1.
Mast (sailing)
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The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sail, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a light, look-out position, signal yard, control position. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship, nearly all sailing masts are guyed. Until the mid-19th century all vessels masts were made of wood formed from a single or several pieces of timber which typically consisted of the trunk of a conifer tree. From the 16th century, vessels were built of a size requiring masts taller and thicker than could be made from single tree trunks. On these larger vessels, to achieve the height, the masts were built from up to four sections, known in order of rising height above the decks as the lower, top, topgallant. Giving the lower sections sufficient thickness necessitated building them up separate pieces of wood. Such a section was known as a made mast, as opposed to sections formed from pieces of timber. Jigger-mast, typically, where it is the shortest, the aftmost mast on vessels with more than three masts. On a two-masted vessel with the main-mast forward and a smaller second mast, such as a ketch, or particularly a yawl. Although two-masted schooners may be provided with masts of identical size, the aftmost is still referred to as the main-mast, schooners have been built with up to seven masts in all, with several six-masted examples. On square-rigged vessels, each mast carries several horizontal yards from which the sails are rigged. A two-masted merchant vessel with a sizable foresail rigged on a slightly inclined foremast is depicted in an Etruscan tomb painting from 475–450 BC. While most of the ancient evidence is iconographic, the existence of foremasts can also be deduced archaeologically from slots in foremast-feets located too close to the prow for a mainsail. Artemon, along with mainsail and topsail, developed into the rig of seagoing vessels in imperial times. The imperial grain freighters travelling the routes between Alexandria and Rome also included three-masted vessels, a mosaic in Ostia depicts a freighter with a three-masted rig entering Romes harbour. Special craft could carry many more masts, Theophrastus records how the Romans imported Corsican timber by way of a raft propelled by as many as fifty masts. Throughout antiquity, both foresail and mizzen remained secondary in terms of size, although large enough to require full running rigging
2.
Gaff rig
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Gaff rig is a sailing rig in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar called the gaff. Because of the size and shape of the sail, a gaff rig will have running backstays rather than permanent backstays, the gaff enables a fore and aft sail to be four sided, rather than triangular. A gaff rig typically carries 25 percent more sail than an equivalent bermudian rig for a hull design. A sail hoisted from a gaff is called a gaff-rigged sail, gaff rig remains the most popular fore-aft rig for schooner and barquentine mainsails and other course sails, and spanker sails on a square rigged vessel are always gaff rigged. The gaff is hoisted by two halyards, The throat halyard hoists the throat of the sail at the end of the gaff and bears the main weight of the sail. The peak halyard lifts aft end of the gaff and bears the leech tension. Small craft attach the peak halyard to the gaff with a span with eyes at both ends looped around the gaff and held in place with small wooden chocks, larger craft have more than one span. Peak halyards pull upwards, approaching the gaff at right angles, additionally, a gaff vang may be fitted. It is an attached to the end of the gaff which prevents the gaff from sagging downwind. Gaff vangs are difficult to rig on the aft-most sail, so are only found on schooners or ketches. A triangular fore-and-aft sail called a jib-headed topsail may be carried between the gaff and the mast. Gunter-rigged boats are similar, smaller vessels on which a spar popularly but incorrectly called the gaff is raised until it is vertical, parallel to the mast. Topsails are never carried on gunter rigs, the Spritsail is another rig with a four-sided fore-aft sail. Unlike the gaff rig where the head hangs from a spar along its edge, the forward end of the sprit is attached to the mast but bisects the face of the sail, with the after end of the sprit attaching to the peak and/or the clew of the sail. For a given sail area a gaff rig has a shorter mast than a bermudian rig, because of its low aspect ratio, the gaff rig is less prone to stalling if oversheeted than something taller and narrower. Whilst reaching, the CE being set back, will encourage a small craft to bear up into the wind. The boat builder can compensate for this at design stage, e. g. by shifting the keel slightly aft, the gaff-cutter is in fact a very popular sailplan for small craft. The helmsman can reduce weather helm significantly, simply by sheeting out the mainsail, sheeting out may appear to create an inefficient belly in the sail, but it is often a pragmatic alternative to having a heavy helm
3.
