THE KABELVEERPONT.
The “Kabelveerpont” is another kind of boat for crossing streams. The swinging cable is here replaced by one which crosses the stream, on the bottom of which it lies under the action of its own weight. The middle of the upstream side of the boat is attached to this cable, which passes over a sheave. In order to cross the stream, the boat is pushed off into the current, after having raised the movable bridges, then the cable is drawn up on the end of the boat pointing across the river and made to pass over a sheave placed, temporarily and for the crossing, at the middle of the bridge. The pontoon then occupies a position oblique to the cable and, as in the preceding case, at an angle to the direction of the current which causes the boat to move. The cable, which runs from one bank to the other, rests on the bed of the river from which only the part on the boat is raised.
The pontoons serving the crossings at Kessenich-Stevensweert and at Elsloo-Boorsheim (Limburg-an-Meuse) may be mentioned as examples of this kind of ferries.
The cable is not always raised, however, on the boat because when so raised it may interfere with navigation. Sometimes the cable is allowed to remain on the bed of the river and the ferry is attached to a rope which is connected with the cable by means of a roller. This rope, which is then stretched in the direction of the current, is fastened to the middle of the upstream side of the boat. If now the latter be inclined by means of a special cable, as explained in the case of the “Gierpont”, it crosses the river, the roller running on the cable which lies on the bottom.
An example of such a boat is to be found at the crossing at Zalt-Bommel in Gelderland. The trouble with these cables and of all transverse cables in general is that they are often displaced by the anchors of vessels which foul them in passing. Abroad, especially in Belgium, the cables for trail bridges (as they are called in the United States) are stretched above the river so that vessels can pass underneath. But this arrangement does not seem to be applicable to heavy boats and to the great widths of the crossings found in Holland without using expensive means for supporting the cable.
In Limburg, where the character of the Meuse is torrential, and where the steep slope of the bed causes much more violent currents than in the rest of our country, the barges have no lee boards.
A very wide approach ramp is necessary for all these ferries in general and for the “Kabelveerponten” in particular. A width of 16 metres at the level of mean low water and lessening upward has been found necessary, because of the slack of the cable which varies with the strength of the current and the force of the wind.
The more violent the current, the easier it is to go safely on the boat, and this allows the width of the approach ramp to be reduced near the top, because this upper part is only utilized during high water.
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It is needless to say that not only pontoons, but also every kind of boats, such as the “hoys” and “poonen” already mentioned, can be also utilized for crossing.
Use is also frequently made of the “Hengsten” (anglice: stallions, used here to designate strength) and of the “Veerhengsten” which belong to the type of the “Hoogaarsen”, which they resemble greatly.
The “Hoorgaarsen” are described among the fishing boats.
For ferrying pedestrians, rowboats and “vletten” are very frequently used.
One remark may still be added to what precedes:
Two cables are needed for tidal rivers, one above and one below, so as to be able to work during both the ebb and flood tides. The manœuvres then become difficult at times, because when the tide is at a stand there is no current or it is so weak that the crossing is not always possible. In these cases the cables are used merely as guides for the boats. The latter are run across by hand or by a motor which works a special cable for crossing. A system of this sort is located on the Bergsche Meuse, below Heusden.
If the current becomes too strong at high water, so that there is danger of breaking the cables, the pontoon way be attached to a swinging cable which would then take up the greater part of the tension. This cable should be very long: 1º so that the pull on the anchor way be as nearly horizontal as possible and 2º so that the arc described by the ferry boat may be as flat as possible.
The small inland boats are not less important than those just considered. Their size has gone on increasing as the navigable highways are improved and the clinker-built hulls give way to the carvel built. They differ, in the matter of form, from the types mentioned above, by their relatively small beam as compared with their length, as much as by their very much inclined bow and stern. If, as a general rule, the ratio between length and breadth which lay generally between 3.5 and 4.6 now reaches often 5 for the inland boats. Evidently, they are all flat-bottomed and, of late years, they have been built with a more rounded bilge.