Unlike the newer boats the Mather had telescoping hatches, which created much more work for the deck crew than the newer iron decks. Because the covers were not watertight the telescoping hatches had to be tarped in the rougher seasons, and that was backbreaking work. From the first of September until the thirty-first of May the captain would order the hatches tarped everytime they were closed because of rough weather and the increased likelihood of water washing over the decks and getting into the hatches. Grain cargoes were always double tarped.
The hatches were opened and closed by means of a cable run through a couple of blocks from an old steam-powered winch. The old winches would clang and clatter, sputter and spit, as if they were in their death throes, as they pulled the tops open and closed them up again. The hatch covers were in five sections, known as leaves, on each half. Each leaf, weighing approximately 300 to 400 pounds, would be slid back from the center of the hatch, stacking at the ends.
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