LIFE ON THE WATER

TYPES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF VESSELS USED
IN THE PROVINCE

adoltkhtek (Beothuk) ∼ vessel, boat.

alligator ∼ a boat propelled by a paddle wheel.

Alphabet Fleet, The ∼ a fleet of 12 vessels built in Scotland and bought by the Newfoundland Government.

anchorel boat on collar ∼ a boat with a rope or chain on its stem and fastened to an anchor.

Baccalieu skiff ∼ a fishing craft used to fish off Baccalieu Island.

bait skiff ∼ a large undecked boat with a crew of five to seven men. It was propelled by oar and sail and used to catch caplin and codfish.

bark ∼ a small sailing vessel, particular to the seventeenth century.

barked boat ∼ a sealskin boat tanned a reddish colour.

barquentine ∼ a tall ship. It had three masts: square sails on its foremast and fore-and-aft sails on two rear masts.

bastard ∼ a small crudely built boat (inferior).

bateau ∼ a fishing boat rigged with a lug sail (clugger).

brigantine ∼ a two-masted sailing ship with a square-rigged foremast and a mainsail rigged fore and aft.

bully ∼ a small fishing boat, about 25–30 feet long.

bully boat ∼ a large boat with gaff sails used after the trapping season had ended.

canoe ∼ a narrow boat with pointed ends, its wooden ribs covered with bark sheets neatly sewn together and lacquered with the gum of spruce trees.

cape boat (western boat) ∼ a 15–30-ton schooner-rigged fishing vessel that went fishing a few days at a time. It had a 40-foot keel and a 14–15-foot beam.

caravel ∼ a short and wide three-masted, 60-foot-long sailing ship with square rigging.

chalupa ∼ a Basque-made whaling boat 26 feet long and typically 6½ feet wide. It was built of oak and propelled by six oars and two sails. It was used by sixteenth-century Basque fishermen.

chime (clinker) built boat ∼ a small boat built with overlapping planks.

Christmas Seal ∼ The name given to a crash ship, l04 feet in length and weighing 110 tons, purchased by The Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association in 1947. Captain Peter Troake, took this boat for 20 of its 23 years of service all around Newfoundland where the medical staff administered chest X-rays, tuberculin testing and BCG vaccinations.

cod’s head and mackerel tail ∼ the nickname for a round or bluff-bowed ship with a long tapering run.

coracle ∼ a short, round boat made from animal skins stretched on a wooden frame.

cutter ∼ a single-masted, gaff-rigged sailing boat, coppered, and fast-sailing.

cutwater ∼ a vessel that cuts through ice.

dragger ∼ a large fishing boat equipped with dragnets. It could yield 25,000 pounds of fish in one tow.

drakkar ∼ a small Viking boat.

fishing jack ∼ a decked schooner-rigged, vessel weighing from 5–25 tons.

fishing ship ∼ a ship used mainly to transport fishermen and supplies to and from England.

flat ∼ a small 10–12-foot flat-bottomed, square-stern boat, with a sculling oar and two side oars. It often sat on the collar while the large boat was involved with the fishery. It was a means of conveying fishermen from a stage or wharf to their boat and back.

frigate ∼ a medium-sized, square-rigged warship.

galleon ∼ a large square-rigged sailing ship.

galloper ∼ a 30–40-ton vessel used in the sealing and fishing industries.

Gander Bay boat ∼ a long narrow boat, either rowed or powered by an outport motor, and made for the Gander River.

gasher ∼ a small fishing boat with a sharp prow and stern.

gospel messenger, the ∼ a boat used in bringing converts to and from Sunday prayers.

high rat ∼ a large undecked boat with high bulwarks. It was fitted with a moveable mast which carried a mainsail and a jib. A small mizzen or spanker was carried at the stern.

icebreaker ∼ a large ship with steel sides and underbelly to break through a channel of ice.

jackass brig ∼ a rough and heavy boat all square-rigged on the foremast and all fore-and-aft-rigged on the mainmast.

jack boat ∼ a roughly built two-masted decked vessel between 20–25 feet long, slight breadth of beam, short masts, and small sails stained red or black or red/black, with large heavy spruce oars. The stern had two stakes for sculling. Fishermen fished from hatches called dog holds.

jolly boat ∼ a general-purpose boat, usually with six oars carried in davits at the stern. It was 14 feet from stem to stern, five feet, three inches broad, and two feet deep.

knockabout ∼ a schooner with no bowsprit.

