Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 33

It is hardly possible now to define the differences which separated [Greek: akatos], [Greek: akation], from [Greek: kelaes], [Greek: kelaetion], or from [Greek: lembos] or [Greek: karabos]. They seem all to have been rowing boats, probably carvel-built, some with keels (_acatii modo carinata_, Plin. ix. 19), and to have varied in size, some being simply sculling boats, and others running up to as many as thirty oars.

Similarly in Latin authors we have frequent mention of boats accompanying ships of war. Of this there is a well-known instance in the account of Caesar's invasion of Britain (_B.G._ iv. 26), when the boats of the fleet, and the pinnaces, were filled with soldiers and sent to a.s.sist the Legionaries who were being fiercely attacked as they waded on to the sh.o.r.e. There is also an instance in the civil war, which is a prototype of a modern attack of torpedo boats upon men of war, when Antonius manned the pinnaces of his large ships to the number of sixty, and with them attacked and defeated an imprudent squadron of Quadriremes (_B.C._ iii. 24). The cla.s.s of boats so frequently mentioned as _actuariae_ seems to have contained craft of all sizes, and to have been used for all purposes, whether as pleasure boats or as despatch vessels, or for piracy. In fact the term was employed vaguely just as we speak of craft in general.

The _lembus_, which is often referred to in Livy and Polybius, seems to have been of Illyrian origin, with fine lines and sharp bows. The cla.s.s contained boats of various sizes and with a variable number of oars (biremis, Livy xxiv. 40, s.e.xdecim, Livy x.x.xiv. 35); and it is interesting to note the origin in this case, as the invention of the light Liburnian galleys, which won the battle of Actium, and altered the whole system of naval construction, came from the same seaboard.

Besides these, the piratical _myoparones_ (see Cic. _In Verrem_), and the poetical _phaselus_, deserve mention, but here again we are met with the difficulty of distinguishing boats from ships. There is also an interesting notice in Tacitus (_Hist_. iii. 47) of boats hastily constructed by the natives of the northern coast of Asia Minor, which he describes as of broad beam with narrow sides (probably meaning that the sides "tumbled home"), joined together without any fastenings of bra.s.s or iron. In a sea-way the sides were raised with planks added till they were cased in as with a roof, whence their name _camarae_, and so they rolled about in the waves, having prow and stern alike and convertible rowlocks, so that it was a matter of indifference and equally safe, or perhaps unsafe, whichever way they rowed.

Similar vessels were constructed by Germanicus in his north German campaign (_Ann_. ii. 6) and by the Suiones (_Ger_. 44). These also had stem and stern alike, and remind us of the old Norse construction, being rowed either way, having the oars loose in the rowlock, and not, as was usual in the south, attached by a thong to the thowl pin.

Lastly, as a cla.s.s of boat directly descended from the raft, we may notice the flat-bottomed boats or punts or lighters which plied on the Tiber as ferry-boats, or carrying goods, which were called _codicariae_ from _caudex_, the old word for a plank.

It is difficult to trace any order of development in the construction of boats during the Byzantine period, or the middle ages. Sea-going vessels according to their size carried one or more boats, some of them small boats with two or four oars, others boats of a larger size fitted with masts and sail as well as with oars. We find _lembus_ and _phaselus_ as generic names in the earlier period, but the indications as to size and character are vague and variable. The same may be said of the _batelli, coquets, chaloupes, chalans, gattes_, &c., of which, in almost endless number and variety, the nautical erudition of M. Jal has collected the names in his monumental works, _Archeologie navale_ and the _Glossaire nautique_.

It is clear, however, that in many instances the names, originally applied to boats properly so called, gradually attached themselves to larger vessels, as in the case of _chaloupe_ and others, a fact which leads to the conclusion that the type of build followed originally in smaller vessels was often developed on a larger scale, according as it was found useful and convenient, while the name remained the same. Many of these types still survive and may be found in the Eastern seas, or in the Mediterranean or in the northern waters, each of which has its own peculiarities of build and rig.

Existing types.

It would be impossible within our limits to do justice to the number and variety of existing types in sea-going boats, and for more detailed information concerning them the reader would do well to consult _Mast and Sail in Europe and Asia_, by H. Warington Smyth, an excellent and exhaustive work, from which much of the information which follows regarding them has been derived.

