 Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead. |
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Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.
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Ancient and modern craft propelled by oars or sculls.
As the name implies this was a superior type of racing sculling craft. A development from the wager boat (so called because heavy wagers were often made on the results of their races). Both types were made from the lightest possible materials with the minimum space for the single sculler. Usually of semicircular section, lacking proper keel but with a type of fin placed aft of the sculler. The best boat had a sliding seat and full outriggers and the interior was lined with waterproofed silk.
A gig, or small boat, known as a captains gig was carried by many sea-going and estuarine craft for the private use of the master. It was an open rowing boat of clinker build with a straight sheer or sides below the gunwales.
Dating from the middle of the nineteenth century this popular racing boat was similar to the modern eight-oared shell, although heavier, having the overlapping planks of clinker build. This craft was seldom over 60 feet long and could be as short as 56 feet. The beam or width was from 24 to 27 inches and the depth 8 to 9 inches.
Like the Clinker Eight this boat was similar to the modern eight-oared shell, but heavier, with overlapping planks of clinker build. It had four oars and a length of 38 to 42 feet, a beam of 23 to 24 inches and a depth of 8 to 9 inches.
An open clinker built rowing boat at one time popular on rivers and in harbours, especially on the Thames. It was used for exercise and training purposes, having straight sheer or sides below the gunwales. The coaching gig was about 26 to 28 feet in length, with a 3 foot 4 inch beam, and 10½ to 14 inches deep.
Originally a small open boat, also known as a 'pram' or 'punt', towed by a yacht or launch to be used as a tender. Although originally clinker-built, recent versions are smooth-sided. constructed of fibreglass, marine plywood or any other suitable materials. Dingies have a wide range of designs but are typically of strong but squat appearance, sometimes flat-bottomed and blunt - or swim-ended. In recent years many have been fitted with outboard motors, while others are rigged for sailing and racing. The modern sailing dinghy appears in over two hundred types found in different parts of the world, all under 20 feet in length.
| Dating back to 1855 when this keelless eight-oared racing boat made its appearance at Henley on Thames. Designed by Matthew Taylor, for the Royal Rowing Club, it was built, with an outer skin of bent or moulded cedar wood, bottom side upwards on the moulds. Ribs were fitted inside the skin after the boat had been reversed. Oxford University launched a similar craft of their own, at Putney in 1857, 63 feet in length and 25 inches in beam. Over the years the dimensions and fittings varied but these were prototypes for most racing boats into the 20th century and is used in the University Boat Race crewed by a coxed eight. Hulls were made of cedar wood imported from Central America which although only three sixteenths of an inch thick could withstand pressures of 8,000 pounds below the waterline. During the 1970s experiments were made with fibreglass, and other materials, which has led to the modern rowing eight and the four which now dominate the sport.. |  |
| Cambridgeshire: Ely Rowing coxed four on the Great Ouse - October 1994 |
With a length of 27 feet, beam of 2 feet 3 inches and depth of 9½ inches this was a longer and narrower variation of the Thames skiff .
A narrow clinker-built boat that had full outriggers and double ends and was well pointed at bow and stern. It was fairly deep for its length and accommodated a single person either for sculling matches or for training purposes. Mainly used on the upper reaches of the Thames.
Was an open rowing boat at one time popular in harbours, on inland waterways and especially on the River Thames. It was of clinker build with a straight sheer or sides below the gunwales. It declined in popularity from the 1860s, but on the Thames it was used for for exercise and training purposes well into the twentieth century, long after it had outlived its usefulness as a working craft.
Can be either a small boat acting as a tender, especially in rivers or estuaries, or a small coasting vessel under sail. The first type was a large rowing boat that ferried passengers to sea-going and estuarine vessels, especially where there were inadequate docking facilities. Small river or harbour lighters were also called hoys and lightermen working and owning their own craft were often known as 'hoymen'.
The long boat was usually the longest and largest of several boats carried by a sea-going ship. It could be used, however, on tidal rivers and estuaries, propelled by ten oars, often doubled-banked. This meant that two rowers shared the same thwart or bench, 'bank' being a corruption of the French word for 'bench', banc. Long boat is also a West Country name for a canal narrowboat.
This was either of clinker build or a shell and had its oars supported by full steel outriggers, so that the rowlocks were some distance from the sides of the boat. It was 30 to 34 feet long, with a beam of 14 to 16 inches and a depth of 7 to 8 inches.
