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Timber raft by Frances Anne Hopkins, 1868. Unlike log driving, which was a dangerous task of floating separate logs, floaters or raftsmen could enjoy relative comfort of navigation, with cabins built on rafts, steering by means of oars and possibility to make stops. On the other hand, rafting requires wider waterflows.
A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. [1] It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull . Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood , sealed barrels , or inflated air chambers (such as pontoons ), and are typically not propelled by an engine.
Bateaux ferried log drivers using pike poles to dislodge stranded logs while maneuvering with the log drive. [10] A wannigan was a kitchen built on a raft which followed the drivers down the river. [7] The wannigan served four meals a day [11] to fuel the men working in cold water.
By 1839 after Captain Henry Miller Shreve broke the Great Raft log jam had been 160 miles long on the river. [52] In the late 1830s, the steamboats in rivers on the west side of the Mississippi River were a long, wide, shallow draft vessel, lightly built with an engine on the deck. These newer steamboats could sail in just 20 inches of water.
"The currach contained only one man in working it, whereas the floats require two men and oars; and the man in the currach paddled with a shovel, one end of the rope being fixed to the raft, and the other tied to the man's knee in the currach, which he let loose when there was any danger, the currach going before the raft."
The English word "catamaran" is derived from the Tamil word, kattumaram (கட்டுமரம்), which means "logs bound together". However, the original kattumaram did not refer to double-hulled boats at all, but to a type of single-hulled raft of the Tamil people made of three to seven tree trunks lashed together.
Duncan's interest was keenly aroused by the steering arrangement. On each end of the log platform was placed a short length of log, which was securely fastened to the logs beneath. Projecting upright on this base was a smooth, strong wooden pin. The top of the pin thrust up into the handle of the long steering sweep, thus forming a pivot point ...
The sheepskin raft is a kind of boat made of a wood frame and aerated sheepskin. A big sheepskin raft can be made from 600 sheepskin bags while small rafts are generally composed of 13 sheepskin bags. [1] Sheepskin rafts are popular along the Yellow River in provinces like Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai. [2]