Canal Boat Life

Canal Boat Life. . , Spending much of their lives afloat set canallers apart from the world of permanent homes and unchanging scenery. Their workplace was bounded by the edges of the boat; but ranged, over 185 miles. The jargon was semi-nautical: one moved toward the stern, but looked through a window, not a porthole. Before all the boats were supplied by the Canal Towage Co., the owners gave them names like A. Lincoln, Scow Uncle Sam, and Jenny Lind. The pace of canalling was quite slow-only 2-3 mph-but slow should not be confused with undemanding. One canaller likened it to farm work: "Generally up at daybreak and go to work. About 4 or 5 hours rest." A full crew consisted of five members: two steersmen, one of whom was the captain; two mule drivers and tenders; and a cook. If the family was large enough, or if the owner could afford hired hands, the boat could operate around the clock with two crews taking 6-hour tricks along with the mule teams. The boats operated from March to December in all kinds of weather. Many canallers had fond memories of their lives. on the boats. At 6 or 7 they began to help with the boat, eventually advancing from mule driver to steersman. Boys who chose to stay on the canal often inherited their fathers' boats and became captains., Whole families, some of them quite large. lived in the 12x12- foot cabin. Food was simple but abundant, ham, potatoes, bread, turtle soup, Boatman's Bean Soup, eggs, chicken, fish. Small children played on the cabin roof, tethered for safety. Older children could dive from the roof into a 185-mile swimming hole., Mules were well-suited to the job: quick learners, steady, sure-footed. Many could be left untended for miles at a stretch. Some even knew when their 6-hour trick was over, pulling up and waiting to be relieved. Most were kept fat, clean, and brushed, and they wore sweat nets to keep off the flies. Few drivers used the whip. A firm "Come Up!" was enough to speed the animals along., Boat Building , By the canal's most prosperous period in the 1870s, virtually all of the boats were built in Cumberland and were more or less uniform: 90-95 feet long, 14% feet wide. and drawing 4% feet when loaded. This was the largest boat the locks could accept., Several small boatyards built the oak-bottomed, pine-sided boats, which could be expected to last 25 or more years.