In the Eastern seas the Chinese _sanpan_ is ubiquitous. Originally a small raft of three timbers with fore end upturned, it grew into a boat in very early times, and has given its name to a very large cla.s.s of vessels. With flat bottom, and considerable width in proportion to its length, the normal sanpan runs out into two tails astern, the timbers rounding up, and the end being built in like a bulkhead, with room for the rudder to work between it and the transom which connects the two projecting upper timbers of the stern. Some of them are as much as 30 ft. in length and 8 to 10 ft. in beam. They are good carriers and speedy under sail.

The Chinese in all probability were the earliest of all peoples to solve the chief problems of boat building, and after their own fashion to work out the art of navigation, which for them has now been set and unchanged for thousands of years. They appear to have used the lee-board and centre-board in junks and sanpans, and to have extended their trade to India and even beyond, centuries before anything like maritime enterprise is heard of in the north of Europe.

As regards the practice of long boat racing on rivers or tidal waters the Chinese are easily antecedent in time to the rest of the world. On great festivals in certain places the Dragon boat race forms part of the ceremony. The Dragon boats are just over 73 ft. long, with 4 ft. beam, and depth 21 in. The rowing or paddling s.p.a.ce is about 63 ft. and the number of thwarts 27, thus giving exactly the same number of rowers as that of the Zygites in the Greek trireme. The two extremities of the boat are much cambered and rise to about 2 ft. above the water. At about 15 ft. from each end the single plank gives place to three, so as to offer a concave surface to the water. The paddle blade is spade-like in form and about 6 in. broad.

Both in Siam and Burma there is a very large river population, and boat racing is on festival days a common amus.e.m.e.nt. The typical craft, however, is the Duck-boat, which in the shape of hull is in direct contrast to the dug-out form, and primarily intended for sailing. It is interesting to note that the Siamese method of slinging and using quarter rudders is the oldest used by men in sailing craft, being in fact the earliest development from the simple paddle rudder, which has in all ages been the first method of steering boats. The king of Siam's state barge, we are told, is steered by long paddles, precisely in the same way as is figured in the case of the Egyptian boats of the 3rd dynasty (6000 B.C.). On the other hand the slung quarter rudders are the same in fashion as those used by Roman and Greek merchantmen, by Nors.e.m.e.n and Anglo-Saxons, and by medieval seamen down to about the 14th century.

The Malays have generally the credit of being expert boat-builders, but the local conditions are not such as to favour the construction of a good type of boat. "Small displacement, hollow lines, V-shaped sections, shallow draught and lack of beam" result in want of stability and weatherliness. But it is among them that the ancient process of dug-out building still survives and flourishes, preserving all the primitive and ingenious methods of hollowing the tree trunk, of forcing its sides outwards, and in many cases building them up with added planks, so that from the dug-out a regular boat is formed, with increased though limited carrying power, increased though still hardly sufficient stability.

To ensure this last very necessary quality many devices and contrivances are resorted to.

In some cases (just as Ulysses is described as doing by Homer, _Od_. v.

256) the boatman fastens bundles of reeds or of bamboos all along the sides of his boat. These being very buoyant not only act as a defence against the wash of the waves, but are sufficient to keep the boat afloat in any sea.

But the most characteristic device is the outrigger, a piece of floating wood sharpened at both ends, which is fixed parallel to the longer axis of the boat, at a distance of two or three beams, by two or more poles laid at right angles to it. This, while not interfering materially with the speed of the boat, acts as a counterpoise to any pressure on it which would tend, owing to its lack of stability, to upset it, and makes it possible for the long narrow dug-out to face even the open sea. It is remarkable that this invention, which must have been seen by the Egyptians and Phoenicians in very early times, was not introduced by them into the Mediterranean. Possibly this was owing to the lack of large timber suitable for dug-outs, and the consequent evolution by them of boat from raft, with sufficient beam to rely upon for stability.

On the other hand in the boats of India the influence of Egyptian and Arab types of build is apparent, and the dinghy of the Hugli is cited as being in form strangely like the ancient Egyptian model still preserved in the Ghizeh museum. Coming westward the dominant type of build is that of the Arab _dhow_, the boat cla.s.s of which has all the characteristics of the larger vessel developed from it, plenty of beam, overhanging stem and transom stern. The planking of the sh.e.l.l over the wooden frame has a double thickness which conduces to dryness and durability in the craft.

On the Nile it is interesting to find the _naggar_ preserving, in its construction out of blocks of acacia wood pinned together, the old-world fashion of building described by Herodotus. The _gaia.s.sa_ and _dahabiah_ are too large to be cla.s.sed as boats, but they and their smaller sisters follow the Arab type in build and rig.

It is noteworthy that nothing apparently of the ancient Egyptian or cla.s.sical methods of build survives in the Mediterranean, while the records of the development of boat-building in the middle ages are meagre and confusing. The best ill.u.s.trations of ancient methods of construction, and of ancient seamanship, are to be found, if anywhere, in the East, that conservative storehouse of types and fashions, to which they were either communicated, or from which they were borrowed, by Egyptians or Phoenicians, from whom they were afterwards copied by Greeks and Romans.

In the Mediterranean the chief characteristics of the types belonging to it are "carvel-build, high bow, round stern and deep rudder hung on stern post outside the vessel."

In the eastern basin the long-bowed wide-sterned _caique_ of the Bosporus is perhaps the type of boat best known, but both Greek and Italian waters abound with an unnumbered variety of boats of "beautiful lines and great carrying power." In the Adriatic, the Venetian gondola, and the light craft generally, are of the type developed from the raft, flat-bottomed, and capable of navigating shallow waters with minimum of draught and maximum of load.

In the western basin the majority of the smaller vessels are of the sharp-sterned build. Upon the boats of the _felucca_ cla.s.s, long vessels with easy lines and low free-board, suitable for rowing as well as sailing, the influence of the long galley of the middle ages was apparent. In Genoese waters at the beginning of the 19th century there were single-decked rowing vessels, which preserved the name of galley, and were said to be the descendants of the Liburnians that defeated the many-banked vessels of Antonius at Actium. But the introduction of steam vessels has already relegated into obscurity these memorials of the past.

Along the Riviera and the Spanish coast a type of boat is noticeable which is peculiar for the inward curve of both stem and stern from a keel which has considerable camber, enabling them to be beached in a heavy surf.

On the Douro, in Portugal, it is said that the boats which may be seen laden with casks of wine, trailing behind them an enormously long steering paddle, are of Phoenician ancestry, and that the curious signs, which many of them have painted on the cross board over the cabin, are of Semitic origin though now undecipherable.

Coming to the northern waters, as with men, so with boats, we meet with a totally different type. Instead of the smooth exterior of the carvel-build, we have the more rugged form of clinker-built craft with great beam, and raking sterns and stems, and a wide flare forward. In the most northern waters the strakes of the sea-going boats are wide and of considerable thickness, of oak or fir, often compacted with wooden trenails, strong and fit to do battle with the rough seas and rough usage which they have to endure.

In most of these the origin of form and character is to be sought for in the old Viking vessels or long _keeles_ of the 5th century A.D., with curved and elevated stem and stern posts, and without decks or, at the most, half decked.

In the Baltic and the North Sea most of the fishing boats follow this type, with, however, considerable variety in details. It is noticeable that here also, as in other parts of the world, and at other times, the pressing demand for speed and carrying power has increased the size in almost all cla.s.ses of boats till they pa.s.s into the category of ships.

At the same time the carvel-build is becoming more common, while, in the struggle for life, steam and motor power are threatening to obliterate the old types of rowing and sailing boats altogether.

Next to the Norse skiff and its descendants, perhaps the oldest type of boat in northern waters is to be found in Holland, where the conditions of navigation have hardly altered for centuries. It is to the Dutch that we chiefly owe the original of our pleasure craft, but, though we have developed these enormously, the Dutch boats have remained pretty much the same. The clinker-build and the wide rounded bow are now very much of the same character as they are represented in the old pictures of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The development of boat-building in the British Isles during the 19th century has been unceasing and would need a treatise to itself to do it justice. The expansion of the fishing industry and the pressure of compet.i.tion have stimulated constant improvement in the craft engaged, and here also are observable the same tendencies to subst.i.tute carvel, though it is more expensive, for clinker build, and to increase the length and size of the boats, and the gradual supersession of sail and oar by steam power. Under these influences we hear of the _fifie_ and the _skaffie_ cla.s.ses, old favourites in northern waters, being superseded by the more modern _Zulu_, which is supposed to unite the good qualities of both; and these in turn running to such a size as to take them outside the category of boats. But even in the case of smaller boats the _Zulu_ model is widely followed, so that they have actually been imported to the Irish coast for the use of the crofter fishermen in the congested districts.

