I was with another
cruiser, bemoaning my accident, when he said:
"Well, be thankful you were able to fix things with a simple patch.
Inflatable dinghies have improved enormously since the old days. Have you heard
of the Berthon boats?"
I hadn't, of
course, I had to look them up.
Apparently Berthon boats were the first kind of collapsible dinghies. In the 1870s, they were carried on
ocean-going ships as lifeboats.
According to Cornell's Encyclopedia
of Nautical Knowledge, they were made to fold together in concertina
fashion. They had flat bottoms and
thwarts hinging along the center line.
Their frames hinged at the
bilges. They had skins of heavy
waterproofed canvas. "Use of the
type was discontinued . . . chiefly on account of its vulnerability to attack
by rodents," says Cornell.
The collapsible
lifeboat was designed by the Reverend Edward Lyon Berthon of Portsmouth,
England. Wikipedia says that when the boat was demonstrated to Queen Victoria,
the Prince Consort, the Princess Royal, and the Prince of Wales, the latter commented that a cannonball would go through it easily. Berthon asked him what a cannonball would not go through, and the Queen was
reported to have been greatly amused. The Royal Navy accepted a perfected
design in 1873.
But 'perfected' is a comparative term, of
course. We tend to take inflatable
dinghies and liferafts for granted these days but they are light years ahead of
the old Berthons.
Interestingly enough, the Berthon Boat Company
is still operating today on the same site and is still a boat yard with a
workforce of 70 skilled craftsmen specializing in the refit and repair of
yachts of up to 150 feet. It also has a 280 berth deep-water marina and a yacht
sales division.
Today's
Thought
Small
craft are immortal or as near immortal as anything can be.— John Gardner
Tailpiece
"Hey,
waiter, what's wrong with these eggs?""Don't ask me, sir, I just lay the tables."
(Drop by every
Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
2 comments:
Happily modern folding dinghies don't suffer from being the meal of choice for rats as any owner of the splendid Seahopper folding dinghies will tell you
I actually had rats (or maybe mice?) eat several large holes in my previous PVC dinghy. Lesson learned: Never store your deflated dinghy in the garage rafters!
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