Boring Facts About Old Ferryboats to Fall Asleep To

In this calm and deliberately boring episode, you'll listen to hundreds of quiet facts about old ferryboats, the simple vessels that carried people, animals, carts, and later cars back and forth across water too wide to bridge. We take a slow and unhurried look at how a ferry actually worked, from the flat decks and shallow hulls that let it load from a sloped slipway to the many ways it was moved across the water. Along the way, we cover the ferries poled or rowed by hand, the rope and chain ferries that pulled themselves along a fixed line, the clever reaction ferries that used nothing but the river's own current, the horse-powered team boats, and the great steam paddle ferries that shuttled thousands across busy harbors. We look gently at the ferrymen whose families sometimes held a crossing for generations, at the tolls and rights bought and sold like property, at the inns and pubs that grew up beside the landings, and at the way bridges slowly ended crossings that had run for hundreds of years. There are many overlooked details, including why so many ferries were built with a bow at each end, how a bell was rung to call the boat across, and why so many places still carry the word "ferry" in their names long after the boat is gone. Nothing here is dramatic, and nothing needs to be remembered. Tonight, as you listen, you can simply rest inside the thought that even the most ordinary subject contains more quiet details than anyone could ever notice at once.