Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/134

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Folk-Lore

the beach; but before morning a sudden squall from the west had tossed the doomed craft to pieces among the rocks.

The old haf boat measured from 18 to 20 feet of keel, the stems bending outwards in a graceful curve, so as to give a length of some 26 feet over all. The breadth of beam was 6 to 7 feet, and the depth of hold 27 inches. The boat was divided into six compartments, viz., fore-head, fore-room, mid-room, oost-room, shott, hurrik or kannie. This last compartment next the stern was occupied by the steersman. The shott was double the size of a room, and formed a sort of hold in which the fish was carried. The various rooms were separated from each other by fiska brods (fish boards); and, in ordinary circumstances, a well-equipped boat had a place for everything and everything in its place. The sail, when not in use, was stowed in the fore-head, together with the buoys, buoy-ropes, and handline reels. The bread-box and blaand keg occupied

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