Evidently during her career of activity this vessel had the
misfortune to spring a leak, for she has been patched, and the work
of the boatbuilder is most interesting to us of to-day. On the
starboard bilge a rift of 12 feet long has been made. To repair this,
wooden patches and moss have been used. The biggest patch is 5 feet
8 inches long and 6½ inches wide in the middle, tapering gradually
to a point at either end, and is of oak. The patch was let into the
rift from the outside until perfectly flush with the outer part
of the boat. On the inner side of the patch, three cleats a foot
long and four inches deep, with a hole in the centre of each, have
been attached. Wooden pins were passed through these holes, so that
pressing firmly against the solid wood on either side of the rift,
they kept the repair in position. Besides this, holes three-eighths
of an inch in diameter were made along the outer edges of the patch,
corresponding holes being also made in the fabric of the boat by
means of which the patch could be sewn to the ship with thongs. This
custom, it seems to me, would have survived in the most natural
manner from the time when the shipbuilder sewed the seams of his skin
boat. Finally, all holes and crannies were caulked with moss. Mr.
Cary-Elwes has carefully preserved a small portion of this lacing
material, which appears to be of some animal substance, and probably
twisted sinews. He has also taken some of this caulking moss from
the boat and finds that it is of two kinds, both of which grow on
sandy soils in woods, and are now largely used in the manufacture of
moss-baskets and artificial flowers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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