boatage/ˈbəʊtɪd͡ʒ/EtymologyFrom boat + -age (suffix forming nouns denoting an action, process, or result; a charge, fee, or toll; or a sense of appurtenance or collection).nounConveyance, 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 Llanwrst, which in a short time will eclipse the old Chester road.”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.”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.”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.”