Bowsprit
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The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessels prow. It provides a point for the forestay, allowing the fore-mast to be stepped farther forward on the hull. The word bowsprit is thought to originate from the Middle Low German word bōchsprēt - bōch meaning bow, early ocean-going vessels tended to tilt the bowsprit, also known in centuries past as a boltsprit, at a high angle, and hung one or two square spritsails from yards. Many types of pleasure and work vessels ship bowsprits, generally short in length. Once popular on large and small, even after the popularization of the Bermuda rig. On some modern racing yachts and dinghies, the bowsprit is retractable, the bowsprit on a tall ship may be of considerable length and carry several forestays supporting the foremast. Headsails are stowed by tying onto the bowsprit when not in use, to minimise the risk of bowsprit and crew handling sail on it being buried in large waves, it is normally angled upwards from the horizontal. Some hang gliders use a bowsprit, rather than a spar to spread their wings, the bowsprit is formed by extending the keel tube about a metre beyond the leading edge of the wing. In 1879 a patent in England by F. W. Brearey was filed that taught bowsprit structure for flying machines, in the modern mid-1900s renaissance in hang gliding a Dial Soap TV commercial featured in 1973 a bowsprit cross-sparless hang glider. Other examples of bowsprit hang gliders were exampled in the manufactured by Bautek in the 1980s
4.
Sloop
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A sloop is a sailing boat with a single mast and a fore-and-aft rig. A sloop has only one head-sail, if a vessel has two or more head-sails, the cutter is used, and its mast may be set further aft than on a sloop. The most common rig of modern sailboats is the Bermuda-rigged sloop, typically, a modern sloop carries a mainsail on a boom aft of the mast, with a single loose-footed head-sail forward of the mast. Sloops are either masthead-rigged or fractional-rigged, on a masthead-rigged sloop, the forestay attaches at the top of the mast. The mainsail may be smaller than the headsail, which is called a genoa jib. On a fractional-rigged sloop, the forestay attaches to the mast at a point below the top, typically 3/4 of the way to top, or perhaps 7/8 or some other fraction. The mast of a fractional-rigged sloop may be placed forward, compared to a masthead-rigged sloop. After the cat rig, which has only a mainsail, the rig is one of the simpler sailing rig configurations. A sloop typically has two sails, a mainsail and a headsail, while the cutter has a mainsail and two or more headsails, next in complexity are the ketch, the yawl and the schooner, each of which has two masts and a minimum of three sails. A sloop has a system of mast rigging — a forestay. By having only two sails, the sails of a sloop are larger than those of an equivalent cutter. Until the advent of lightweight sailcloth and modern sail-handling systems, the sails of a sloop could be a handful. So, until the 1950s, sailboats over 10 metres Length Over All would typically use a rig or a two-mast rig. After the advent of modern winches and light sailcloth, the became the dominant sailing rig type for all. No rig type is perfect for all conditions, sloops, with their paucity of spars and control lines tend to impart less aerodynamic drag. Compared to other rigs, sloops tend to very well when sailing close hauled to windward. Cutters, ketches and yawls are often preferred to sloops when venturing far offshore, because it is easier to reef small sails as the wind increases, while still keeping the boat balanced. To maximize the amount of sail carried, the classic sloop may use a bowsprit, for downwind sailing, the typical foresail may be replaced by larger curved sails known as spinnakers or gennakers
5.
