A flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with [notes 1][1] square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways. The flatboat could be any size, but essentially it is large, sturdy tub with a hull.
A flatboat is almost always a one-way vessel, and is usually dismantled for lumber when it reaches its downstream destination.[notes 2]
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- ↑ Nancy Jordan Blackmore (2009). "Flatboat History". Big Bone Lick Historical Society, Janes Saddlebag. Archived from the original on September 19, 2011.
NOTE: "(parenthesized)" wordings are notes added to clarify
There were a variety of specialized flatboats (eventually developed) to ship cargo to world markets. Some (later, meaning after steam boats became common) flatboats were built with raked bows to be used on return trips alongside steamboats, serving as 'fuel flats', first hauling wood, then coal. These flatboats with raked bows evolved into coal boats. (Later,) Coal boats were tied together in fleets to be pushed by steamboats. Those coal boats evolved into the steel barges of today (plying the coal fields of the Ohio River watershed).