The coble has an exceedingly deep bow, which grips the water to a depth of some three feet, and which resembles in contour the breastbone of a grebe or northern diver.  This great curve is rimmed with iron.  But from the bend the lines slope upward, until at the stern the boat is quite flat-bottomed and only about three feet in depth.  She is poised so that while her bow draws three feet of water her stern will float in one or two inches; and she will come so near the shore that one can climb over her stern nearly dryshod.  In smooth water she may be rowed about very easily and safely; but it would be impossible to carry sail on a craft of which really only one-half of the keel is submerged:  she would capsize instantly in a very light wind.  This difficulty is cleverly met.  As soon as the coble is put under sail her great rudder is fixed; and this rudder, which is very broad, goes under water to a depth of three feet or so.  When the wind is on the beam the rudder acts exactly like a centre-board:  if it breaks, nothing can save the coble; but so long as it holds the vessel will lie well over and sail with amazing swiftness.  Years upon years of apprenticeship are needed before a man can manage one of these crank boats; in fact, the fishermen’s proverb says, “You must be born in a coble if you want to learn anything about her.”

The race of men who work in the cobles have good chances of becoming skilful, for they begin very early.  When the fisher-boy has passed the merest infancy his steps tend to the water-side as naturally as though he were a young sea-bird.  He carries the water-bottles down to the boats in the afternoon, and sees his father and the other men hauling off out of the shallow cove.  The evening comes down, and he watches the race northward until the last brown sail has passed around the point.  In the morning he is ready for the boats as they come home, and he can distinguish each craft exactly, although an outsider would be able to see not a whit of difference.  He sees the fish carted, and then goes home with the stolid heavy-footed men.  All the morning, while the fishermen are sleeping, the fisher-lad is busy helping the women to bait lines or spread nets, according to the season.  He goes in an amateur way to school, but he is the wildest and most gipsy-like of scholars.  His thoughts have suffered a sea change, and he takes badly to books and slates.  A studious fisherman is hardly to be found, and it is only within the last twenty years that the accomplishment of reading has become known in the smaller villages.  Since the Government school system spread, many little places have been established; but what can a poor schoolmaster do with a pupil who is wanted nearly every morning to gather bait on the rocks, and who must see the trouting boats off on the summer afternoons?  The fisher-boy always goes barefooted.  Big sea-boots suit him when he grows up, but the shabby compromise of shoes or “bluchers” is totally unacceptable