Clubbing:
This is one way of getting down a narrow fairway when a swift current is going with you. By employing it you will be able to keep off the banks and to dodge anchored vessels. Send a man forward and let him heave in on the anchor until it breaks, then let him keep it trailing along the bottom, checking the vessel whenever needed, by paying out enough slack cable to make the hook bite. The skipper at the helm can then shear her with the rudder to port or starboard, as he wishes. The current moving faster than the boat will give her steerageway. Instead of an anchor you can use a heavy chain to drag along the bottom.