Maritime pilot
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A pilot, also referred to as a marine pilot, maritime pilot, or harbor pilot is a mariner who manoeuvres ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Since the pilot is on board the ship, he controls the tugs and linesmen through a radio, the ships captain ensures his crew carry out the pilots orders. Even if a ship Captain is a visitor to a certain Port, he can not match the expertise. In an unfortunate case of an accident, high pollution is a risk as the ships carry thousands of tonnes of fuel for her own consumption. Also if a ship is wrecked in the channel, the channel, legally, the master has full responsibility for safe navigation of his vessel, even if a pilot is on board. Only in transit of the Panama Canal and in Canada does the pilot have the responsibility for the navigation of the vessel. In English law, Section 742 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 defines a pilot as any person not belonging to a ship who has the conduct thereof. In other words, someone other than a member of the crew who has control over the speed, direction, the current United Kingdom legislation governing pilotage is the Pilotage Act 1987. Pilotage is one of the oldest professions, as old as sea travel, the oldest recorded history dates back to about the 7th century BC. The economic and environmental risk from large cargo ships makes the role of the pilot essential. Eventually, because the act of pilotage needed to be regulated and to ensure pilots had adequate insurance. The California Board of Pilot Commissioners was the first government agency created by Californias legislature, before harbour boards were established, pilots known as hobblers would compete with one another. The first to reach a ship would navigate it to the docks. In Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, there is a monument to the hobblers who lost their lives, in Kent they were known as hovellers and worked alongside and in competition with the licensed pilots, but were sometimes blamed as wreckers. George Byng Gattie defends the hovellers or hobilers as lifesavers in his 1890 book about the Goodwin Sands, although licensed by the harbour to operate within their jurisdiction, pilots were generally self-employed, and so had to have quick transport to get from the port to the incoming ships. As pilots were often still dual-employed, they used their own fishing boats to reach the incoming vessels, but fishing boats were heavy working boats, and filled with fishing equipment, hence a new type of boat was required. Early boats were developed from single-masted cutters and twin-masted yawls, and these were effectively light-weight and over-powered single masted boats with large steeply angled keels, making them deep draft under power and shallow draft in lighter sail. Joseph Henderson was an early American harbor pilot and he is well known for being a Sandy Hook Pilot for the New York harbor and along the Atlantic Coast during the Civil War
6.
Privateer
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A privateer was a private person or ship that engaged in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, a percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission. Since robbery under arms was common to trade, all merchant ships were already armed. During war, naval resources were auxiliary to operations on land so privateering was a way of subsidizing state power by mobilizing armed ships, the letter of marque of a privateer would typically limit activity to one particular ship, and specified officers. Typically, the owners or captain would be required to post a performance bond, in the United Kingdom, letters of marque were revoked for various offences. Some crews were treated as harshly as naval crews of the time, some crews were made up of professional merchant seamen, others of pirates, debtors, and convicts. Some privateers ended up becoming pirates, not just in the eyes of their enemies, william Kidd, for instance, began as a legitimate British privateer but was later hanged for piracy. The investors would arm the vessels and recruit large crews, much larger than a merchantman or a vessel would carry. Privateers generally cruised independently, but it was not unknown for them to form squadrons, a number of privateers were part of the English fleet that opposed the Spanish Armada in 1588. Privateers generally avoided encounters with warships, as such encounters would be at best unprofitable, for instance, in 1815 Chasseur encountered HMS St Lawrence, herself a former American privateer, mistaking her for a merchantman until too late, in this instance, however, the privateer prevailed. The United States used mixed squadrons of frigates and privateers in the American Revolutionary War, the practice dated to at least the 13th century but the word itself was coined sometime in the mid-17th century. England, and later the United Kingdom, used privateers to great effect and these privately owned merchant ships, licensed by the crown, could legitimately take vessels that were deemed pirates. The increase in competition for crews on armed merchant vessels and privateers was due, in a large part, because of the chance for a considerable payoff. Whereas a seaman who shipped on a vessel was paid a wage and provided with victuals. This proved to be a far more attractive prospect and privateering flourished as a result, during Queen Elizabeths reign, she encouraged the development of this supplementary navy. Over the course of her rule, she had allowed Anglo-Spanish relations to deteriorate to the point where one could argue that a war with the Spanish was inevitable. By using privateers, if the Spanish were to take offense at the plundering of their ships, some of the most famous privateers that later fought in the Anglo-Spanish War included the Sea Dogs. In the late 16th century, English ships cruised in the Caribbean and off the coast of Spain, at this early stage the idea of a regular navy was not present, so there is little to distinguish the activity of English privateers from regular naval warfare
7.
