Wagon Gear Needed…

For centuries, the world depended on wooden wheels to accomplish the moving of a wide variety of things.  Beyond raw materials, equipment, supplies and crops, early wagons and wagon gears also regularly carried houses, animals and even boats.  We recently received an email from the Deltaville Maritime Museum in Deltaville, Virginia.  They have a particular need and asked if we might help spread the word.  Below is a portion of the request…

“The Deltaville Maritime Museum will be putting on a re-enactment of a gunboat capture that occurred in August, 1863. Led by Col. John Taylor Wood, the capture used four boats that Wood called boarding cutters. He carried these 28' boats overland on wagons and launched them in the dead of night.”

The museum is looking for a wood-wheeled wagon gear that could be used to replicate the original gears that would have hauled these boarding cutters.  As shown in the photo below, the keel of the boat is shallow so, it would likely fit a number of early wagon gears with minimal adaptations.  Hauling capacity would need to be at least 1,800 pounds to cover the weight of the boat and crew.  They are interested in either buying or renting the gear for the reenactment event which takes place August 16-17, 2013.  In order to have time for rehearsals, they would prefer to have the gear acquired by June or July.  For more information, interested parties are invited to contact the museum curator, Ms. Raynell Smith.  Her email address is nautinell@verizon.net