Hornblower's foray into naval architecture

[Sailor]

Does anybody remember Hornblower's escape from France down the Loir in the boat he built with Bush and Browne?

Based on the information in the story, what would be the closest design out there to the boat they built while Bush was learning to walk again? That was my favorite story in the whole series for some reason and I've often wondered what that boat would look like. How crude would she be? Clearly finish would not be important, nor would longevity. Shallow draught, stability, a bit of carrying capacity and they built some storage into her. I can't recall the dimensions stated in the book but I believe she was aobut 16 foot. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
Daniel

[Peerie Maa]

If he copied the local boats, nice and simple to build as well as unobtrusive, it would have looked like this:

[WX]

Interesting rudder/tiller combo there.

[Sailor]

that is SO not what I envision. There were oars. I picture something that a royal navy sailor would have been familiar with. A flat (ish) bottom. Very conventional. Easy to build etc......

[Garret]

I always pictured a small version of the bateaux built very Q&D here on Lake Champlain during the Revolution. However, Peerie Maa makes a good point, as they'd have wanted something that would blend in.

[Canoeyawl]

The idea of this craft was to drift down to the sea under the guise of fishing. A colloquial type was the thing, and rowing in broad daylight to make distance would be an invitation to suspicion. I suspect a river punt designed to drift and control with oars would be a good choice. In that era, and even when I was a lad, it was a common thing to encounter a boat seemingly abandonded on a river bank or beach, but the reality was that is how the were kept. Thievery did occur, but the world was a smaller place and it was more often simply "borrowing" for conveyance across the river. In the begining of the yarn he literally stumbled down the riverbank into a boat.
Forester himself, on his honeymoon, did make a river voyage very similar to this and describes it well. Anyone that has done any river work, even in a canoe, will recognise the feat. It is every bit as good a read as the reconnoiture under oars in The Riddle of the Sands.
Some of his best work I think.
A search, as Peerie points out, into early French river types should solve your riddle. Noting that this boat would be copied from boats not built by boatbuilders but by farmers. These types are often lost to history as they were strictly utilitarian and had little value as artifacts or representative of a perfected skill as art.
A punt assembled from "barn boards" and whittled pegs is a likely example.

[dredbob]

... Anyone that has done any river work, even in a canoe, will recognise the feat. It is every bit as good a read as the reconnoiture under oars in The Riddle of the Sands. Some of his best work I think....

I agree. It has been many, many years since I read the Hornblower books, but I remember that the river escape sequence was one of my favorite parts of the whole series.

Bob

[Sailor]

I guess I should reread the descriptive part about the boat because he does describe it in some detail. Not to the point of being reproduceable but certainly enough to get a good idea of what she looked like. That first picture is of a boat that is WAY bigger than I envision. For some reason the length 16 feet comes to mind. Beamy, flatish bottom, a storage locker fore and aft. I picture something like a royal navy cutter only smaller. Time to reread an old favorite I think. It's my favorite story of the whole series as well. It was so exciting.

[JimConlin]

Which Hornblower title?

[Canoeyawl]

[Sailor]

Yup, that's the one. The ship pictured is the Witch of Endor.