Expedition to the Ancestors. A Raft as a Gift
Madlum River National Park, Philippines. Modern bamboo raft
“…and we will cut down as many trees in Lebanon as you need, float them on rafts across the sea to Jaffa, and you will be able to transport them to Jerusalem.”
Second Chronicles 2:16
Second Chronicles 2:16
Bamboo Raft Market
stories by stories material culture. The raft, as we all know, was the oldest floating craft invented by man. Moreover, the history of the raft is as interesting as, say, the history of the wheel, the potter's wheel or the water mill. Archaeologists have not found any ancient rafts, and it is clear why. A log is a log, and no one would have specially preserved it in ancient times.
The same park, the same river – and it’s very beautiful there, but the raft is made of some kind of driftwood
But we know that in the Tamil language, "kattu maram" means "tied logs", i.e. a raft, and not a boat with a balance beam. It just so happened that this name "stuck" to the catamaran. However, many primitive peoples, as well as people in countries with a not very high level of development, still use rafts. They catch fish from them, transport cargo and even goats.
Bengal Raft. Transporting a Girl and Two Goats
In this case, improvised materials are used. Most often, bamboo, which is simply abundant in the countries of Southeast Asia. Very ancient rafts made of balsa logs were seen by the Spanish conquistadors off the coast of Peru. Moreover, they had a mast and a sail, and also used an ingenious system of retractable keels made of boards - guar, which made it possible to quite accurately keep the raft's course downwind. Some also consider boats tied from reed stalks to be rafts, but these are more likely displacement vessels with a specific hull.
The Lady Nancy raft attacking Taganrog in the Sea of Azov. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 11 August 1855.
The advantage of a raft has always been that, using the buoyancy of wood, it has always been not only a floating device, but also a profitable means of transport. And indeed: you throw the sawn logs into the water, fasten them with ropes or staples - and the raft floats itself for sale, and you ride on it and rejoice, sleep in a tent, cook food on a fire - beautiful shores all around. A sanatorium, and nothing more. But the most important thing is that you dismantle the raft on the spot and sell it entirely, both the wood and the metal fasteners.
River Raft. Drawing by F. A. Hopkins
However, the rafts were different in design. For example, South American rafts made of dried pumpkins are known. In India, they made rafts from jugs: they turned them upside down, fastened them with a light frame made of bamboo, and floated on such an improvised "ceramic" raft to the market, where these very jugs were sold. The Assyrians floated across rivers both cavalry and infantry, and even war chariots on rafts made of leather wineskins, on top of which they laid planks.
And in 1867, a raft was even built from three rubber “cigars”, “Nonpareil” (“Incomparable”), on which three brave Americans crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached Europe!
Bodleian Library, Oxford University. A precise depiction of the raft and its devices, invented by the French for their intended invasion of England.
Napoleon himself noted the raft's high load-bearing capacity and unsinkability, wishing to use this particular floating craft to conquer Britain. It was planned to build huge rafts from separate sealed sections with a plank flooring, on which infantry, cavalry and artillery. They were supposed to cross the English Channel and immediately engage in battle on British soil. The British somehow found out about this, however, as is understandable, and ridiculed this idea in every way in their political cartoons. They found the method of propulsion with the help of windmills, which were supposed to rotate paddle wheels, especially funny. It is clear that the vulnerability of such “wind rafts” to artillery fire of the British fleet would have been very great. This is probably why the "raft invasion" of England never took place.
Bodleian Library, Oxford University. The British fleet destroys French landing rafts. A contemporary cartoon
Nevertheless, the rafts did see some fighting, and not as a means of transport. It so happened that Union Major General John C. Fremont, commander of the Department of the West, ordered the first “bomb rafts” on August 24, 1861. There were thirty-eight of them, and they were specially designed to fight Confederate river batteries. Designated by numbers rather than names, they measured 60 by 25 feet and had a very low freeboard. In the middle of the raft was a casemate, the walls of which were sloped inward and lined with iron half an inch thick to protect against small arms fire. weapons. The crew consisted of 13 people. The raft was armed with a 330 mm "Diktator" mortar, and it was precisely because of this armament that these rafts had to be built. The fact is that the decks of the northern ships simply could not withstand the recoil of these mortars, despite the lining of logs. In addition, large ships were an excellent target for the trajectory fire of the southern forts, since they could not move in shallow water and were forced to fire from a well-aimed fairway.
Bomb raft near the shore. Library of Congress, Washington
Bomb rafts bombard Island No. 10. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
And a raft is a raft. It could be driven very close to the enemy fort and hidden literally in the bushes. And if it was behind a hill around the bend of the river, then there was no way to hit it with fire, and it could throw its multi-pound bombs into the fort with almost impunity.
Projections of the paper model of the "bomb raft"
The "bomb raft" was constructed in a very simple manner. Inside the casemate there was a rotating platform on rollers, on which stood a mortar. The raft was anchored near the shore, the mortar was loaded, after which the entire crew of the boat went out through the door onto the deck of the raft - away from the monstrous roar of the shot, which was produced by pulling a long cord.
A bomb raft in a graphic from an American magazine of the time. Library of Congress
The "bomb rafts" of Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote's squadron on the upper Mississippi were active in the Battle of Island No. 1862 in 10 and later bombarded Vicksburg during its siege from May 18 to July 4, 1863.
I was lucky to see the Brazilian fishing raft jangada in person at the Barcelona Naval Museum in 2014, and it made a strong impression on me, especially since I already knew about the discrepancy between the words of the "Fishermen's March" from the film "Generals of the Sand Quarries" and the popular in the USSR "Song about a Homeless Boy". But the raft itself was very simple, beautiful, and I used it in my work with students of Primary School No. 47 in Penza, where my granddaughter was studying at the time.
This "jangada" was made by "my children" who were in grades 3-4. True, this is the best model. Others were worse, but not much. Its simplicity won everyone over, and how the children liked its sail!
Scheme from the Polish magazine "Modelage"
Then I came across this assembly diagram of a jangada raft made of "logs" on the Internet, and I decided to make a model of it "for myself", as a New Year's gift. And what about me - I give all the gifts to others, but I can't do it for myself? I thought about it in advance and began to collect sea-rolled and sun-dried fragments of branches in the hot sand of the Anapa dunes, which are just right for such "logs".
"Sea logs", only slightly turned according to the drawing
True, I did not find the exact size and scale of 1:35 "logs", so in my raft with the same width as in the drawing from the magazine, there is one log less. But does this have any special significance? How many were there? And for some it was like this, and for others it was different.
All other parts of the raft were made of the most "democratic" materials - ice cream sticks, Chinese toothpicks and skewers. The arches above the "deck" for storing fish are made of annealed copper wire 2 mm thick. All parts of the raft are painted with oil with the addition of wax "under the nut". The parts were glued together with PVA glue and superglue.
When the raft hull and the mast with the boom were ready, it turned out that the sail drawing from the Polish magazine was incorrect, and it could not be installed on the raft - the "hut" was in the way. That is, the man did not make this model himself, but drew its scheme "by eye". The sail had to be remade specifically for his model. I ordered it cut out on both sides in a printing house for thermal printing and transferred its drawing to the fabric using an iron.
Double-sided sail pattern
A very important detail of this model is the mat-roof above the deck. It can be made to scale from... a banal broom for garbage, or rather, its thinnest branches. I cut them with scissors and, smearing them with "Crystal" glue, glued them one by one to a thin fabric of a given size until I got the "mat" I needed. I ironed it through paper and glued it to the arches above the "deck" using superglue. It turned out very strong and... beautiful!
The podium for placing the model was glued together from office rulers. Its dimensions are 250x105 mm. The base is made of packaging foam with cardboard from the packaging from the Magnit store glued to it.
I made the “sea” and “sand” in the same way as in the diorama with Odysseus and the Cyclops, that is, I molded them from self-hardening clay, and then painted them with acrylic paints with the addition (in some cases) of tooth powder and grated drunk tea. To make the “sea” and “dampness” on the raft logs shine in the bright tropical sun, I covered it all with a thin layer of epoxy resin, into which I poured all sorts of garbage near the surf line. The foam on the water is made from liquid tooth powder with the addition of PVA glue. The bushes on the sand are ready-made, I ordered them in China. I also ordered the figurines for the “animation” there - a black man carrying either a shark or a tuna on his back, and his wife waiting for him with a small child in her arms. This is the diorama I got...
Finished diorama. Left view
A black fisherwoman meeting her fisherman…
Diorama. Left side view. The mat above the deck and the anchor on the bow are clearly visible, exactly the same as in the magazine
True, there are still some things missing: for example, a fish basket – it’s hard to make from a bunch of ropes and tackle. But all these little things can wait. The main thing is done!
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