NAUTICAL. 



CHAPTER V. 



SUBSIDIARY APPLIANCES. 



PART III. THE BOAT-HOOK AND PUNT-POLE. THE LIFE-BUOY AND 

 PONTOON-RAFT. 



The Boat-hook and its varied Uses. The Earth-worm and the Serpula. Micro- 

 scopic Boat-hooks. The Life-belt. Life-boats and their Structure. Uses 

 of Cork. Wine Corks made serviceable. The Life-collar. Portuguese 

 Man-of-war. Captain Boyton's Life-dress. The Life-raft. Victualling a 

 Yacht and Bo tt. The Janthina and its Air-vessels. Cask-pontoon Pot- 

 tery-raft and its Uses. 



A S all rowing men know, an indispensable appliunce to the 

 " boat is the Boat-hook, which can be used either as a pole, 

 wherewith to push the boat along, or as a grapnel, by which 

 it can be drawn towards the shore or a ship. As the latter 

 portion has been discussed at the close of the preceding chapter, 

 we may proceed to the former. 



Every one knows how a boat may be propelled by a pole pressed 

 against the bank or the bottom of the water, and that there are 

 certain boats, called punts, which are propelled in no other way. 



Now, the punt-poles and boat-hooks, of which some examples 

 are given in the accompanying illustration, have long been 

 anticipated in Nature, there being many creatures which have 

 no other mode of progression; such, for example, as the 

 common Earth-worm, which pushes itself along by certain 

 bristles which project from the rings of which the body is 

 composed, and which have the power of extension and con- 

 traction to a wonderful extent. As, however, I shall advert 

 to these in another part of the work, I will content myself at 

 present with a single example, namely, the beautiful marine 

 worm known as the Serpula. 