A craft sculled by a man using two sculls or short oars, one in each hand. Where two 'oars' are used the correct term is sculling whereas A person using a longer or true oar uses both hands on the same oar, there being alternately one oar on each side, a minimum of two oars being required to row any of craft. The outrigger affords better leverage than the inrigger, which has rowlocks above the gunwales. Outrigger sculls are normally 25 to 30 feet long, with a 10 to 13 inch beam, and 5½ to 6 inches deep.
This large clinker-built boat was used on the Essex rivers and estuaries. It was frequently pointed at both ends or double-ended and might step a short mast, to be used either for rowing or sailing. As the name implies it was used in the oyster fisheries but it was also used for other purposes.
This craft developed from the Thames wherry and was propelled by a unique combination of rowing and sculling which was also called Randan. Stroke and bow were oarsmen (i.e. had one oar each which they rowed with both hands) while the second man sculled (i.e. had two smaller 'oars' or sculls which he used one in each hand). There was also a cox. From the mid nineteenth century this Randan method was widely used, by customs officials, river police, members of the Thames Conservancy Board and others. The pleasure randan was later introduced to the rivers. This was between 27 and 30 feet long, 4 to 4½ feet in the beam and 13 inches deep from keel to the top of the stempost.
The rum-tum originated on the Thames so that rowers unable to afford their own boats could take part in rum-tum racing, which was introduced during the second half of the nineteenth century. Rum-tums were the property of a club and although fairly light and of standard design they were not first class racers and could not match the more expensive wager or best boats. They were a form of whiff, with roughly the same dimensions, fitted with sliding seats and full outriggers.
A popular pleasure boat, sometimes also used for ferry work. It was fairly light and eventually replaced the slower, heavier gig.
The Thames skiff, used on the upper reaches of the river, had a pointed stem and what were termed high or "extended" sides. The design varied slightly on different parts of the river, mainly in the angle of stem-rake, but dimensions averaged between 24 and 26 feet in length, between 3 feet 9 inches and 4 feet in beam and about 12 inches in depth.
This craft was used for sculling matches and was and forerunner of the best boat. Its name derives from the heavy wagers that were often laid on the races . Wager boats were made from the lightest possible materials with just-sufficient room for a single occupant. Most of them were of semicircular section, without a proper keel but with a type of fin placed aft of the sculler.
The whiff was a narrow sculling boat used for racing or training, fitted with outriggers. Usually of clinker build, but light and handy, the average whiff was 20 to 23 feet long, 16 to 18 inches wide and 6 inches deep from keel to the top of the stem. It replaced the older wager boat and was itself superseded by the best boat and modern shell.
The whiff gig was a narrow sculling boat used for racing or training, fitted with outriggers. Usually of clinker build, but light and handy, the average whiff it was only 19 feet long but at least 2 feet 8 inches in the beam and 12 inches deep. from keel to the top of the stem. It replaced the older wager boat and was itself superseded by the best boat and modern shell.
Boats, old and current, which are used mainly for inland or estary fishing.
A craft belonging to the same family as the peter-boat and Medway doble. It was cutter-rigged, having a trysail or mainsail without a boom. Rarely seen above Gravesend these popular fishing boats of the Thames lower reaches, could be rowed but were essentially sailing vessels or smacks. They were used for shrimping or catching whitebait.
The general-purpose and fishing boat of the Medway a few of which were still in use in the 1960s. They were about 12 feet long, 4 feet 3 inches in the beam and 17 inches deep. Although fitted with auxiliary motors since the 1930s, like the peter-boat, it could be used with oars or sails and was similar at both ends. Some had deep centre boards and were used mainly for sailing. The boats used for fishing had a wet well amidships, this being a tank in which to keep the catch alive until landing. A narrow space on either side of the well was used for stowing nets and other gear. Early types used drift nets while later craft used the beam trawl.
This Thames rowing or sailing boat was clinker-built, double-ended and was decked fore and aft. It was of sturdy construction and different versions were used for catching fish above and below London Bridge; they were known as the 'above-bridge' and 'below-bridge' types. The above-bridge boats were slightly smaller than the more popular craft of the lower river and estuary. They were named after Saint Peter, the patron saint of fishermen. They were up to 25 feet long and 6 feet beam, of variable draught. The above-bridge types were smaller, some only about 14 feet long. Peter-boats had a well or hold amidships in which to store the catch.
