boatage

Noun

boatage (countable and uncountable, plural boatages)

1. (uncountable) Conveyance, chiefly of goods, by boat.
   • At the verge of the town we had the misert of embarking on board another ferry-boat, the danger and destruction of horses; […] for they are oblig'd to leap out of, and into, deep water. […] This bad boatage, over a stream one mile broad is one of the causes of a new London road being open'd thro...1784 July 15 (date written), John Byng, “A Tour to North Wales, 1784”, in C. Bruyn Copper, editor, The Torrington Diaries: Containing the Tours through England and Wales of the Hon. John Byng (later...
2. (uncountable) A charge for transporting goods or people by boat; (countable) an instance of this.
   • Droict de Rivage. Shorage, or Boatage; the Cuſtome, or Toll for vvine, or other vvares, put vpon, or brought from, the vvater, by boats.1611, Randle Cotgrave, compiler, “Droict de Rivage”, in A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, signature [Ee v], verso, column 1
   • Passengers by Steam on the Quarter Deck, and in the Best Cabin, Boatages to and from the Vessel included.1826, “Voyage Round the Island. [Hire of Vessels, &c.]”, in The Beauties of the Isle of Wight; […], Portsea, Hampshire: […] S. & S. Horsey; sold also by Longman & Co. […], →OCLC, table heading, page...

   Synonyms:

   fraught, shippage

3. (uncountable) The total capacity of a number of boats, especially of lifeboats on a ship.
   • The Titanic’s boatage and flotation equipment were also well above minimum requirements. She carried 3,560 life belts; 48 life buoys; 14 30-foot lifeboats; 2 emergency cutters; and 4 Englehardt collapsible rafts.1995, George W. Hilton, “Prologue”, in Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 3
4. (obsolete, uncountable) Boats collectively.
   • For the Tovvn of Perith in Cumberland, he [William Strickland] cut a paſſage vvith great Art, Induſtry, and Expence, from the Tovvn into the river Petterill for the conveiance of Boatage into the Iriſh ſea.a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Westmerland”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC...