The Migrations of an American Boat Type Part 1

The Migrations of an American Boat Type.

by Howard I. Chapelle.

_The New Haven sharpie, a flat-bottomed sailing skiff, was originally developed for oyster fis.h.i.+ng, about the middle of the last century._

_Very economical to build, easy to handle, maneuverable, fast and seaworthy, the type was soon adapted for fis.h.i.+ng along the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States and in other areas.

Later, because of its speed, the sharpie became popular for racing and yachting._

_This study of the sharpie type--its origin, development and spread--and the plans and descriptions of various regional types here presented, grew out of research to provide models for the hall of marine transportation in the Smithsonian's new Museum of History and Technology._

THE AUTHOR: _Howard I. Chapelle is curator of transportation in the U.S. National Museum, Smithsonian Inst.i.tution._

For a commercial boat to gain widespread popularity and use, it must be suited to a variety of weather and water conditions and must have some very marked economic advantages over any other boats that might be used in the same occupation. Although there were more than 200 distinct types of small sailing craft employed in North American fisheries and in along-sh.o.r.e occupations during the last 60 years of the 19th century, only rarely was one of these boat types found to be so well suited to a particular occupation that its use spread to areas at any great distance from the original locale.

Those craft that were "production-built," generally rowing boats, were sold along the coast or inland for a variety of uses, of course. The New England dory, the seine boat, the Connecticut drag boat, and the yawl were such production-built boats.

In general, flat-bottomed rowing and sailing craft were the most widely used of the North American boat types. The flat-bottomed hull appeared in two basic forms: the scow, or punt, and the "flatiron," or sharp-bowed skiff. Most scows were box-shaped with raking or curved ends in profile; punts had their sides curved fore and aft in plan and usually had curved ends in profile. The rigs on scows varied with the size of the boat. A small scow might have a one-mast or two-mast spritsail rig, or might be gaff rigged; a large scow might be sloop rigged or schooner rigged. Flatiron skiffs were sharp-bowed, usually with square, raked transom stern, and their rigs varied according to their size and to suit the occupation in which they were employed. Many were sloop rigged with gaff mainsails; others were two-mast, two-sail boats, usually with leg-of-mutton sails, although occasionally some other kind of sail was used. If a skiff had a two-mast rig, it was commonly called a "sharpie"; a sloop-rigged skiff often was known as a "flattie." Both scows and flat-bottomed skiffs existed in Colonial times, and both probably originated in Europe. Their simple design permitted construction with relatively little waste of materials and labor.

Owing to the extreme simplicity of the majority of scow types, it is usually impossible to determine whether scows used in different areas were directly related in design and construction. Occasionally, however, a definite relations.h.i.+p between scow types may be a.s.sumed because of certain marked similarities in fitting and construction details. The same occasion for doubt exists with regard to the relations.h.i.+ps of sharp-bowed skiffs of different areas, with one exception--the large, flat-bottomed sailing skiff known as the "sharpie."

The New Haven Sharpie

The sharpie was so distinctive in form, proportion, and appearance that her movements from area to area can be traced with confidence. This boat type was particularly well suited to oyster fis.h.i.+ng, and during the last four decades of the 19th century its use spread along the Atlantic coast of North America as new oyster fisheries and markets opened. The refinements that distinguished the sharpie from other flat-bottomed skiffs first appeared in some boats that were built at New Haven, Connecticut, in the late 1840's. These craft were built to be used in the then-important New Haven oyster fishery that was carried on, for the most part, by tonging in shallow water.

The claims for the "invention" of a boat type are usually without the support of contemporary testimony. In the case of the New Haven sharpie two claims were made, both of which appeared in the sporting magazine _Forest and Stream_. The first of these claims, undated, attributed the invention of the New Haven sharpie to a boat carpenter named Taylor, a native of Vermont.[1] In the January 30, 1879, issue of _Forest and Stream_ there appeared a letter from Mr. M. Goodsell stating that the boat built by Taylor, which was named _Trotter_, was not the first sharpie.[2] Mr. Goodsell claimed that he and his brother had built the first New Haven sharpie in 1848 and that, because of her speed, she had been named _Telegraph_. The Goodsell claim was never contested in _Forest and Stream_, and it is reasonable to suppose, in the circ.u.mstances, that had there been any question concerning the authenticity of this claim it would have been challenged.

