

[51J OPERATIONS OF SCHOONER GRAMPUS. 541 



Ft. In. 



Width of stern-seat 8 



Width of thwarts 7 



Gunwales 2 in. by If in. 



Timbers. $ in. by f in. 



Plank * ^ in. thick 



Length of thole- pins 9 inches 



Length of oars, each : 8 to 9 feet 



The oars are made of spruce, of the ordinary pattern. They are each 

 provided with a groraniet strap to hold them to the thole-pins. These 

 straps are made by twisting together flexible spruce withes. In the 

 loom of each oar, about 15 inches from the end of the handle, is a stout 

 wooden peg with projecting ends, its purpose being to prevent the 

 beckets slipping off the oar. 



The Toulinguet fishermen say that it is essential to their success in 

 the seal fishery that a boat should be propelled as quietly as possible. 

 Oars fitted with beckets can be used with very little noise, and the 

 seals can be approached when the clanking of the oars in the ordinary 

 rowlocks would frighten the animals and render their capture imprac- 

 ticable. 



(7) Boats of Fogo Island, Newfoundland. — At Seldom-come- by Har- 

 bor, on the southern side of Fogo Island, a style of fishing-boat is used 

 that differs in model and rig from any other boat I have seen on the 

 Newfoundland coast. It is an open, carvel-built, keel craft, deep and 

 rather beamy, with sharp bow, rising floor, slight flare to top side, a 

 rather fine run, and square stern. Some have a little overhang to their 

 counter, but, as a rule, there is no overhang, and the rudder is hung 

 outside. 



There is a moderate rake to the stern-post and stem, and the latter 

 often has a reflex curve like the stem of an American clipper schooner. 



These boats are usually built of spruce or juniper ; the planking is 

 seven-eighths of an inch thick ; they vary from 18 to 28 feet in length 

 and from 6 to 8 J feet beam. 



With few exceptions the boats are sloop-rigged, the mainmast being 

 stepped amidships and the jib-stay set up at the stem-head. In some 

 cases a bowsprit, a foot or two in length, is used. Occasionally, also, 

 a small mast is stepped at the extreme stern and a diminutive sprit- 

 sail is carried on it, the sheet trimming to an outrigger which projects 

 from the stern. The mainsail is generally a boom-and-gaff-sail, but 

 sometimes a sprit is used instead of a gaff on the smaller boats. 



(8) Labrador Fishing -boats. — The boats employed in the Labrador 

 fisheries are similar to those of Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. A 

 sharp-sterned boat, usually called a "barge," is the same as that 

 used at St. John's, and originated in the United States. The other 

 most common form of fishing-boat has been introduced by the fisher- 



* The planks, of which there are six strakes on each side, are three-fourths inch thick 

 in the rough, as obtained by the builder, who planes them to one-half inch. 



