The Smithfield Review, Volume VI, 2002, Crawford
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A James River Batteau, from a painting by Jon Roark. (Copied from A Guide to Historic Salem, vol. 3, no. 2 (Summer 1997) Batteaux* on Virginia's Rivers Dan Crawford Dan Crawford is the lead interpreter of the batteau site at Virginia's Explore Park, off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Roanoke County. He has 25 years of experience on and around salt water, including working on museum s4uare- rigged ships; he notes that many sailing ships filled their holds with the cargo of such inland watercraft as canal boats and James River batteaux. In the spring of 1771 Virginia suffered her greatest known natural disaster, "The Great Freshet of 1771." It rained on ten consecutive days, at times torrentially, and parts of the James River basin were swept by 25 feet ofwater. 1 Nearly all of the boats the tobacco planters depended upon for hauling their goods to Richmond were swept away. At that time, the most widely used boat type for this trade was actu- ally a combination oftwo boats, called the Rose tobacco canoe.Two large dugout canoes, 50 to 60 feet long, were fitted with cross-beams, using lashings and pins, thus making a twin-hulled craft that could carry up to ten hogsheads of tobacco. After delivery, the canoes could be separated for the return upstream. Three to five men could handle the down-river trip, and two men to a canoe could handily pole and/or paddle a canoe on the return. This scheme was introduced sometime between 1748 and 1750 by two tobacco planters in Albemarle County, the Rev. Robert Rose and his neighbor, a Mr. Ripley. The system was subsequently widely used on the upper James and some of her tributaries. 2 After the flood of 1 771, however, the prospect of replacing the lost dugouts was unattractive to the tradesmen involved. The abundant sup- *Battcaux is spelled herein according to the custom ofthe Virginia Canals and Navigation Society and the operators of the James River Battcaux Festival, though the usual English spelling has only one "t". The Smithfield Retiieu', Volume VI, 2002 7 Dc\7' CRA\X'HlRl) ply of large trees along the river was long gone and, even if trees of suit, able size had been conveniently available, dugouts were time,consuming and laborious to build, compared to plank boats. The conditions were ripe, therefore, for a new kind of boat, one that was destined to have a significant impact on cargo hauling from the mountains to the tidewater: a boat that could haul cargo by the tons on the rivers of the region. These were the rivers falling out of the Appalachians down through the hilly Piedmont to the fall line, rivers with lots of shoals, standing rocks, and rapids. This new boat was the James River Batteau, so named because it was developed on the James and because its greatest use was on the James, although it also plied the upper reaches of both the Roanoke and the New rivers west of the Blue Ridge, making an important contribution to commerce in that region as well. Two tobacco planters, Anthony and Benjamin Rucker of Amherst County, introduced the boat, which was also called the "Rucker Batteau" and the "James River tobacco boat." Sometime between the late 1760s and early 1770s, the Rucker brothers had been working on a boat design that would improve on the Rose tobacco canoe. i Though the record seems to give the credit for this creation solely to the brothers, it is likely that at least some of the design details were the result ofinput by their watermen, most of whom would likely have been enslaved Africans. The first record of the new boat is found in Thomas Jefferson's account book in 177 5. He purchased a batteau from Rucker and included these details: "Apr. 29. Rucker's battoe is 50. f. long. 4. f. wide in the bottom & 6. f. at the top. She carries 11. hhds & draws 13 1/2 I. water."4 Since the Great Freshet of 1771 is recognized as seminal to the introduction of the new boat type, it is likely that the first examples of the type were put in service prior to Mr. Jefferson's record. The design was so perfect for the job that it was widely copied, and eventually it was found in use on rivers from Maryland to Georgia. Down the rivers went tons of goods, mostly raw materials like tobacco, pig iron, grains and grain products such as flour, meal, and whiskey, barrel staves, lumber, gypsum for making plaster, salt, lime, marble, "freestone," and tan, bark. 5 Goods to be hauled back up the rivers were generally goods that would be measured by the pound rather than by the ton. Among the many goods mentioned as coming back up the rivers were coffee, sugar, molasses, rum, salt, shingles, fabrics not produced locally, and manufac, tured goods. 