boat ” they sway considerably in the wind. ”

“ These are the flat-bottomed boats, known as skiffs or sharpies, for a sharpie is really nothing more than a large skiff provided with a centerboard and with dimensions and lines designed to adapt it to sailing.
Before commencing to build any sort of a boat, however, you should have the proper tools with which to work, for without good tools it is impossible for a person to build even a simple flat-bottomed boat. ”

“ But be advised, and be on the safe side: have plenty of ballast, if [22] the speed is not the very fastest that the boat is capable of making.
Professional boatmen, lobstermen, and fishermen are never eternally shifting and changing their ballast: having found the "happy medium," they let it alone for the season. It is only the amateur that is continually sailing his yacht upon her "beam-ends," or watching with the utmost anxiety the fast approaching squall, for which the professional cares naught. ”

“ You cannot expect a sail to sit properly and hold its draught on buckling spars. The lead of the sheet is such that the boom cannot be kept rigid, and just as soon as it blows its end turns up like a pugdog's tail, throwing the canvas all out of shape. Then the back-wind from the mainsail makes it impossible to keep the mizzen full unless it is sheeted very flat. ”

“ When on top of a sea, and all the sails full, the yacht will go fast: when she attempts to bury her head, and kick up her heels, and becalms the jib and lower part of the mainsail, she will go slower. There is one thing to be guarded against in running before the wind, and that is the "jibing" of the main-boom; that is to say, the wind getting on the forward part of the sail, from any cause,—whether by change of wind, or on account of bad steering,—and carrying it violently over to the other side, endangering the yacht, and with a liability, in heavy weather, of carrying away the mast. ”

“ That the action of the rudder, when forced over till it is at an angle with the keel, is to act as a drag on that side and so deflect the boat’s course, is plain enough. But it is not so obvious a fact that this action of the rudder in turning the boat is not to turn her bow round through the water, but to push the stern sideways while the bow is almost at a standstill. For the centre of rotation of a boat, that is, the imaginary pivot on which she turns, is always well forward. ”

“ In the next place, this deck must be of considerable weight—a serious disadvantage if the boat has often to be beached. And not only is the deck heavy in itself, but, situated as it is high above the water-line, it tends to make the boat top-heavy, and this must be counteracted by putting more ballast into her than would be required in an entirely open boat of the same dimensions. Now, if a small boat is intended ever to venture into rough water, the less ballast she carries and the more buoyant she is, the better. ”