Yacht
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A yacht /ˈjɒt/ is a recreational boat or ship. In modern use of the term, yachts differ from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose, there are two different classes of yachts, sailing and power boats. With the rise of the steamboat and other types of powerboat, sailing vessels in general came to be perceived as luxury, later the term came to encompass large motor boats for primarily private pleasure purposes as well. Yacht lengths normally range from 10 metres up to dozens of meters, a luxury craft smaller than 12 metres is more commonly called a cabin cruiser or simply a cruiser. A superyacht generally refers to any yacht above 24 m and a megayacht generally refers to any yacht over 50 metres and this size is small in relation to typical cruise liners and oil tankers. A few countries have a special flag worn by recreational boats or ships, although inspired by the national flag, the yacht ensign does not always correspond with the civil or merchant ensign of the state in question. Yacht ensigns differ from merchant ensigns in order to signal that the yacht is not carrying cargo that requires a customs declaration, carrying commercial cargo on a boat with a yacht ensign is deemed to be smuggling in many jurisdictions. Until the 1950s, almost all yachts were made of wood or steel, although wood hulls are still in production, the most common construction material is fibreglass, followed by aluminium, steel, carbon fibre, and ferrocement. The use of wood has changed and is no longer limited to traditional board-based methods, wood is mostly used by hobbyists or wooden boat purists when building an individual boat. Apart from materials like carbon fibre and aramid fibre, spruce veneers laminated with epoxy resins have the best weight-to-strength ratios of all boatbuilding materials. Sailing yachts can range in length from about 6 metres to well over 30 metres. Most privately owned yachts fall in the range of about 7 metres -14 metres, in the United States, sailors tend to refer to smaller yachts as sailboats, while referring to the general sport of sailing as yachting. Within the limited context of racing, a yacht is any sailing vessel taking part in a race. Many modern racing yachts have efficient sail-plans, most notably the Bermuda rig. This capability is the result of a sail-plan and hull design oriented towards this capability, day sailing yachts are usually small, at under 6 metres in length. Sometimes called sailing dinghies, they often have a keel, centreboard. Most day sailing yachts do not have a cabin, as they are designed for hourly or daily use and not for overnight journeys. They may have a cabin, where the front part of the hull has a raised solid roof to provide a place to store equipment or to offer shelter from wind or spray
8.
Ferry
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A ferry is a merchant vessel used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate regular return services, a passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi. Ferries form a part of the transport systems of many waterside cities and islands. However, ship connections of much larger distances may also be called ferry services, the profession of the ferryman is embodied in Greek mythology in Charon, the boatman who transported souls across the River Styx to the Underworld. Speculation that a pair of oxen propelled a ship having a wheel can be found in 4th century Roman literature Anonymus De Rebus Bellicis. Though impractical, there is no reason why it could not work and such a ferry, see When Horses Walked on Water, Horse-Powered Ferries in Nineteenth-Century America. The Marine Services Company of Tanzania offers passenger and cargo services in three of the African Great Lakes viz, Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa. It also operates one of the oldest ferries in the region, Ferries from Great Britain also sail to Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Ireland. Some ferries carry mainly tourist traffic, but most also carry freight, in Britain, car-carrying ferries are sometimes referred to as RORO for the ease by which vehicles can board and leave. The busiest single ferry route is across the part of Øresund. Before the Øresund bridge was opened in July 2000, car and car & train ferries departed up to seven times every hour, in 2013, this has been reduced, but a car ferry still departs from each harbor every 15 minutes during daytime. The route is around 2.2 nautical miles and the crossing takes 22 minutes, today, all ferries on this route are constructed so that they do not need to turn around in the harbors. This also means that the ferries lack natural stems and sterns, due to the same circumstances, starboard and port-side are dynamic and depending of in what direction the ferry sails. Despite the short crossing, the ferries are equipped with restaurants, cafeteria, kiosks, large cruiseferries sail in the Baltic Sea between Finland, Åland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Saint Petersburg, Russia and from Italy to Sardinia, Corsica, Spain and Greece. In many ways, these ferries are like cruise ships, also many smaller ferries operate on domestic routes in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. The south-west and southern parts of the Baltic Sea has several routes mainly for heavy traffic, on the longer of these routes, simple cabins are available. In Istanbul, ferries connect the European and Asian shores of Bosphorus, as well as Princes Islands, in 2014 İDO transported 47 million passengers, the largest ferry system in the world. Due to the numbers of freshwater lakes and length of shoreline in Canada
9.
