BOAT (AS. bat, Ger. Boot; cf. Fr. bateau, boat, from Low Lat. batcllus, dimin. of battus, baths, boat). A small vessel propelled by oars, sail, or steam. The name is also applied to large vessels built to navigate rivers and interior waters, and sometimes to large sea-going vessels: but in such eases it is ordinarily used as part of a compound word or expression. e.g. sts am boat. ferryboat, canal-boat, packet-boat. etc. Boats are of numerous types and forms, repre senting the various developments of the raft and dugout principles, which may be said to meet in the framed open boat. as it embodies the hollow form of the dugout and the framing of the raft. The simplest form of boat is called a punt or bateau, and it is much used in shallow interior waters, where it is often propelled by pushing with a pole instead of using oars; it IIRS a flat bottom and sides made of single boards. The dory is a variety of punt, but, being intended for use in rough water, it is deeper and more shape ly. Dories are used in great numbers by fishing vessels. Small, shallow, framed boats are called wherries or Whitehall boats. In the United States Navy boats are of three types—cutter, whaleboat, and steamer. ' The cutter type in cludes the dingeys and launches, the former being smaller than the critter, and the latter being larger; all are square•stet-lied. The whaleboat is sharp at both ends. Steamers resemble cut ters in build, but are heavier and have rounded sterns; the smaller steamers are frequently called steam-eutters. Gigs and barges are com monly of emitter build. but are larger, narrower, and of less depth; some gigs are of whaleboat form. Dingeys usually have four oars; critters and whaleboats from six to fourteen: gigs fivo or six: barges twelve to fourteen; and launches twelve to sixteen. All are supplied with masts and sails to be used when desired. In modern men-of-war boats arc stowed on skid-frames amidships in order to keep them out of the way of the guns: a certain number of davits are fitted, however, as a matter of convenience during or dinary service. The boats of merchant ships are of various types, and their number depends upon the size of the vessel and the character of the service; dories are much used in the United States coasting-vessels. but large boats are usu
ally carried ; deep-sea sailing ships usually have one large boat, called the launch or longboat, in addition to smaller ones.
Boats are usually built of wood; they are lia ble to receive many minor injuries, and the re pair of an iron hull is a much more difficult matter than that of a wooden one; moreover, an iron boat is much more likely to punch a hole in her bottom or side in striking a sharp object than is a wooden one. There are three different methods of building wooden boats: The carrel, with fore-and-aft planks, the edges meeting, but not overlapping: the clinker, also with fore-and-aft planks, but with the edges over lapping each other like shingles; and the diag onal. the planking of which runs diagonally, the inside planks running in a contrary direction to the outside ones, and their edges meeting. On some steamers the number of passengers carried is so great that sufficient room cannot be found for boats of the ordinary type, and these vessels often carry a number of collapsible boats with wooden frames and covered with canvas. Boats are single or double banked, as they have one or two oars to a thwart. The seats for the crew of a boat are called the thwarts, the strip on which the thwarts rest is called the rising, the space abaft the after thwart the stern sheets, that forward of the foremost thwart the fore sheets, the spaces for the oars the rowlocks, and where the coxswain of a man-of-war boat sits, the coxswain's box.
Boaz-Divrr. When not resting inboard on chocks or skid-frames, boats are carried at the davits. These are secured to the ship's side, the end resting in sockets or saucers (if the davits revolve), with a collar around the davit higher up and near the ship's rail. Davits are some times straight, but are usually curved somewhat in the shape of an inverted letter J (thus p The upper blocks of the boat-falls (see BLOCK; also TACKLE) are secured to the curved arms of the davits, and the lower blocks hook into rings in the boat. Boat-davits are usually made of round iron bars, hut stronger and lighter davits are made of Trail iron or of box-girders.