6 8 A Jumes l\i1 1er huttedll rum the ru/>iJ~. the men nm 1iguting using the su·eeJ>. (Cu1mc.~:\' \ 'irgi11iu Siutc· Lil1rcff}', us /111hlishd in HatT'L'rs \X'L'L·klr. FL'hntdr~· .? I. I Kl..f) In I821, seeing huw Ruckcr'5 hu;1t desi .~n \\'<IS heing cupieLI in the thuus;111ds, the estate uf Anthuny Rucker secured <1 patent and <1ppuinteLI agents fur the Cl)lkctiun of ruy;1lties. One agent \\'<IS appuinted fur the "miLldk, eastern and northern" st<ltcs, <111Ll une fur the states uf Suuth Carnlina, Cieur.~i<l, }(entucky, Tennessee, ;111d Alah;1111<1. Announcements <ILkert ising t hcse <l.~cnts wc1-c run in nc\\·spapcrs in Richmunll anLI Pctl'rs~ hurg, Va.; Lcxingtun, }(y.; R;deigh, N.C.; Culumhia, S.C.; August<•, G1.; ;111d \'Vashingtun, D.C.: Such <I \'list ;1rca indicates that this unique Lksi_~n was \\'idcly cupicd. The Rucker dcsi.~n \\'<IS successful fur t\\'u rcasuns. hrst, the relative si:L' ;md shape ;rnd the <lttcndant techniques used fort he hu;1t's uperatiun \\'ere pL·rfect fur h;rnlin.~ tlms uf cargu un rnck~stre\\'n, sh<illm\· rivers. The ho;1ts r;mged in length frum forty tu sevcnty~fi\·e feet, <llld \\'ith their tbt buttum could wurk in water une tu t\\'ll foct Lkcp; must references place DAN CRA\XTUR!l their loaded draft at between twelve and sixteen inches. A load could be as much as ten to twelve tons on the bigger boats. The heavy oak plank- ing used for bottoms served the function of a keel or backbone and also imparted the durability needed to survive frequent contact with the rocky river bottoms. Width was limited to six to eight feet so the boat could fit through rapids and rocks. A design with identical pointed ends allowed the boat to proceed at no disadvantage if it fetched up on a rock and turned around; it didn't have to be turned back around to proceed on its way. Instead of a "hard chine," where the sides meet the bottom at a sharp angle, Rucker's design featured a fairly easy tum at the bilge, allowing the hull to survive the beating it would often take and making it more likely to ride safely over and through rocky places. The frames were made of five pieces of wood, usually oak, notched together. Hulls were carvel planked, meaning the planks were fitted edge-to-edge, not lapped. The only men- tion of caulking is a reference to tar being used in the seams on hulls of batteaux on the Roanoke River. 8 There were large sweeps at each end for steering, which was not at all like swinging a single rudder at the stern; it was more like rowing both ends sideways. The boat could easily move sideways through the water as it was carried downstream by the current, an obvious asset for a boat having to go first here, then over there, picking its way down rock-strewn rivers and creeks. Walk-planks were rigged along both sides, often with beams lashed rail to rail to support them. One or two men to a side would walk the boat from under themselves as they leaned into their iron-tipped poles with pads on their shoulders, alternating sides so there was always at least one pole in contact with the bottom. There was a man at the stem sweep for upstream work, and men at both bow and stem for downstream work. 9 Mid-ship covers like those we associate with "covered wagons" were standard equipment. They were not permanent, but rigged as needed. The second reason for this design's tremendous success was that, compared with most boat designs, it was fairly easy to copy. There were two types of hulls, tapered and non-tapered. The latter would have been the easier, since the hull planking would be straight-edged. Neither type necessitated the use of steam boxes or heavy clamps. The end pieces, called cones, were separate structures attached after completion of the hull. Boats of this design could be built by the producers' regular work- men, which was the tendency during the early years of their use. This "in 10 -il •!J .. ...... • ' ...,.. r--·\. -l.. .. l ~ .. _I •••• I I ~ I \ I I z -....---- J 11 house" manufacturing trend evidently continued, though the record is light in this regard. Owing to cultural influences and other factors, nautical nomencla- ture is not exact, and definitions of boat types are sometimes blurred. In French, "bateau" means boat, any boat, and the preferred English spelling of the word is "bateau," in the French style.