The "Gabare" was the only means of transport by which the chalky sand from the Baie des Veys, the quicklime from Liesville or the cattle and horses of the region could be conveyed through the 25000 hectares of marshland.
These "Gabares" were small flat boats about 10 to 20 metres long either powered by a sail attached to a mast (which could be lowered) at the front or else by a towrope which was pulled by the ship's lad or a horse. When this wasn't possible the skipper used a "fourquet", a pole which was thrust onto the riverbed to propel the boat along. The average speed was therefore not much more than 4km an hour. At the end of the 19th century there were about 200 of these boats.
We can trace the use of "Gabares" back to the 14th century as there is evidence of a transport of casks of wine from Carentan to the feudal lord of Néhou. In order to understand how useful these "Gabares" were we need only bear in mind that a horsedrawn cart could carry a maximum of one or two tons of merchandise while a boat of this type could take twenty. The "Gabare" disappeared from the marshes around 1930.
A "Gabare" has recently been reconstructed in the marshlands of Pont-L'abbé and the local choir has adopted as its name this almost forgotten word.
