The native boats on Lake Doiran were used for conveying lying-down patients across the lake from Doiran village to the railway station, during the withdrawal from Serbia in December 1915.
The boats were built of broad planks coated with pitch. They were flat-bottomed, sharp at both ends, and were about 18 ft. long by 3 ft. wide at the middle, and the sides came together somewhat, narrowing to about 2 ft. across the gunwhales at the widest part. One man rowed from the front of the boat with a pair of oars and a wooden outrigger. Each boat just held one stretcher and an attendant in addition to the native boatman.
The shores of the lake shelved very gently and were pebbly, and the bows of the boat could thus be drawn up on the shore and the patient carried on the stretcher and placed in the bottom of the boat with great ease. The journey across the lake took nearly an hour, and stretcher bearers met the boats and carried the patients to the railway station.
This method of bringing lying down cases was exceedingly comfortable, and saved a journey of nearly three miles over a bad road.
Excerpt from: Medical services; general history
by Macpherson, William Grant, (Sir) 1858-; Mitchell, Thomas John, 1882-
Published 1921
Publisher London H.M. Stationery Off
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