Supply runs such as I’ve described in earlier posts began in the 1950’s and continued over several decades after which time commercial operators were hired to transport the supplies and fuel. During those early years not too much was happening in the line of commerce up those rivers and serious transportation options hadn’t been developed. There were some people working the rubber, chiquichique and chicle trees plus you could find a trading post or two on the lower reaches of the rivers but dependable commercial transportation would not become available till much later.
Thus the supply trips I’ve spoken of. Between trips the boats were docked in the area where the missionaries were working, hundreds of river miles from town. In anticipation of a trip the boats would be caulked, patched, lashed together and loaded up with the empty fuel drums to be filled out in town. Many times the tribal folks would take advantage of the trip downriver and catch a ride to town. They usually took products such as pineapples, cassava cereal, cassava bread, bananas or plantains to sell. Usually there were missionaries other than the boat crew traveling to town as well. They went for paper work, medical work etc. The crew itself was made up of the captain who in the early days was usually my Father, plus an experienced Indian river guide and of course several young men to help load, bail and tend to the 101 details on board. Sometimes these young men would be young tribal guys and sometimes they’d be mk’s. Usually there would be one or two of each.
For several reasons the trip down river was always easier than the the trip back up. For one, you were going with instead of against the swift current. Then too the boats weren’t nearly as heavily loaded as they would be when headed back up river. Another good thing was that the trip down wasn’t usually more than three days over against four days to two weeks pushing back up.
The port in town was actually 60 kilometers from town. The mk’s would stay with the boats at the port while the captain took all the empty fuel drums by truck to get filled up in town. The responsibility of the guys staying with the boats was to guard and protect the equipment from thieves, and to keep the boats bailed. It often took two weeks for the several truck loads of supplies and fuel to be transported from town to the port. At times it would rain all night long for night after night. If one of your boats happened to be a large dugout without a roof the guys would spend hour after hour hand bailing. You’d have to bail every couple of hours all night long. As the cargo from the trucks coming from town was transferred to the boats, the boats of course settled further and further into the water. Now the guys really had to be serious about bailing. If a boat sprang an undetected leak, it could sink within a few hours. The supplies of course had to secured safely away. The fuel drums were the hardest to handle and get loaded. They often sprang leaks. Most of the smaller leaks could be stopped by vigorously rubbing and working a certain kind of soap we called “blue soap” because of it’s color, into the area of the leak. Finally the last truck load with the passengers and last minute supplies, usually the food for the trip itself, would arrive.
Now came the critical job of the final repositioning and securing of each of the boats relative to the others. If for instance there were three boats tied together the middle boat would have the biggest engine and the entire rig would be steered from there. The outside boats were secured to the middle boat by means of long poles that stretched across all three of the boats. It was absolutely necessary the boats be positioned correctly and securely held there. If while navigating through rapids and whirlpools a boat should happen to get out of position the rig would flounder, and be swept backwards into dangerous water and everything could be lost. This positioning and securing took hours of measuring the optimum distance you wanted between the boats, tying, untying, and retying till every every detail passed the critical inspection of the captain. After all he was responsible for all the cargo and most important of all, the people on board. All this meticulous preparation was put to the test within minutes of leaving port. Each of the three boats was loaded to the max,meaning you had to angle into the rapids just right, and all your positioning and tying of the boats had to have been just right. The steering cables and engines were immediately stressed to the maximum in these swift waters. Even though several rapids and much swift, dangerous water lie ahead, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief after the first hour and everything was all right.
The crew had lots of things to do as the rig pushed it’s way up river. The ropes tying the boats together had to be keep tight which meant that sometimes they had to be retied. Another way of keeping the ropes tight was to pour water on them if the sun had dried them out. If it rained a lot of course you didn’t have that problem. The fuel tanks feeding the engines ( usually at least three) had to kept full, and there was the never ending job of keeping the boats bailed; by hand. A crew member had to be within close proximity of each of the engines at all times in case of some emergency. There were long stretches of river where someone had to be constantly probing the depth of the water so the river guide would have a better feel of where the deepest channel was. This was done by plunging a long pole into the water from the prow of one of the boats. There was no end to the responsibilities of the crew. Oh and by the way there was no rest for the weary at night. Once the rig stopped for the night, ideally at a sandbar or nice flat rock each motor had to be checked over and serviced for the next days running. And all through the night the boats had to be bailed.
But I must end on a fun note. The crew didn’t spend every minute of every day working. One of the fun things we did on these long trips up river was to get into our swim trunks and hang off the poles that were holding the boats together. Especially on a hot day the water was so refreshing. The boats weren’t going super fast but you did have to hang on pretty tightly. It was imperative of course that you secured your swim suit very, very well. If you’ve ever attempted something like this you’ll understand the reason why.
There is so much to write about when it comes to boats, the river and supply trips. More will be coming.
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