A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe on Rivers and Lakes of Europe Part 20

The paddle should be 7 feet long (not more), weight, 2 lbs. 9 oz., strong, with blades 6 inches broad, ends rounded, thick, and banded with copper. There should be conical cups of vulcanised India rubber to catch the dribbling water, and, if possible, some plan (not yet devised) for preventing or arresting the drops from the paddle ends, which fall on the deck when you paddle slowly, and when there is not enough centrifugal force to throw this water away from the boat.

The painter ought to be of the best flexible rope, not tarred, well able to bear 200 lb. weight; more than 20 feet of rope is a constant enc.u.mbrance. The ends should be silk-whipped and secured through a hole in the stem post and another in the stern post (so that either or both ends can be readily cast off); the slack may be coiled on deck behind you.

There should be a back support of two wooden slips, each 15 inches by 3 inches, placed like the side strokes of the letter H, and an inch apart, but laced together with cord, or joined by a strip of cloth. Rest them against the edge of the combing, and so as to be free to yield to the motion of the back at each stroke, without hurting the spine. If made fast so as always to project, they are much in the way of the painter in critical times. They may be hinged below so as to fold down as you get out, but in this case they are in the way when you are getting in and wish to sit down in an instant ready for work.

The mast should be 5 feet long, strong enough to stand gales without stays, stepped just forward of the stretcher, in a tube an inch above deck, and so as to be struck without difficulty in a squall, or when nearing trees, or a bridge, barrier, ferry-rope, bank, or waterfall, or when going aground.

The sail, if a lug, should have a fore leach of 3 feet 10 inches, a head of 3 feet 6 inches, and a foot of 4 feet 6 inches; yard and boom of bamboo.

The boat can well stand more sail than this at sea, or in lakes and broad channels, but the foregoing size for a lug is quite large enough to manage in stiff breezes and in narrow rocky tortuous rivers.

A spritsail would be better in some respects, but no plan has, as yet, been suggested to me for instantly striking the sprit without endangering the deck, so I mean to use a lug still.

The material of the sail should be strong cotton, in one piece, without any eyelet or hole whatever, but with a broad hem, enclosing well-stretched cord all round. A jib is of little use as a sail. It is apt to get aback in sudden turns. Besides, you must land either to set it or to take in its outhaul, so as to be quite snug. But the jib does well to tie on the shoulders when they are turned to a fierce sun. The boom should be attached by a bra.s.s shackle, so that when "topped" or folded its end closes on the top of the mast. The sails (with the boom and yard) should be rolled up round the mast compactly, to be stowed away forward, so that the end of the mast resting on the stretcher will keep the roll of sails out of the wet. The flag and its staff when not fast at the mast-head (by two metal loops) should fit into the mast-step, and the flag-staff, 24 inches long, should be light, so as not to sink if it falls overboard, as one of mine did.

The floor-boards should be strong, and easily detachable, so that one of them can be at once used as a paddle if that falls overboard. They should come six inches short of the stern end of a light seat, which can thus rest on the timbers, so as to be as low as possible, and its top should be of strong cane open-work.

The stretcher should have only one length, and let this be carefully determined after trial before starting. The two sides of its foot-board should be high and broad, while the middle may be cut down to let the hand get to the mast. The stretcher should, of course, be moveable, in order that you may lie down with the legs at full length for repose.

One bra.s.s cleat for belaying the halyard should be on deck, about the middle, and on the right-hand side. A stud on the other side, and this cleat will do to make the sheet fast to by one turn on either tack.

LIST OF STORES ON BOARD THE ROB ROY.

1. _Useful Stores._--Paddle, painter (31 feet at first, but cut down to 20 feet), sponge, waterproof cover, 5 feet by 2 feet 3 inches, silk blue union jack, 10 inches by 8 inches, on a staff 2 feet long. Mast, boom, and yard. Lug sail, jib, and spare jib (used as a sun shawl). Stretcher, two back boards, floor boards, basket to sit on (12 inches by 6 inches, by 1 inch deep), and holding a macintosh coat. For repairs--iron and bra.s.s screws, sheet copper and copper nails, putty and whitelead, a gimlet, cord, string, and thread, one spare b.u.t.ton, needle, pins, canvas wading shoes (wooden clogs would be better); all the above should be left with the boat. Black bag for 3 months' luggage, size, 12 inches by 12 inches, by 5 inches deep (just right), closed by three b.u.t.tons, and with shoulder-strap. Flannel Norfolk jacket (flaps not too long, else they dip in the water, or the pockets are inverted in getting out and in); wide flannel trousers, gathered by a broad back buckle belt, second trousers for sh.o.r.e should have braces, but in the boat the back b.u.t.tons are in the way. Flannel shirt on, and another for sh.o.r.e. A straw hat is the very best for use--while writing this there are 16 various head covers before me used in different tours, but the straw hat is best of all for boating. Thin alpaca black Sunday coat, thick waistcoat, black leather light-soled spring-sided shoes (should be strong for rocks and village pavements), cloth cap (only used as a bag), 2 collars, 3 pocket handkerchiefs, ribbon tie, 2 pair of cotton socks (easily got off for sudden wading, and drying quickly when put on deck in the sun). Brush, comb, and tooth-brush. Testament, pa.s.sport (will be scarcely needed this season), leather purse, large (and _full_), circular notes, small change in silver and copper for frequent use, blue spectacles in strong case, book for journal and sketches, black, blue, and red chalk, and steel pen. Maps, cutting off a six inch square at a time for pocket reference.

