SKIFFS AND SNEAK BOATS. S57 



SKIFFS AND SNEAK BOATS. 



It is hardly necessary to say much about gunning 

 skiffs, for there are almost as many sorts of these as 

 there are places where gunning is practiced. Usually 

 the gunners of each locality have developed for them- 

 selves the form of a boat best suited to their needs, and 

 as a rule the wandering sportsman may have confidence 

 in the boat of the locality. 



On the New England coast, the commonest gunning 

 skiff is flat-bottomed, partly decked over, but with a 

 roomy cockpit protected by combings. A much larger 

 vessel of the same type is used on the southern broad- 

 waters. These skiffs are good and serviceable boats, 

 both speedy and stiff. Sometimes, on the New Eng- 

 land coast, one will see one of the little flat sculling 

 boats shaped like a pumpkin seed, flat in the water, and 

 just about long enough for a man to lie in. In the 

 South, open, flat-bottomed skiffs drawing very little 

 water are used, or sometimes dug-outs. One of the 

 most useful boats for general purposes, and one which 

 has a wide popularity North and South, is the Barne- 

 gat sneak box. It can be sailed, or rowed or poled, 

 and may also be used somewhat like a battery, being 

 sunk almost to the water's level by taking sand or 

 water-bags aboard, and concealed by spreading sand or 

 dead grass on the flat deck. 



On some waters gunners carry rubber bags in their 

 boats, and when they reach the ground, fill the bags 



