Punt
A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, planned for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting refers to boating in a punt; the punter normally propels the punt by pushing beside the river bed with a pole.
Punts were initially built as cargo boats or platforms for fowling and angling but in modern times their use is almost wholly confined to pleasure trips on the rivers in the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge in England and races at a few summer regattas on the Thames.
A customary river punt differs from many other types of wooden boat in that it has no keel, stem or sternpost. In its place it is built rather like a ladder with the main structure being two side panels connected by a series of 4 in (10 cm) cross planks, known as "treads", spaced about 1 foot (30 cm) apart.
The first punts are traditionally linked with the River Thames in England and were built as small cargo boats or platforms for fishermen. Pleasure punts — particularly built for recreation — became popular on the Thames between 1840 and 1860. Some other boats have a similar shape to a traditional punt — for example the Optimist training dinghy or the air boats used in the Everglades — but they are normally built with a box construction instead of the open ladder-like design of a traditional Thames pleasure punt.
Longboat
His longboat should not be confused with a Long ship; or with a narrow boat. In the days of sailing ships, a vessel would take a number of boats for various uses. One would be a longboat, an open, mainly rowing boat with eight or ten oarsmen, two per spoil. In other words the longboat was double banked: its rowing benches were planned to accommodate two men. Unlike the vessel or the cutter, the longboat would have quite fine lines aft to permit its use in steep waves such as surf or wind against tide where need be.
It had the double-banked understanding in common with the cutter. This was possible as it had a beam alike to a cutter's but broader than that of a gig, which was solitary banked. The longboat was frequently more seaworthy than the cutter which had a fuller stern for such load-carrying work as laying out an anchor and cable. In a seaway or surf therefore, the cutter was more flat to broaching to.
His longboat should not be confused with a Long ship; or with a narrow boat. In the days of sailing ships, a vessel would take a number of boats for various uses. One would be a longboat, an open, mainly rowing boat with eight or ten oarsmen, two per spoil. In other words the longboat was double banked: its rowing benches were planned to accommodate two men. Unlike the vessel or the cutter, the longboat would have quite fine lines aft to permit its use in steep waves such as surf or wind against tide where need be.
It had the double-banked understanding in common with the cutter. This was possible as it had a beam alike to a cutter's but broader than that of a gig, which was solitary banked. The longboat was frequently more seaworthy than the cutter which had a fuller stern for such load-carrying work as laying out an anchor and cable. In a seaway or surf therefore, the cutter was more flat to broaching to.
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