THE MIGRATIONS OF
AN AMERICAN
BOAT TYPE

by Howard I. Chapelle

FIGURE 1.--Scale model of a New Haven sharpie of 1885, complete with tongs. (_USNM 318023; Smithsonian photo 47033-C._)

The New Haven sharpie, a flat-bottomed sailing skiff, was
originally developed for oyster fishing, about the middle of the
last century.
Very economical to build, easy to handle, maneuverable, fast and
seaworthy, the type was soon adapted for fishing 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 Institution.

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-shore 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 relationship between scow types may be assumed because of certain marked similarities in fitting and construction details. The same occasion for doubt exists with regard to the relationships 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 fishing, 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 circumstances, that had there been any question concerning the authenticity of this claim it would have been challenged.

No contemporary description of these early New Haven sharpies seems to be available. However, judging by records made in the 1870's, we may assume 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 shifted 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