Pipe, tobacco-case, and light-box (metal, to resist moisture from without and within), Guide books and pleasant evening reading book. You should cut off covers and all useless pages of books, and every page as read; no needless weight should be carried hundreds of miles; even a fly settling on the boat must be refused a free pa.s.sage. Ill.u.s.trated papers, tracts, and anecdotes in French and German for Sunday reading and daily distribution (far too few had been taken, they were always well received). Medicine (rhubarb and court plaister), small knife, and pencil. Messrs. Silver's, in Bishopsgate, is the place for stores.

2. _Useless Articles._--Boathook, undervest, waterproof helmet, ventilated cap, foreign Conversation books, gla.s.s seltzer bottle and patent cork (for a drinking flask), tweezers for thorns.

3. _Lost or Stolen Articles._--Bag for back cushion, waterproof bag for sitting cushion, long knife, necktie, woven waistcoat, box of quinine, steel-hafted knife. These, except the last of them, were not missed. I bought another thick waistcoat from a Jew.

ROCKS AND CURRENTS.

A few remarks may now be made upon the princ.i.p.al cases in which rocks and currents have to be dealt with by the canoist.

Even if a set of rules could be laid down for the management of a boat in the difficult parts of a river, it would not be made easier until practice has given the boatman that quick judgment as to their application which has to be patiently acquired in this and other athletic exercises, such as riding or skating, and even in walking.

The canoist, who pa.s.ses many hours every day for months together in the earnest consideration of the river problems always set before him for solution, will probably feel some interest in this attempt to cla.s.sify those that occur most frequently.

Steering a boat in a current among rocks is not unlike walking on a crowded pavement, where the other pa.s.sengers are going in various directions, and at various speeds; and this operation of threading your way in the streets requires a great deal of practice, and not a few lessons enforced by collisions, to make a pedestrian thoroughly _au fait_ as a good man in a crowd. After years of walking through crowds, there is produced by this education of the mind and training of the body a certain power--not possessed by a novice--which insensibly directs a man in his course and his speed, but still his judgment has had insensibly to take cognizance of many varying _data_ in the movements of other people which must have their effect upon each step he takes.

After this capacity becomes, as it were, instinctive, or, at any rate, acts almost involuntarily, a man can walk briskly along Fleet-street at 4 p.m., and, without any distinct thought about other people, or about his own progress, he can safely get to his journey's end. Indeed, if he does begin to think of rules or how to apply them systematically, he is then almost sure to knock up against somebody else. Nay, if two men meet as they walk through a crowd, and each of them "catches the eye" of the other, they will probably cease to move instinctively, and, with uncertain data to reason from, a collision is often the result.

As the descent of a current among rocks resembles a walk along the pavement through a crowd, so the pa.s.sage _across_ a rapid is even more strictly in resemblance with the course of a man who has to cross a street where vehicles are pa.s.sing at uncertain intervals and at various speeds, though all in the same direction. For it is plain that the thing to be done is nearly the same, whether the obstacles (as breakers) are fixed and the current carries you towards them, or the obstacles (as cabs and carts) are moving, while you have to walk through them on _terra firma_.

To cross Park-lane in the afternoon requires the very same sort of calculation as the pa.s.sage across the stream in a rapid on the Rhine.

The importance of this subject of "boating instinct" will be considered sufficient to justify these remarks when the canoist has by much practice at last attained to that desirable proficiency which enables him to steer without thinking about it, and therefore to enjoy the conversation of other people on the bank or the scenery, while he is rapidly speeding through rocks, eddies, and currents.

We may divide the rocks thus encountered in fast water into two cla.s.ses--(1) Those that are _sunk_, so that the boat can float over them, and which do not deflect the direction of the surface current. (2) Those that are _breakers_, and so deflect the current, and do not allow the boat to float over them.

The currents may be divided into--(1) Those that are equable in force, and in the same direction through the course to be steered. (2) Those that alter their direction in a part of that course.

