Summary: | Interview focused on swamp boats (or swamp bottom boats) common on the west side of Placentia Bay. Sylvester Churchill fished from a swamp boat from 1979-1986. "0:00:00 Sylvester describes what a swamp boat looks like. “The stern of her is like a dory. A punt is more wider.” Flat bottom with keel. The bottom is about two feet wide on a twenty-five foot boat. It’s built like a dory but a keel bolts on to the bottom of it. The keel is probably about six inches deep and runs about sixteen to eighteen feet - started about forehook and went back. Clinker planks, like a dory. 0:01:45 Sylvester goes to get a dory model. Describes similarity in planking to swamp boat. 0:03:00 Syvester never built boats but did repairs. The swamp boat he once owned was built by Albert Rennie. It had four horsepower Atlantic but was replaced with a diesel. Sylvester used the boat for fishing from 1979-1986. 0:03:40 Crystal asked when swamp boats started to fade out. Sylvester said it was about the same time he got rid of his swamp boat. There was a move towards fiberglass at that time, which required less maintenance than wooden boat. Wooden boat would last about ten to twelve years and required repairs. 0:04:34 In the early days, there was a hole in the forward thwart for the driver to be used for sailing. Also a hole for a sculling oar at stern which would be used as a rudder to steer. Eventually they had a rudder that was steered with rope and pulleys (called tiller reins), which allowed the boat to be steered from midship. 0:06:30 Used his swamp boat to fish for salmon, herring, cod, flounder. He used nets and trawl. The boat had a roller forward for hailing trawl. Usually fished with two people, sometimes three. 0:07:25 Boats were usually about twenty-five feet and seven feet wide and about three and a half deep at midship. The bottom was about two feet wide on a twenty-five foot boat. A dory would have a wider bottom, but a swamp was smaller. 0:08:50 Boards were shipped in from Burin. Sylvester talks about harvesting curved wood ...
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