For the Shetland _s.e.xern_ and the broad boats of the Orkneys, and the _nabbies_ of the west coast of Scotland, the curious will do well to refer to H. Warington Smyth's most excellent account.

On the eastern coast of England the influence of the Dutch type of build is manifest in many of the flat-bottomed and mostly round-ended craft, such as the Yorkshire _Billyboy_, and partly in the _coble_, which latter is interesting as built for launching off beaches against heavy seas, and as containing relics of Norse influence, though in the main of Dutch origin.

The life-boats of the eastern coast are in themselves an admirable cla.s.s of boat, with fine lines, great length, and shallow draught, wonderful in their daring work in foul weather and heavy seas, in which as a rule their services are required. Here, however, as in the fishing boats, the size is increasing, and steam is appropriating to itself the provinces of the sail and the oar.

The wherry of the Norfolk Broads has a type of its own, and is often fitted out as a pleasure boat. It is safe and comfortable for inland waters, but not the sort of boat to live in a sea-way in anything but good weather.

The Thames and its estuary rejoice in a great variety of boats, of which the old _Peter_ boat (so called after the legend of the foundation of the abbey on Thorney Island) preserved a very ancient type of build, shorter and broader than the old Thames pleasure wherry. But these and the old _hatch_ boat have now almost disappeared. Possibly survivors may still be seen on the upper part of the tidal river. Round the English coast from the mouth of the Thames southwards the conditions of landing and of hauling up boats above high-water mark affect the type, demanding strong clinker-build and stout timbers. Hence there is a strong family resemblance in most of the short boats in use from the North Foreland round to Brighton. Among these are the life-boats of Deal and the other Channel ports, which have done and are still doing heroic work in saving life from wrecks upon the Goodwins and the other dangerous shoals that beset the narrowing sleeve of the English Channel.

Farther down, along the southern coast, and to the west, where harbours are more frequent, a finer and deeper cla.s.s of boats, chiefly of carvel-build, is to be found. The Cornish ports are the home of a great boat-building industry, and from them a large number of the finest fishing boats in the world are turned out annually. Most of them are built with stem and stern alike, with full and bold quarters, and ample floor.

It is not possible here to enumerate, much less to describe in detail, the variety of types in sea-going boats which have been elaborated in England and in America. For this purpose reference should be made to the list of works given at the end of the article.

The following is a list of the boats at present used in the royal navy.

They have all of them a deep fore foot, and with the exception of the whalers and Berthon boats, upright stems and transom sterns. The whalers have a raking stem and a sharp stern, and a certain amount of sheer in the bows.

Length. Beam. Depth.

Feet. Ft. In. Ft. In.

1a. Dinghy. Freeboard about 9 in.

Weight 3 cwt. 2 qr. Between thwarts 2 ft. 9 in. Elm. 13 4' 8" 2' 2"

1b. Skiff dinghy for torpedo boats.

Freeboard about 9 in. Carry about ten men in moderate weather.

Between thwarts 2 ft. 7 in.

Weight 3 cwt. 4 lb. Yellow pine. 16 4' 6" 1' 10"

2a. Whaler for destroyers. 5 in. sheer.

Yellow pine. 25 5' 6" 2'

2b. Whaler. Between thwarts 2 ft. 10 in.

Freeboard about 12 in. Weight, 8 cwt. Strakes No. 13. Lap in. Elm. 27 5' 6" 2' 2"

(All have bilge strakes with hand-holes.) 3. Gig. Between thwarts 2 ft. 9 in.

Weight 8 cwt. 2 qr. 15 lb. 13 Strakes. Elm. 30 5' 6" 2' 2"

4. Cutter. Between thwarts 3 ft. 1 in.

To carry 49 men. Carvel built. 30 8' 1" 2' 8"

5. Pinnace. Between thwarts 3 ft.