In the problems before the canoist will be found the combinations of every degree and variety of these rocks and currents, but the actual circ.u.mstances he has to deal with at any specified moment may--it is believed--be generally ranged under one or other of the six cases depicted in the accompanying woodcut.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.]

In each of the figures in the diagram the current is supposed to run towards the top of the page, and the general course of the canoe is supposed to be with the current. The particular direction of the current is indicated by the dotted lines. The rocks when shaded are supposed to be _sunk_, and when not shaded they are _breakers_. Thus the current is uniform in figs. 1, 2, 3; and it is otherwise in figs. 4, 5, 6. The rocks are all sunk in figs. 1, 2, 3, and 5; whereas in figs. 4 and 6 there are breakers. The black line in these figures, and in all the others, shows the proper course of the centre of the boat, and it is well to habituate oneself to make the course such as that this line shall never be nearer to the rock than one-half of the boat's length.

The simplest case that can occur is when the canoe is merely floating without "way" through a current, and the current bears it near a rock.

If this be a breaker, the current, being deflected, will generally carry the boat to one side. The steering in such cases is so easy, and its frequent occurrence gives so much practice, that no more need be said about it.

But if the rock be a sunk rock, and if it be not quite plain from the appearance of the water that there is depth enough over the rock to float the boat, then it is necessary to pa.s.s either above the rock, as in fig. 1, or below it, as in fig. 2.

A few days' practice is not thrown away if the canoist seizes every opportunity of performing under easy circ.u.mstances feats which may at other times have to be done under necessity, and which would not be so well done if attempted then for the first time.

Let him, therefore, as soon as possible, become adept in crossing above or below a single sunk rock with his _boat's bow pointed to any angle of the semicircle before him_.

Next we have to consider the cases in which more than one rock will have to be avoided. Now, however great the number of the rocks may be, they can be divided into sets of three, and in each of the figures 3, 4, 5, 6 it is supposed that (for reasons which may be different in each case, but always sufficient) the canoe has to pa.s.s between rocks _A_ and _B_, and then between _B_ and _C_, but must not pa.s.s otherwise between _A_ and _C_.

In fig. 3 the course is below _B_, and above _C_, being a combination of the instance in fig. 2 with that in fig. 1.

The precise angle to the line of the course which the boat's longer axis ought to have will depend upon what is to be done next after pa.s.sing between _B_ and _C_, and hence the importance of being able to effect the pa.s.sages in fig. 1 and fig. 2 with the axis at any required angle.

We may next suppose that one of the three rocks, say _B_, as in fig. 4, is a breaker which will deflect the current (as indicated by the dotted stream lines), and it will then be necessary to modify the angle of the boat's axis, though the boat's centre has to be kept in the same course as before.

It will be seen at once that if _A_ were a breaker the angle would be influenced in another manner, and that if _C_ were a breaker the angle at which the boat should emerge from the group of rocks would be influenced by the stream from _C_ also; but it is only necessary to remind the reader that all the combinations and permutations of breakers and sunk rocks need not be separately discussed,--they may be met by the experience obtained in one case of each cla.s.s of circ.u.mstances.

Fig. 5 represents a _circular current_ over the group of three rocks.

This is a very deceptive case, for it looks so easy that at first it is likely to be treated carelessly. If the boat were supposed to be a substance floating, but without weight, it would have its direction of motion instantly altered by that of the current. But the boat has weight, and as it has velocity (that of the current even if the boat is not urged also by the paddle so as to have "way" through the water), therefore it will have _momentum_, and the tendency will be to continue the motion in a straight line, instead of a curve guided solely by the current. In all these cases, therefore, it will be found (sometimes inexplicably unless with these considerations) that the boat _insists_ upon pa.s.sing between _A_ and _C_, where it must not be allowed to go on the hypothesis we have started with; and if it effects a compromise by running upon _C_, this is by no means satisfactory.

This cla.s.s of cases includes all those in which the river makes a quick turn round a rock or a tongue _B_, where the boundary formed by the rock _A_ on the outer bend of the stream is a solid bank, or a fringe of growing trees, or of f.a.ggots artificially built as a protection against the erosion of the water. This case occurs, therefore, very frequently in some fast rivers, say, at least, a hundred times in a day's work, and perhaps no test of a man's experience and capacity as a canoist is more decisive than his manner of steering round a fast, sharp bend.

The tendency of the canoist in such cases is always to bring the boat round by paddling forward with the outer hand, thereby adding to the "way," and making the force of the current in its circular turn less powerful relatively. Whereas, the proper plan is to back with the inner hand, and so to stop all way in the direction of the boat's length, and to give the current its full force on the boat. Repeated lessons are needed before this is learned thoroughly.

The case we have last remarked upon is made easier if either _A_ or _C_ is a breaker, but it is very much increased in difficulty if the rock _B_ is a breaker or is a strong tongue of bank, and so deflects the current outwards at this critical point.