 Buster Keaton (qv)s technical effects man,  Fred Gabourie (I) (qv), constructed two boats for the filming. One  was designed to sink, for the famous launching scene; the other was  a fully working boat for the rest of the filming. Unfortunately, the  boat that was designed to sink refused to do so; even when loaded  with scrap iron, the bottom simply fell out of it and the shell  bobbed on the surface. Conversely, the boat which was intended to  float also refused to fulfill its obligations, constantly taking on  water and threatening to sink. Gabourie finally solved the problem  of the boats by attaching the launching scene boat to steel cables  holding it to tracks below the water line, thus forcing it  underwater; the second boat only floated by virtue of a crew manning  hand pumps, concealed in the hull.