NotACat
Active Member
I googled for "horse ferry" and among the results I found this, which is about the old Horse Ferry in Lambeth in London. You don't get a very good view of the actual ferry but there's some interesting information about it.
Most pertinently it seems that this ferry was indeed powered by poles, usually at slack low tide so that there was minimal sideways force and the poles could reach the bottom of the river.
The Buckleberry Ferry wouldn't have quite so much trouble since the Brandywine isn't tidal this far up, and it's not so very deep, but there would be some sideways force because of the current.
That is what I think those loops along the side of the Ferry are for: not for tying up ponies, but for holding a hawser which crosses the river and keeps the Ferry in the correct line. I think that the Ferry has been turned round by 90 degrees while it is out of action, so that those loops—which are normally along the upstream side of the ferry—lie alongside the landing-stage.
I wouldn't be surprised if the reason—ostensible or real—for the Ferry being out of action is that the hawser is damaged.
ETA: and of course I should have waited a couple of minutes to hear that someone else already suggested this purpose for those loops on the chat
Most pertinently it seems that this ferry was indeed powered by poles, usually at slack low tide so that there was minimal sideways force and the poles could reach the bottom of the river.
The Buckleberry Ferry wouldn't have quite so much trouble since the Brandywine isn't tidal this far up, and it's not so very deep, but there would be some sideways force because of the current.
That is what I think those loops along the side of the Ferry are for: not for tying up ponies, but for holding a hawser which crosses the river and keeps the Ferry in the correct line. I think that the Ferry has been turned round by 90 degrees while it is out of action, so that those loops—which are normally along the upstream side of the ferry—lie alongside the landing-stage.
I wouldn't be surprised if the reason—ostensible or real—for the Ferry being out of action is that the hawser is damaged.
ETA: and of course I should have waited a couple of minutes to hear that someone else already suggested this purpose for those loops on the chat
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