Labrador floater ∼ a Newfoundland fishing schooner with a crew of 15 men stationed for the summer at a fishing area.

Labrador schooner ∼ a schooner about 40 tons, having two masts: fore-mast and mainsail together with bowsprit (a large spar or boom running out from the stem of a vessel) to the underside of which a cutwater is attached, giving the boat a bold and rakish appearance.

lumber skiff ∼ flat, shallow boat.

Monk dory ∼ a type of factory-made dory by the Monk family in Monkstown.

mosies (moseys) ∼ slow-moving sailing boats.

motorboat ∼ a large punt fitted with a make-and-break engine and a rudder.

motor cruiser ∼ a V-bottom hydroplane type of vessel, one of the best rough-water crafts.

naos ∼ galleons. These large square-rigged sailing ships, having several decks, could carry six whaling boats.

Newfoundland coffins ∼ early wooden ships that had a normal life expectancy of up to seven years.

Newfoundland fish box ∼ a term for a Newfoundland vessel bringing dried cod to foreign markets.

Newfoundland White Fleet, The ∼ longliners – 58–65-foot class – whose owners set their gillnets on the Virgin Rocks: for centuries the domain of the Portuguese white fleet. one-lunger ∼ a broad-beamed boat with a single-cylinder make-and-break gasoline engine.

one-polar ∼ a sailing vessel with a single topmast.

open-mouthed skiff ∼ a type of large, undecked fishing boat.

parish boat ∼ a boat used in carrying a priest or minister from one parish to another.

pinnace ∼ a small boat used by a larger boat.

pull-up dory ∼ a type of motorized dory which, lacking a keel, has the engine shaft in two sections permitting easy raising or lowering in shallow water.

punt ∼a keeled, round-bottomed boat that is square at the stern and pointed at the stem. Its length varies from 13–18 feet. It has oars and sails and may be powered by a small engine.

pup ∼ a boat on the Labrador used to collect salmon.

riverboat ∼ a long bateau-shaped boat commonly found on logging rivers in the first half of the twentieth century.

rodney ∼ a small fishing boat.

round bower, round-bow vessel ∼ a schooner with a blunt, rather than a sharp cutwater (forward edge of a ship’s prow).

row dory ∼ a small, flat-bottomed boat propelled by oars.

row punt ∼ an undecked, round-bottomed dory.

sack ship ∼ a cargo ship engaged to carry supplies and migratory fishermen from Britain to Newfoundland.

sail skiff ∼ a small vessel driven by sail and oar.

Salvationist ∼ a 36-ton schooner painted black and striped with the Salvation Army’s colours.

schooner ∼ a ship with two masts with a mainsail, a forecastle, and a full jib-boom carrying two jibs.

seine skiff ∼ a large open boat propelled by oars, used to fish with seines.

shallop ∼ a light fishing vessel with a 30–40-foot keel, decked at both ends and open in the centre. It could hold five men and 200 quintals (112 pounds in a quintal) of fish. It was also used to net seals. Most of those narrow and sleek boats had disappeared by 1806.

shalloway (punt) ∼ a decked sailing vessel, 15–20 feet long.

skerry ∼ a small boat.

sloop ∼ a deep-keeled early sailboat.

sloop’s gig ∼ a small boat manned by several sets of oars.

smack ∼ a small one-masted wooden sailing vessel, used chiefly in the coastal trade.

snapper ∼ a poorly rigged ship.

snow boat ∼ a boat something like a brig: a two-masted, square-rigged ship.

south-shore bummer ∼ a two-masted schooner (jack boat).

spread-a-pole ∼ a small under-decked sail punt.

spring vessel ∼ an English west-country fishing and trading vessel.

tapatook ∼ a Beothuk birchbark canoe.