[1] _Forest and Stream_, January 23, 1879, vol. 11, no. 25, p. 504.

[2] _Forest and Stream_, January 30, 1879, vol. 11, no. 26, p. 500.

No contemporary description of these early New Haven sharpies seems to be available. However, judging by records made in the 1870's, we may a.s.sume that the first boats of this type were long, rather narrow, open, flat-bottomed skiffs with a square stern and a centerboard; they were rigged with two masts and two leg-of-mutton sails. Until the appearance of the early sharpies, dugout canoes built of a single white pine log had been used at New Haven for tonging. The pine logs used for these canoes came mostly from inland Connecticut, but they were obtainable also in northern New England and New York. The canoes ranged from 28 to 35 feet in length, 15 to 20 inches in depth, and 3 feet to 3 feet 6 inches in beam. They were built to float on about 3 or 4 inches of water. The bottoms of these canoes were about 3 inches thick, giving a low center of gravity and the power to carry sail in a breeze. The canoes were rigged with one or two pole masts with leg-of-mutton sails stepped in thwarts. A single leeboard was fitted and secured to the hull with a short piece of line made fast to the centerline of the boat. With this arrangement the leeboard could be raised and lowered and also s.h.i.+fted to the lee side on each tack. This took the strain off the sides of the canoe that would have been created by the usual leeboard fitting.[3] Construction of such canoes ceased in the 1870's, but some remained in use into the present century.

The first New Haven sharpies were 28 to 30 feet long--about the same length as most of the log canoes. Although the early sharpie probably resembled the flatiron skiff in her hull shape, she was primarily a sailing boat rather than a rowing or combination rowing-sailing craft.

The New Haven sharpie's development[4] was rapid, and by 1880 her ultimate form had been taken as to shape of hull, rig, construction fittings, and size. Some changes were made afterwards, but they were in minor details, such as finish and small fittings.

[3] Henry Hall, Special Agent, 10th U.S. Census, _Report on the s.h.i.+pbuilding Industry of the United States_, Was.h.i.+ngton, 1880-1885, pp.

29-32.

[4] Howard I. Chapelle, _American Small Sailing Craft_, New York, 1951, pp. 100-133, figs. 38-48.

The New Haven sharpie was built in two sizes for the oyster fishery. One carried 75 to 100 bushels of oysters and was 26 to 28 feet in length; the other carried 150 to 175 bushels and was 35 to 36 feet in length.

The smaller sharpie was usually rigged with a single mast and sail, though some small boats were fitted for two sails. The larger boat was always fitted to carry two masts, but by s.h.i.+fting the foremast to a second step more nearly amids.h.i.+ps she could be worked with one mast and sail. The New Haven sharpie retained its original proportions. It was long, narrow, and low in freeboard and was fitted with a centerboard. In its development it became half-decked. There was enough fore-and-aft camber in the flat bottom so that, if the boat was not carrying much weight, the heel of her straight and upright stem was an inch or two above the water. The stern, usually round, was planked with vertical staving that produced a thin counter. The sheer was usually marked and well proportioned. The New Haven sharpie was a handsome and graceful craft, her straight-line sections being hidden to some extent by the flare of her sides and the longitudinal curves of her hull.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 2.--A New Haven sharpie and dugouts on the Quinnipiac River, New Haven, Connecticut, about the turn of the century.]