United States Coast Guard
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The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the countrys seven uniformed services. This has happened twice, in 1917, during World War I, created by Congress on 4 August 1790 at the request of Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Marine, it is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United States. As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton headed the Revenue Marine, by the 1860s, the service was known as the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service and the term Revenue Marine gradually fell into disuse, the modern Coast Guard was formed by a merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the U. S. Life-Saving Service on 28 January 1915, under the U. S. Department of the Treasury. As one of the five armed services, the Coast Guard has been involved in every U. S. war from 1790 to the Iraq War. As of 2014 the Coast Guard had over 36,000 men and women on duty,7,350 reservists,29,620 auxiliarists. In terms of size, the U. S. Coast Guard by itself is the worlds 12th largest naval force. Because of its authority, the Coast Guard can conduct military operations under the U. S. Department of Defense or directly for the President in accordance with Title 14 USC 1–3. The Coast Guards enduring roles are maritime safety, security, to carry out those roles, it has 11 statutory missions as defined in 6 U. S. C. §468, which include enforcing U. S. law in the worlds largest exclusive economic zone of 3.4 million square miles, the Coast Guards motto is the Latin phrase, Semper Paratus. In a 2005 article in Time magazine following Hurricane Katrina, the author wrote, the Coast Guards most valuable contribution to may be as a model of flexibility, and most of all, spirit. Wil Milam, a swimmer from Alaska told the magazine, In the Navy. Practicing for war, training for war, in the Coast Guard, it was, take care of our people and the mission will take care of itself. The Coast Guard carries out three basic roles, which are subdivided into eleven statutory missions. Both agencies maintain rescue coordination centers to coordinate this effort, and have responsibility for military and civilian search and rescue. The two services jointly provide instructor staff for the National Search and Rescue School that trains SAR mission planners and coordinators, previously located on Governors Island, New York, the school is now located at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown at Yorktown, Virginia. The NRC also takes Maritime Suspicious Activity and Security Breach Reports, details on the NRC organization and specific responsibilities can be found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. The Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement database system is managed and used by the Coast Guard for tracking pollution, the five uniformed services that make up the U. S
10.
Border Force
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Border Force is a part of the Home Office, responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in the United Kingdom. The force was part of the now defunct UK Border Agency from its establishment in 2008 until Home Secretary Theresa May demerged it in March 2012 after severe criticism of the senior management. Since 1 March 2012, Border Force has been a law-enforcement command within the Home Office, the work of the Border Force is monitored by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. Immigration officers have powers of arrest and detention conferred on them by the Immigration Act 1971, Border Force officers, designated as customs officials under the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, have wide-ranging powers of entry, search, seizure and arrest. They hold the same customs and excise powers as officers of HM Revenue and Customs, amongst their powers is the ability to arrest anyone who has committed, or who the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect has committed, any offence under the Customs and Excise Acts. They may also seize prohibited and restricted goods, such as controlled drugs and firearms, on 10 July 2012, Immigration Minister Damian Green confirmed that Moore had not applied for the post, despite Moore earlier telling the Home Affairs Select Committee that he would be applying. Tony Smith was appointed as interim Director General of Border Force on 19 September 2012, Smith was previously Gold Commander for the London 2012 Olympic Programme and Regional Director for London and the South East in the UK Border Agency. And has spent forty years in control and enforcement work. Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Montgomery was named as the new Director General on 25 January 2013, Border Force has five operational regions, Central, Heathrow, North, South, and South East & Europe. The regions have responsibility for securing the border 24 hours a day,365 days a year at the UK’s ports, airports, postal depots and this includes the Eurostar from Brussels and Paris to St Pancras International and the Eurotunnel from Coquelles to Folkestone. The regions’ varied work includes stopping 100 per cent of passengers arriving at ports or airports for immigration controls, officers also conduct risk-led interceptions for controlled drugs, cash, tobacco, alcohol, firearms, offensive weapons, prohibited goods, counterfeit goods and clandestine entrants. They do this at passenger and freight controls, covering passengers travelling on foot, by car, coaches, freight vehicles, as well as air freight, uniformed Border Force officers have their rank displayed on shoulder epaulettes, attached to their shirt, jumper or jacket. Warranted officers below Senior Officer rank may also have their identification number displayed, Border Force uniform is navy blue and, currently, modelled on the Metropolitan Police uniform. Border Force officers can make use of armour and carry handcuffs. Limb restraints are also in circulation, officers also carry Tetra radios on the secure Airwave network, often with earpieces, to communicate with other officers. In addition, officers may carry other useful police equipment. Torches currently issued, depending on location and job role, include Lenser LED P7.2 and Maglite LED 2D & 3D Cell varieties due to their performance, reliability, specialist forgery detection equipment is available at ports and airports to identify false passports and identity documents. Customs officials make use of a variety of specialised tools and equipment when searching cars, lorries, aircraft, container ships, all vessels of the Border Force bear the ship prefix HMC—Her Majestys Cutter
11.
