12 THE KEELMEN. CHAP. T. 



reach, and is floated down the river in " keels," in 

 which the coals are sometimes piled up according to 

 convenience when large, or, when the coal is small or 

 tender, it is conveyed in tubs to prevent breakage. 

 These keels are of a very ancient model, perhaps the 

 oldest extant in England : they are even said to be of 

 the same build as those in which the Norsemen navi- 

 gated the Tyne centuries ago. The keel is a tubby, 

 grimy-looking craft, rounded fore and aft, with a single 

 large square sail, which the keel-bullies, as the Tyne 

 watermen are called, manage with great dexterity ; the 

 vessel being guided by the aid of the " swape," or great 

 oar, which is used as a kind of rudder at the stern of 

 the vessel. These keelmen are an exceedingly hardy 

 class of workmen, not by any means so quarrelsome as 

 their designation of "bully" would imply the word 

 being merely derived from the obsolete term " boolie," 

 or beloved, an appellation still in familiar use amongst 

 brother workers in the coal districts. One of the most 

 curious sights upon the Tyne is the fleet of hundreds of 

 these black-sailed, black-hulled keels, bringing down at 

 each tide their black cargoes for the ships at anchor in 

 the deep water at Shields and other parts of the river 

 below Newcastle. 



These preliminary observations will perhaps be suffi- 

 cient to explain the meaning of many of the occupations 

 alluded to, and the phrases employed, in the course of 

 the following narrative, some of which might otherwise 

 have been comparatively unintelligible to the general 

 reader. 



