Jethou; or, Crusoe Life in the Channel IslesSuffling, Ernest R. (Ernest Richard)
General
Jethou; or, Crusoe Life in the Channel Isles
Suffling, Ernest R. (Ernest Richard)
Channel Islands; Jethou
I looked around to see what I could utilize, and found I had a few inch
boards and plenty of rivets, nails, and screws; but after overhauling my
stock I came to the conclusion that my materials would not warrant my
commencing a craft of any size, so for several days I gave up the
project, till one day visiting the boathouse I cast my eyes on the large
tin-lined packing cases in which my goods had been packed. Why not
utilize these? There were four of them. Three were of the same
dimensions, namely, four feet long, three feet wide, and two and a half
feet deep; while the fourth was three feet and a half long, two feet
wide, and two and a half feet deep.
That night I went to bed early, so as to have a good "think" as to how I
could make a boat of these boxes, with the help of my deal boards and
tools.
I soon hit on a plan, and could scarcely get a wink of sleep for
thinking and maturing my plans; in fact, at two a.m. I got up, dressed,
and went and re-measured the cases and re-inspected them, to see if they
were really eligible for my purpose. They were, and I retired to bed
again perfectly overjoyed, so that I only dozed and woke continually
till five a.m., when I finally arose and commenced operations in the
boathouse.
"Begum" knew there was something in the wind, for I had little to say to
him, so full was I of my scheme.
I found my cases with their tin linings were quite water-tight, which
was a necessary condition for keeping my craft afloat, and having
prepared my tools and got my timber ready for a start, went homeward to
breakfast, shooting a very fine pigeon on the way, which had probably
strayed over from Guernsey. Here was a dinner provided for me which only
required cooking. Indeed, it frequently happened that at breakfast time
my dinner would be flying about round the island.
To help me in the description of the building of my craft I here give
sketches of her construction. First I took my cases 2, 3, and 4, and
firmly screwed them together, and afterwards added number 5, which was
not so wide by six inches, but still served admirably for a stern. Then
came my first difficulty. How should I form the bows? This I got over by
making another case, No. 1, of a triangular form with a bulkhead
running across, to which I nailed my side timbers, so as to give them an
outward curve. These streaks I put on clinker-wise--that is,
overlapping, and thoroughly caulked them with oakum soaked in grease.
[Illustration: The Yellow-Boy]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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