The structure of New Haven sharpies was strong and rather heavy, consisting of white pine plank and oak framing. The sides were commonly wide plank. Each side had two or three strakes that were pieced up at the ends to form the sheer. The sides of large sharpies were commonly 1-1/2 inches thick before finis.h.i.+ng, while those of the smaller sharpies were 1-1/4 inches thick. The sharpie's bottom was planked athwarts.h.i.+ps with planking of the same thickness as the sides and of 6 to 8 inches in width. That part of the bottom that cleared the water, at the bow and under the stern, was often made of tongue-and-groove planking, or else the seams athwarts.h.i.+p would be splined. Inside the boat there was a keelson made of three planks, in lamination, standing on edge side by side, sawn to the profile of the bottom, and running about three-fourths to seven-eighths the length of the boat. The middle one of these three planks was omitted at the centerboard case to form a slot. Afore and abaft the slot the keelson members were cross-bolted and spiked. The ends of the keelson were usually extended to the stem and to the stern by flat planks that were scarphed into the bottom of the built-up keelson.

The chines of the sharpie were of oak planks that were of about the same thickness as the side planks and 4 to 7 inches deep when finished. The chine logs were sawn to the profile of the bottom and sprung to the sweep of the sides in plan view. The side frames were mere cleats, 1-1/2 by 3 inches. In the 1880's these cleats were shaped so that the inboard face was 2 inches wide and the outboard face 3 inches wide, but later this shaping was generally omitted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 3.--Plan of typical New Haven sharpie showing design and construction characteristics.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 4.--Plan of a large Chesapeake Bay sharpie taken from remains of boat.]

At the fore end of the sharpie's centerboard case there was an edge-bolted bulkhead of solid white pine, 1-1/4 or 1-1/2 inches thick, with scuppers cut in the bottom edge. A step about halfway up in this bulkhead gave easy access to the foredeck. In the 1880's that part of the bulkhead above the step was made of vertical staving that curved athwarts.h.i.+ps, but this feature was later eliminated. In the upper portion of the bulkhead there was often a small rectangular opening for ventilation.

The decking of the sharpie was made of white pine planks 1-1/4 inches thick and 7 to 10 inches wide. The stem was a triangular-sectioned piece of oak measuring 6 by 9 inches before it was finished. The side plank ran past the forward edge of the stem and was mitered to form a sharp cut.w.a.ter. The miter was covered by a bra.s.s bar stemband to which was brazed two side plates 3/32 or 1/4 inch thick. This stemband, which was tacked to the side plank, usually measured 1/2 or 5/8 inch by 3/4 inch and it turned under the stem, running under the bottom for a foot or two. The band also pa.s.sed over a stemhead and ran to the deck, having been shaped over the head of the stem by heating and molding over a pattern.

The sharpie's stern was composed of two horizontal oak frames, one at chine and one at sheer; each was about 1-1/2 inches thick. The outer faces of these frames were beveled. The planking around the stern on these frames was vertical staving that had been tapered, hollowed, and shaped to fit the flare of the stern. This vertical staving was usually 1-3/4 inches thick before it was finished. The raw edges of the deck plank were covered by a false wale 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and 3 or 4 inches deep, and by an oak guard strip that was half-oval in section and tapered toward the ends. Vertical staving was used to carry the wale around the stern. The guard around the stern was usually of stemmed oak.

The c.o.c.kpit ran from the bulkhead at the centerboard case to within 4 or 5 feet of the stern, where there was a light joiner bulkhead. A low coaming was fitted around the c.o.c.kpit and a finger rail ran along the sides of the deck. The boat had a small square hatch in the foredeck and two mast holes, one at the stem and one at the forward bulkhead. A tie rod, 3/8 inch in diameter, pa.s.sed through the hull athwarts.h.i.+ps, just forward of the forward bulkhead; the ends of the tie rod were "up-set"

or headed over clench rings on the outside of the wale. The hull was usually painted white or gray, and the interior color usually buff or gray.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 5.--Chesapeake Bay sharpie with daggerboard, about 1885. (Photo courtesy Wirth Munroe.)]

The two working masts of a 35-to 36-foot sharpie were made of spruce or white pine and had a diameter of 4-1/2 to 5 inches at deck and 1-1/2 inches at head. Their sail hoists were 28 to 30 feet, and the sail spread was about 65 yards. Instead of booms, sprits were used; these were set up at the heels with tackles to the masts. In most sharpies the sails were hoisted to a single-sheave block at the mast heads and were fitted with wood or metal mast hoops. Because of the use of the sprit and heel tackle, the conventional method of reefing was not possible.