This flat bottomed boat, usually propelled by a pole or quant, derived from the pontoon and dugout of ancient times. The original, rough punt, was used for fishing inland waters, moving slowly through still waters without too much disturbance. In the mid nineteenth century punts became popular for pleasure purposes and eventually for racing. A lighter, more elegant type emerged at this period, with greater overhang of the swim-ends.
This flat bottomed boat, derived from the pontoon and dugout of ancient times, was used for fishing inland waters, able to move slowly through still waters without much wash or disturbance, .It had plenty of space for fishing equipment and was normally propelled by a pole or quant. The term quant is used mainly in East Anglia.
Unlike the larger sailing trows used on the Severn and other rivers the Tyne trow was a form of double boat used for salmon-fishing and netting, with nets were lowered between two similar craft. The Tyne trow was a clinker-built boat, the hull 'doubled' with extra planking on the outside fitting below the overlap of the original planks, making it appear like a carvel-built type. After the mid nineteenth century there were very few trows, mainly owing to increased coal traffic and industrial pollution of the Tyne.
Ferries, College Barges, Packet boats, Inspection Boats, Gun Punt etc.
| These craft, dating back nearly two centries, were used by the Oxford colleges, and were permanently moored along the banks of the Thames. They are large, flat. bottomed vessels, approached by gangways; some had attached floats or landing stages on the river side. They had a high, flat stern and poop, similar to the popular concept of a galleon, and an extensive upper deck used as a promenade or grandstand, with not a mast but a flagpole well forward. Traditionally they were painted in light colours with gilded scrollwork. They have now been replaced by modern boathouses, but some survive and have been, or are being, restored. |  |
| River Thames: Folly Bridge College Barge - August 1969 |
Used for the once fashionable sport of punt-gunning or wildfowling, the duck punt or gun punt was a type of shallow flat-bottomed craft pointed at each end and covered over at bow and stern. It was used in the marshes, estuaries and rivers of the fens and the Wash, and was usually propelled by a paddle but could also step a mast for sailing. The fore part of the gun punt, shaped something like an Eskimo kayak, supported the long barrel of a muzzle-loading cannon used for shooting waterfowl including geese, teal and shellduck. The single occupant was the gunner who fired at flocks of game birds, a single shot in a day might kill as many as fifty birds. The craft, however, was difficult to control and easy to capsize, its navigation fraught with dangers and discomforts. A good example of the use of a Gun Punt can be seen in the Royal Armouries Museum at Leeds.
| Ferries are used across rivers and estuaries, usually where there were no bridges, to avoid considerable detours. Where rivers are very wide and navigated by large sea-going ships making their way to inland docks it is often costly to build bridges with high enough clearance, so ferries provided the necessary link for both passengers and vehicles. The earliest ferryies were probably dugouts and flat-bottomed punts. Later more elegant skiffs and wherris were used for passengers. The large square-ended type is still used for vehicles in certain places, attached to landing stages on either side of the waterway by ropes or chains which ure also used to propel the craft by hand, or with some form of power. Smaller passenger ferries could be hauled across by the operator pulling on a rope, about shoulder level, hand over hand. Chain ferries were guided by single or double chains on the bed of the river wound through drums on either side of the craft. Some of these were originally steam-powered and later converted to diesel power. Horse ferries were widely used on some rivers to ferry horse traffic. . On broad rivers or estuaries, such as the Mersey at Liverpool, the Thames at Gravesend and the Dart at Kingswear, there were quite large steamers, some of which still function, although they are now powered by diesel or the service has ceased to function. Other outstanding craft in this category are the Woolwich free ferries, able to take vehicles on the upper decks and passengers in a lower saloon. The three present ferries each carry up to one thousand passengers and two hundred vehicles on a five-minute crossing. They replace four earlier steamers, with tall funnels placed at either end of the vehicle deck.Ferries formerly worked a passenger and vehicle service across the Severn and the Humber until the services were replaced by the Humber and Severn Bridges respectively. |  |
| Warwickshire: Stratford-upon-Avon Ferry across the Avon - June 1995 |
Used for the once fashionable sport of punt-gunning or wildfowling, the duck punt or gun punt was a type of shallow flat-bottomed craft pointed at each end and covered over at bow and stern. It was used in the marshes, estuaries and rivers of the fens and the Wash, and was usually propelled by a paddle but could also step a mast for sailing. The fore part of the gun punt, shaped something like an Eskimo kayak, supported the long barrel of a muzzle-loading cannon used for shooting waterfowl including geese, teal and shellduck. The single occupant was the gunner who fired at flocks of game birds, a single shot in a day might kill as many as fifty birds. The craft, however, was difficult to control and easy to capsize, its navigation fraught with dangers and discomforts. A good example of the use of a Gun Punt can be seen in the Royal Armouries Museum at Leeds.
Although these were used by the engineering staff on both rivers and canals for the purpose of navigation inspection, once a year, they were at the disposal of the directors of the company for an annual tour of inspection. They were usually quite elaborate affairs, with teak or mahogany and polished silver, with cut glass or finely etched windows. The annual inspection was often an occasion for wining and dining and a show of grandeur. The earliest inspection craft were horse-drawn, the horses ridden by postilions in livery. Later they were converted to steam power or purpose-built steamers were built. A rare examle of an inspection boat, built for the Grand Union Canal Company during the late 1920s, had a petrol engine. One well known inspection boat, still in exsistence, is The Lady Hatherton, used from the late 1890s until the 1930s by directors of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company . It had elaborate interior fittings but was later given a new, almost identical hull and converted into a pleasure yacht. Today many narrowboats in the Inspection Launch style are being built for pleasure cruising.
These passenger boats offered regular services between towns and villages that may well have been swifter, safer and more comfortable than travelling over the primative roads in heavy stage-wagons.They appearied on navigations almost from the start of the canal age. The fastest and packet boats were drawn by teams of cantering or galloping horses ridden by postilions and changed at various intervals along the towing paths. These fly boats given the status of priority traffic by the canal companies and had right of way over all other trafffic, especially at locks and bridgeholes. On the Bridgewater Canal some packet boats had a curved blade fitted at the bow to cut through the towing ropes of other craft unable or unwilling to let the packet boat overtake. Many packet boats had facilities for eating and sleeping, with refreshments at all hours of the day. Packets between Bradford-on-Avon and Bath even boasted a string band. Packet boats continued in some areas long after the coming of the railways as the pleasures of viewing the scenery and the smoothness of the travel sometimes outwieghed the need to take the quickest or shortest route. Many were finally powered by steam and travelled on both canals and rivers. At one time there were regular steam-packet services between Leeds and Goole and between Lincoln and Boston. On the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal steam packet boats continued until well into the twentieth century, providing the equivalent to a country bus service in an area devoid of both main roads and railways, except at canal termini. An early packet boat, the Lord Dundas, constructed by Fairbairn and Lillie of Manchester, operated on the Forth and Clyde Canal from the early 1830s. In some ways it resembled the ill-fated tug Charlotte Dundas, banned from the same waterway for causing too much wash and eroding the banks. By the 1830s, however, there had been a reinvestigation into the hazards of excessive wash and the Forth and Clyde directors allowe the operation of the craft. The Lord Dundas had a paddle-wheel in the centre of the deck and, until the introduction of driving screws, centre and stern paddles were preferred to side paddles, especially on narrow and still-water navigations. The 10 foot paddle of the Lord Dundas was driven by a 10-horsepower engine, almost amidships. There were two passenger saloons or compartments, able to carry 150 passengers. Packet boats on London's Regent's Canal in were used throughout the nineteenth century.
Usually flat-bottomed and square or swim-ended these craft were used both as a ferry and to support a floating bridge, especially for military purposes. Pontoons have a long history, they were described by Julius Caesar and Aulus Gellius. It was generally considered a portable boat but needed to be conveyed on a truck or carriage drawn by draught animals. Pontoons were used in both world wars, especially by the Royal Engineers in the construction of temporary bridges, and later inspired the development of the Mulberry harbour.
Sometimes known as a pontoon, the scow is a flat-bottomed punt and one of the earliest craft used for ferrying.
The earliest type of canal craft in England may have been the cigar-shaped starvationer which worked several miles underground, in the flooded galleries of the Duke of Bridgewater's coal mines at Worsley near Manchester. They used inclined planes for changes of level, and were operated by men wearing special harness, which could be hooked to rings projecting from the tunnel walls, and walking the boat as though on a treadmill. In other parts the boats could be legged by kicking against the roof or side walls with metal-shod boots. These boats were of oval shape and double-ended, about 20 feet long.
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Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead. |
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