Charleston River & Coastal Traffic

Coasters and river traffic

The Brown's Ferry Boat - flat bottom boat, 50 ft long (oars and bermuda rig?)

Periagua:  (wiki)  The original periaguas or piraguas were the dugout canoes encountered by the Spanish in the Caribbean. Small craft of greater capacity were created by splitting a dugout and inserting a plank bottom, while the freeboard was increased for sea voyages by adding planks on the sides. 

By the 18th century the term "periagua" was being applied to flat-bottomed boats, which could be 30 feet (10 m) or more long and carry up to 30 men, with one or two masts, which could also be rowed. Later in the 18th century "periagua" became the name for a specific type of sailing rig, with gaff rigged sails on two masts that could be easily struck, commonly with the foremast raked forward and the main mast raked back. The "periagua rig" was used on U. S. Navygunboats on Chesapeake Bay in the early 19th century. The term "periagua" was also applied to rowing scows similar to a john boat.^[1]
Periaguas were used in fishing and coastal and inter-island commerce. 

Early in the 18th century periaguas were used by pirates around the Bahamas, Cuba and Hispaniola. Periaguas could be rowed against the wind, useful for approaching potential victims or escaping from pursuers.

In the UK -  Barges were the fastest means of water transport between business centres and residences and were the limousines of the lower Thames in the 17th and 18th century. An eight-oared Shallop could cover the 35 miles from Hampton Court to Greenwich in approximately four hours. During the Golden Age of oared craft, from the thirteenth century to the late nineteenth century, all rich families and official organisations, such as the Navy Board and the City merchants, possesed a Shallop.