Church Ship, The ∼ The Church of England’s means of getting its bishop around Newfoundland’s coves and harbours.

trade schooner ∼ a ship used by traders to bring supplies such as pork, flour, and molasses to fishermen in exchange for their fish. It carried a counter to weigh and measure goods.

trap skiff ∼ an open boat of varying lengths powered by an inboard engine and often carrying a staysail. It has a wheelhouse and cuddy.

trawler ∼ a large boat that hauls its large wide-mouthed trawl behind it, scrapping the bottom for fish indiscriminately. Factory trawlers process fish on the boat.

tunnel boat ∼ This logging boat is fitted for use among floating wood by having its propellers operate within a protective iron cage.

two-stemmed boat ∼ a boat that has the stem and stern resembling each other.

umiak ∼ an Inuit woman’s kayak-like boat (also used by men).

west country fishing ship ∼ a small 40–60-ton ship having a dozen crew members.

winch boat ∼ a boat with a winch on the bow to pull log booms to the sluiceway while the boat is anchored.

young harp ∼ a small, low-sided lumber boat with a round stem.

THE BEULAHLAND IN THE 1980s:
STEPS TO BUILDING AND LAUNCHING A
LONGLINER

1. The keel was laid, and the sternpost fitted. The deadwoods (the main after-bottom frame, including the scarf log) were bolted, and the stem post fastened. Bolts were put through the keel which was scarfed (joined) to secure it. A scaffold was erected.

2. Timber frames were spaced on the keel and braced to form the ribs of the boat. The keelson (the stiffener to support the keel) was laid on the throat of the timber. Creosote, a wood preserver, dyed the ribs green.

3. The bilge plank was laid and the main shelves (heavy planking on which the main beams were laid) built. Lodging clamps were put in place for deck beams. The vessel was now in the process of being planked.

4. The main decking was completed and the hatch coamings built. Topsails were trimmed and gunnels fitted. The forward deck was constructed.

5. After the boat was caulked with oakum, treated with a pine tar coating, using a caulking iron or chisel, and the seams were filled with putty, the boat was shaded with a ¾ inch green heart, 2½ feet above the waterline, and 2½ feet below. Next the exterior of the vessel was painted. The superstructure wheelhouse and slaughterhouse (the back compartment of the wheelhouse where fish were winched in) were constructed. The forecastle (cuddy) was built and its interior decorated. Engine installation, wiring, plumbing, installation of electronic equipment, general trimmings and fittings were completed, and the interior painted.

6. Beulahland, the longliner’s name, was written in calligraphy on both sides of the bow and on the stern. The 56-foot boat was now ready for launching. Unlike in olden days, when a boat was built beside a fisherman’s house and towed by a group of men using logs to roll it along, this boat was built just above the launch. A tractor pulled it to the slipway (launch).

7. Shores were pulled away. The boat lurched to one side away from the cliffs. The three tiers of car tires on a skid pressed against the keel, helping her settle down sideways, cushioned like a baby’s head on a pillow.

8. With a gentle shove from the tractor, the Beulahland slipped smoothly over the slipway to the sea as champagne fell above her bow like the fine mist of the sea. She balanced herself upon the waters to await her second christening from the sea itself.

9. The vessel was hauled to Port de Grave Harbour, a piscatory haven for many crab vessels. There, several tons of cement were poured in the hold for ballast. The mast, winches, crab hauler, rigs, booms, power block, lifeboats, and rafts were fixed in place. The Canadian flag completed the picture.

10. The Beulahland was now ready for its aquatic voyage with the Kennedy crew: Skipper Jim, Clayton, Perry, Gary, and Ted.