LittleSister
Well-Known Member
From Maurice Griffiths' 'Swatchways and Little Ships' (Chapter 1: Too big a boat):
"Undine was a 6 ton cutter, with a pretty hull like a smack; a powerful little ship with a full bow and a graceful long counter of the old cod’s head, mackeral tail model, and she measured, we were told, 30ft on deck with about 8ft beam... [and also heavy, deep draught and with a 12 ft bowsprit]
Like all the yachts and smacks and barges in those days when none of them had an auxiliary engine, Undine carried a sweep stowed in crutches along her starboard rail. This long and springy ash oar was as essential a piece of equipment, we were to learn, as a yacht’s mainsail, and one weekend in a calm a friendly yachtsman who had come to sail with us showed us the correct way to use it. When a vessel under sail lost all steerage way as the wind died, and was in danger of being swept by the tide down on to a channel buoy or athwart an anchored vessel’s bows, the crutch would be shipped in a fitting on the rail alongside the cockpit, the sweep slid into the crutch, and standing facing forward you worked the sweep steadily and without haste, leaning your weight on it while you reached aft from time to time to give a touch to the tiller when necessary. By working steadily and rhythmically we were astonished to find how well we could work the old boat along on the tide. You might make only a knot and a half or so through the water, but with a two knot tide under you your rate of progress over the bottom was a good three-and-a-half knots. And taken steadily with no panting or excessive exertion you could keep it up for hours with short spells in between. Many of us learned to bring our little ships home on the flood tide on a Sunday evening’s calm from 6 or 8 miles down the river, and thought little of it. For we had the hundreds of Thames barges to watch, using their long sweeps in the same manner. Sweeping was all part of the boating scene in those days."
"Undine was a 6 ton cutter, with a pretty hull like a smack; a powerful little ship with a full bow and a graceful long counter of the old cod’s head, mackeral tail model, and she measured, we were told, 30ft on deck with about 8ft beam... [and also heavy, deep draught and with a 12 ft bowsprit]
Like all the yachts and smacks and barges in those days when none of them had an auxiliary engine, Undine carried a sweep stowed in crutches along her starboard rail. This long and springy ash oar was as essential a piece of equipment, we were to learn, as a yacht’s mainsail, and one weekend in a calm a friendly yachtsman who had come to sail with us showed us the correct way to use it. When a vessel under sail lost all steerage way as the wind died, and was in danger of being swept by the tide down on to a channel buoy or athwart an anchored vessel’s bows, the crutch would be shipped in a fitting on the rail alongside the cockpit, the sweep slid into the crutch, and standing facing forward you worked the sweep steadily and without haste, leaning your weight on it while you reached aft from time to time to give a touch to the tiller when necessary. By working steadily and rhythmically we were astonished to find how well we could work the old boat along on the tide. You might make only a knot and a half or so through the water, but with a two knot tide under you your rate of progress over the bottom was a good three-and-a-half knots. And taken steadily with no panting or excessive exertion you could keep it up for hours with short spells in between. Many of us learned to bring our little ships home on the flood tide on a Sunday evening’s calm from 6 or 8 miles down the river, and thought little of it. For we had the hundreds of Thames barges to watch, using their long sweeps in the same manner. Sweeping was all part of the boating scene in those days."
Last edited:
