'BY THE MARK' W
BY MICHAEL PIGNÉGUY
hile out on the Inner Hauraki Gulf recently I saw an unfortunate skipper who, amongst other things, was not aware of the depth under his keel. This led to his fine little craft spending six hours perched at a precarious angle on some nasty little rocks awaiting the return of the tide. Had he been keeping an eye on his depth sounder an expensive day and tow home may have been avoided. Even if he didn't have an electronic depth sounder he could have had his wife out on deck swinging a lead, taking soundings and shouting out 'by the mark five fathoms'. But, by the sound of her voice in the background of his VHF calls, she was not too impressed with his navigation skills and, apart from giving advice, didn't sound like she was really into the practical side of boating! I'm sure that neither of them would have known of one school of thought that the saying 'by the mark' originated from the steamboats that were working on the Mississippi during the mid- 1800s. Because the channels in that mighty river were constantly changing their position and depth, it was necessary for steamboats to have a leadsman who, by swinging a line with a lump of lead attached to it, would check the depth of water. The line, who some say was a 'twine', was marked at certain intervals, the first 'mark' being at six feet (one fathom). So if the depth was only six feet the leadsman would call out to the captain that the depth was 'Mark One'. The measurements then continued in 18 inch (45cm) gaps as 'Quarter One' (7ft 6ins), 'Half One'(9ft), 'Quarter Less Twain'(10ft 6ins), then to 'Mark Twain' ('twine' maybe?) that indicated a depth of two fathoms (12ft) which was safe water for a steamboat to proceed in.
The phrase 'mark twain' was also apparently used in waterfront hotels along the Mississippi when a patron had two drinks to go on his tab.
Swinging the lead
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Those of you who have read some American authors will recognise the phrase 'Mark Twain' as being the name of one of the most famous of those writers. Mark Twain began life as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, being born in Florida on November 30, 1835. In his early twenties, he travelled on a Mississippi steamboat down to New Orleans and was inspired enough to study the 3,200km length of the river for two years to gain his pilot's license. Young Samuel Clemens gained intimate knowledge of the Mississippi River and of life on the steamboats, and he used this knowledge to great success in his later writings. But the name 'Mark Twain' was first, the pen name of an old steamboat pilot called Captain Sellers whose writings Clemens parodied, and which greatly offended the old captain. Clemens much regretted this, and as a tribute to the old captain and steamboat traditions, also started using the pen name of Mark Twain in 1863.
Meanwhile, ships working in deeper coastal waters had developed their own sounding lines and were usually equipped with both a hand lead line and a deep-sea lead line. The hand lead line was used in shallower waters and was constructed of a three strand dressed hemp 30 fathoms (54.9m) line of 11
⁄8 inch (28.5mm)
Ph 09 438 6884, Fax 09 438 6852, Email sales@seamac.co.nz 11 Finlayson St, Whangarei.
16 Professional Skipper September/October 2012
circumference, and the attached leads would weigh anything between 7-14lbs (3.2-6.3kgs). The deep-sea lead line was of the same construction but with a 1½ inch (38mm) circumference and was 120 fathoms (219.5m) in length. The lead weight on this line was a hefty 28-30lbs (12.6-13.5kgs). Both these leads would have a cavity in their base that would be 'armed' with a mixture of white
VIP.S77