United States Coast Guard Cutter
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United States Coast Guard Cutter is the term used by the U. S. Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. They are 65 feet or greater in length and have an assigned crew with accommodations aboard. They carry the ship prefix USCGC, the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, as it was known variously throughout the late 18th and the 19th centuries, referred to its ships as cutters. Since that time, no matter what the type, the service has referred to its vessels with permanently assigned crews as cutters. In 1790, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, alternately known as the system of cutters, Revenue Service, and Revenue-Marine this service would officially be named the Revenue Cutter Service in 1863. This service was placed under the control of the Treasury Department
12.
Waterman (occupation)
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A waterman is a river worker who transfers passengers across and along city centre rivers and estuaries in the United Kingdom and its colonies. Most notable are those on the River Thames and River Medway, Watermen or wherrymen were an essential part of early London. Using a small boat called a wherry or skiff they would ferry passengers along, with bad rural roads and narrow congested city streets, the Thames was the most convenient highway in the region. Until the mid-18th century London Bridge was the only Thames bridge below Kingston upon Thames, in 1197 King Richard I sold the Crowns rights over the Thames to the Corporation of the City of London, which tried to issue licensing to boats on the river. It remained under royal prerogative until 1350 when King Edward III passed an Act of Parliament prohibiting the obstruction of the River, structures had been built out into the river for fishing and milling purposes making the river difficult to navigate and an unregulated chaotic mix of boats. In 1510 Henry VIII granted a licence to watermen that gave exclusive rights to carry passengers on the river, in 1545 almshouses for watermen, called The Hospital of St. Stephen were built by Henry VIII in the Woolstaple, New Palace Yard, Westminster. An Act of Parliament in 1555 formalized the trade by setting up a company to govern tariffs, the new company had jurisdiction over all watermen plying between Windsor and Gravesend. The Act empowered the London mayor and aldermen to yearly choose eight of the best sort of watermen to be company rulers and it also specified a seven-year apprenticeship in order to gain an encyclopaedic knowledge of the complex water currents and tides on the Thames. Watermen freeman were now required to pay quarterage, or paid quarterly contributions and this was a constant source of grievance and dispute with company rulers who were frequently accused of taking bribes to free apprentice watermen. The watermen at the 55 leading towns and stairs were empowered to each year choose representatives and this form of government survived, with vicissitudes, until a new Act of Parliament in 1827 restored an oligarchical form of government. Londons lack of bridges and rolling marshy landscape to the south and east were perfect for access by boat and the Thames was the main thoroughfare for all kinds of traffic. The Oxford-Burcot Commission appointed by James I, in an Act of Parliament in 1605 was an attempt to manage the river, a large proportion of watermens income came from the ferrying of passengers across river to the theater. In 1635 appeals from watermen against hackney carriages led to a proclamation by King Charles I that The great number of Hackney Coaches of late. Are not only a disturbance to his Majesty. But two years he cancelled this ban, during the English Civil War watermen were free from impressment and could negotiate higher rates of pay from the navy. In 1700 watermen combined with their colleagues in cargo to form the Company of Watermen and Lightermen, freight could now be moved along a river and canal system with waterway access to the Midlands and Bristol. The port provided London with its wealth and relied heavily on the transshipping skills of watermen and lightermen to run smoothly. This was the time for lighterage and fortunes were made by the captains of the distinctive red sailed Thames sailing barges at this time
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