Volunteering at Waterford

Boat

After doing some blogs, we departed to Waterford which is 30 minutes away from troy. In our way there, it started pouring. I thought our plans were going to get canceled because of the rain. That never happened. Professor Michael kept driving and soon we arrived to our destination. We arrived at a dock which was near the lock 2 of the Erie Canal. Once we got there, our mission was to help cleaning the boat in the picture above. Before starting, one of the men in the boat gave us some history. This kind of boat is called an on rust Dutch boat. Sometimes they are referred to as a yat. The word yat is a Dutch word which means to hunt. The shape of the boats made them faster than any other kind of boats. This is why the Dutch shipping industry became very famous during the 17 century. Other countries would buy boats from the Dutch in order to have a faster voyage. The boats were not only fast but they also could float in very low levels of water. As low as 5 inches of water. I was very impressed by this fact. Due to the size of the boat, you would think that it would require a very high level of water to be able to navigate. This was not the case. In addition, the size and shape of the boat also allowed the Dutch to navigate through very narrow stream. This kind of boat seems to be a kind of modernization during the 17 century.

Professors Toby and Michael

The boat that we were able to clean was made by 250 volunteering people. I can imagine all these people working together. It must have been very exciting. When we got inside, we were able to see the details of the boat more closely. In the bottom, the cabinets assembled the one that actual Dutch ships had. The bottom seemed so big to me that they could have a party of 100 people.  After our tour throughout the boat, we started working. Kassaina and I helped the professors for a while. After that, we swept. And finally, we oiled the floor.

Delicious Waffle

Even though it looked like it was about to rain again, it did not rain. We were able to finish our work. We were given delicious waffles after we were done. Keri was losing her mind due to the deliciousness of the waffles.