The Scooter Scow.

[Illustration:  Fig. 191.  Scow with Runners nailed on.]

The only thing we could do was to wait until the wind or current carried us to the ice or land.  In the meantime Dutchy, who had suddenly sobered down when we took our water plunge, explained how he had rigged up the scow to travel both on ice and on water.  He called the rig a sled boat, but the name by which such a rig is now known is a “scooter.”  It was Dutchy’s idea primarily, but Reddy had engineered the work.  Along the bottom of the scow two strips of hickory had been nailed to serve as runners.  The hickory strips had been bent up at the forward end, as shown in Fig. 191.  Each runner was shod with a strip of brass, fastened on with flathead screws, which were countersunk, so that the heads should not project below the brass.  This virtually made a sledge out of the old scow, and didn’t spoil it for use on the water.

A Sprit Sail.

[Illustration:  Fig. 192.  Mainsail of Scooter Scow.]

A sprit sail and jib were rigged up.  The dimensions of these sails, which were taken from a book in Mr. Van Syckel’s library, are given in the illustrations.  A sheet of heavy muslin was made to measure 7 feet square, as indicated by dotted lines in the drawing; then the corners were cut off along the full lines shown in the illustration.  The edges were now hemmed all around, and the lower edge of the sail was lashed to a boom, 7 feet 6 inches long.  To the luff were attached a number of mast rings, which were slipped over a stout mast projecting about 5 feet 6 inches above the deck of the boat.  The peak of the sail was held up by a spar called a sprit.  The sprit was sharpened at each end, and the point at the upper end was inserted in a loop of heavy cord fastened to the peak of the sail, while the lower point of the sprit rested in the loop of a rope on the mast, called a “snotter.”  The snotter was a short piece of rope with a loop at each end.  It was wrapped around the mast, as shown in the drawing, with one loop holding it in place, like a slip knot, and the other supporting the end of the sprit.  A single halyard was used to raise this sail.  It was attached to the boat and passed over a block in the mast.  When raising the sail it was first partly hoisted, then the sprit was hooked in the loop and the snotter, after which the throat halyard was drawn taut.  Then the snotter was pulled up the mast as far as it would go, flattening out the sail.  The jib-sail was made out of the large corner piece left when cutting the mainsail.  The dimensions of the jib-sail are given in Fig. 194.  It was such a small sail that no boom was used with it.  In place of a rudder the steering oar had to be used.  This was made of a rake handle with a large trowel blade fastened to the end of it.  The sharp blade cut into the ice, and so steered the scow when it was running as an ice boat, and in the water the blade offered sufficient resistance to act as a rudder.