Durham boat

The Durham boat was a large wooden, flat-bottomed, double-ended freight boat which was in use
on many of the interior waterways of North America beginning in the middle of the eighteenth
century. They were displaced by larger, more efficient canal boats during the canal era beginning
with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. The Durham name became associated with this boat
type due to their use by the Durham Ironworks of Durham, Pennsylvania for hauling freight on the
Delaware River.[1]

Durham boats were flat-bottomed and double-ended, much like large bateaux in both construction
and appearance. Beyond that, very little is known of construction details. No plans exist and likely
they were not used. No extant remains have been found and very little written description exists.
Probably they were built with heavy stems at bow and stern and a series of frames amidships, likely
from natural oak crooks when available, and planked with sawn boards, likely pine although builders
would have used whatever material was available.

These boats would have varied from place to place, from builder to builder and also evolved over
time, however in general, they were 40 feet (12 m) to 60 feet (18 m) long and 8 feet (2.4 m) wide.
The bottoms were planked and flat, without a keel, but possibly with a larger keel-plank in the
center. The sides were vertical and parallel, tapering to sharp at either end. Unlike the bateau, they
were decked at both ends and had cleated walking boards along either side. They would have been
fitted with a long sweep or steering oar and one mast which usually held two square sails. [1]

Historic use on the Delaware River[edit]

Durham boat used in a reenactment of Washington's crossing of the Delaware River

The Durham boat was the sole means of moving commodities in both directions on the river
between Philadelphia and points above tide. This boat was well known on the Delaware for more
than a century.. even after the building of the canals, it was used on them as well as on the river to a
considerable extent. [2] They are also noted for their use in Washington's crossing of the Delaware
River during the American Revolution. [3]
"They were used as early as 1758, by John Van Campen, for the transportation of flour to
Philadelphia, manufactured from wheat grown in the Minisink." [4]

The sides of the Delaware River Durhams were vertical with a slight curvature to meet a similar
curvature of the bottom which was otherwise flat. The sides were straight and parallel until they
began to curve to the stem and stern posts, about twelve or fourteen feet from the ends, where the
decks began, the rest of the boat being open.

The usual length was 60 feet although shorter boats were built and in some cases, the length was
extended to 66 feet with sometimes a foot or two added to the normal eight foot width. The usual
depth was 42 inches with an additional 10 inches of height at the ends. The boats were shallow
draft, three and a half to five inches empty and twenty-eight inches loaded. They normally carried
from 15 to 18 tons downstream and 2 tons upstream.

On the Delaware, the usual crew was three men. Movement downstream was by the current with
occasional use of two 18-foot oars. The boat was propelled upstream by the use of 12 to 18 foot
iron-shod setting poles. Twelve inch wide walking-boards ran the length of the boat on either side.
Crew members set their poles on the bottom of the river and walked from the forward end of the boat
to the stern, driving the boat forward. The captain, who steered, held the boat from going back with
the current with a pole while the crew returned to repeat the process. [5]

At one time, there were reportedly several hundred Durham boats on the Delaware River. They
sometimes traveled in groups as large as twenty-five so that the crews could aid each other. One
observer recalled sitting on the river bank watching a number of Durham boats waiting for a
favorable wind, and when a breeze came up, off they would go like a flock of sheep.