[Illustration: WHALER GIG FOR THE NILE.]
As soon as the authorities had finally made up their minds to send a
flotilla of boats to Cairo for the relief of Khartoum, not a moment was
lost in issuing orders to the different shipbuilding contractors for the
completion, with the utmost dispatch, of the 400 "whaler-gigs" for service
on the Nile. They are light-looking boats, built of white pine, and weigh
each about 920 lb., that is without the gear, and are supposed to carry
four tons of provisions, ammunition, and camp appliances, the food being
sufficient for 100 days. The crew will number twelve men, soldiers and
sailors, the former rowing, while the latter (two) will attend the helm.
Each boat will be fitted with two lug sails, which can be worked reefed, so
as to permit an awning to be fitted underneath for protection to the men
from the sun. As is well known, the wind blows for two or three months
alternately up and down the Nile, and the authorities expect the flotilla
will have the advantage of a fair wind astern for four or five days at the
least. On approaching the Cataracts, the boats will be transported on
wooden rollers over the sand to the next level for relaunching.
* * * * *