Two Boats

Fred had just become the captain of a small ship which carried things from one port to another along the coast. One day he had to take the ship up a river into a small port. He knew that the river had plenty of channels, and that some of them were very shallow and dangerous, so he decided to wait until he saw a local boat going up the river and then follow it. After half an hour he saw a boat start to go up the river, so he began to follow it. He followed it through various channels until both of the boats hit sand under the water and stopped.

Then the captain of the local boat came to the side and shouted to the captain of the boat, that had followed him, «We came here to get a load of sand. What did you come to get?»

From Stories, Tales and Songs — укладач О.І.Близнюк

Questions:

1. What kind of boat was Fred the captain of?
2. Why didn't he want to go up the river alone?
3. What did he wait for?
4. Did the local boat lead him to the port?
5. Where did it lead him?
6. What had the local boat come to collect?