The reef bands of the sails were parallel to the masts, and reefing was accomplished by lowering a sail and tying the reef points while rehoisting. The mast revolved in tacking in order to prevent binding of the sprit under the tension of the heel tackle. The tenon at the foot of the mast was round, and to the shoulder of the tenon a bra.s.s ring was nailed or screwed. Another bra.s.s ring was fastened around the mast step.

These rings acted as bearings on which the mast could revolve.

Because there was no standing rigging and the masts revolved, the sheets could be let go when the boat was running downwind, so that the sails would swing forward. In this way the power of the rig could be reduced without the bother of reefing or furling. Sometimes, when the wind was light, tonging was performed while the boat drifted slowly downwind with sails fluttering. The tonger, standing on the side deck or on the stern, could tong or "nip" oysters from a thin bed without having to pole or row the sharpie.

The unstayed masts of the sharpie were flexible and in heavy weather spilled some wind, relieving the heeling moment of the sails to some degree. In summer the 35-to 36-foot boats carried both masts, but in winter, or in squally weather, it was usual to leave the mainmast ash.o.r.e and step the foremast in the hole just forward of the bulkhead at the centerboard case, thereby balancing the rig in relation to the centerboard. New Haven sharpies usually had excellent balance, and tongers could sail them into a slip, drop the board so that it touched bottom, and, using the large rudders, bring the boats into the wind by spinning them almost within their length. This could be done because there was no skeg. When sharpies had skegs, as they did in some localities, they were not so sensitive as the New Haven boats. If a sharpie had a skeg, it was possible to use one sail without s.h.i.+fting the mast, but at a great sacrifice in general maneuverability.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 6.--North Carolina sharpie with one reef in moderate gale, about 1885. (Photo courtesy Wirth Munroe.)]

Kunhardt[5] writing in the mid-1880's, described the New Haven sharpie as being 33 to 35 feet long, about 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet wide on the bottom, and with a depth of about 36 inches at stem, 24 inches amids.h.i.+ps, and 12 inches at stern. The flare increased rapidly from the bow toward amids.h.i.+ps, where it became 3-1/2 inches for every 12 inches of depth. The increase of flare was more gradual toward the stern, where the flare was equal to about 4 inches to the foot. According to Kunhardt, a 35-foot sharpie hull weighed 2,000 to 2,500 pounds and carried about 5 short tons in cargo.

[5] C. P. Kunhardt, _Small Yachts: Their Design and Construction, Exemplified by the Ruling Types of Modern Practice_, New York, 1886 (rev. ed., 1891, pp. 287-298).

The sharpie usually had its round stern carried out quite thin. If the stern was square, the transom was set at a rake of not less than 45.

Although it cost about $15 more than the transom stern, the round stern was favored because tonging from it was easier; also, when the boat was tacked, the round stern did not foul the main sheet and was also less likely to s.h.i.+p a sea than was the square stern. Kunhardt remarks that sharpies lay quiet when anch.o.r.ed by the stern, making the ground tackle easier to handle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 7.--Plan of a Chesapeake Bay terrapin smack based on sketches and dimensions given by C. P. Kunhardt in _Small Yachts: Their Design and Construction, Exemplified by the Ruling Types of Modern Practice_, New York, 1886.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 8.--Plan of North Carolina sharpie schooner taken from remains of boat.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 9.--Plan of North Carolina sharpie of the 1880's.]

The cost of the New Haven sharpie was very low. Hall stated that in 1880-1882 oyster sharpies could be built for as little as $200, and that large sharpies, 40 feet long, cost less than $400.[6] In 1886 a sharpie with a capacity for 150 to 175 bushels of oysters cost about $250, including spars and sails.[7] In 1880 it was not uncommon to see nearly 200 sharpies longside the wharves at Fairhaven, Connecticut, at nightfall.

[6] Hall, _op. cit._ (footnote 3), pp. 30, 32.

[7] Kunhardt, _op. cit._ (footnote 5), pp. 225, 295.