The regular New England coasting trade, after 

 1825, was carried on to a very great extent by 2- 

 mastcd fore-and-aft rigged schooners 50 to 75 feet 

 long, having short, high quarterdecks with bulwarks 

 or turned-stanchion rails. Some of the vessels had a 

 strong resemblance to the old Marblehead schooner, 

 but these were usually much less sharp. 



The Chesapeake Bay coastal traders were Baltimore 

 clippers, often of the modified model and commonly 

 with flush decks and a low trunk cabin aft. These 

 vessels as a rule had a small galley house just abaft the 

 foremast; the crew wa s housed in the trunk cabin and 

 in a short forecastle right forward, below the main- 

 deck. Before 1850 coasters on the Baltimore clipper 

 model were rarely over 80 feet and were commonly 

 topsail schooners, in the West Indian coastal trade. 

 Brigantines were rarely over 100 feet in length. 



At an early period after the War of 1812, probably 

 in 1815-25, the centerl^oard was introduced into the 

 Chesapeake Bay schooner. Some of the early center- 

 board schooners were fitted with two boards, one 

 forward and one abaft the mainmast, but by 1830 the 

 single centerboard had come into use. In the Bay 

 schooners this was often placed alongside the main- 

 mast and off center so that the board passed through 

 the garboard rather than through the keel. In such 

 schooners the mainmast might also be ofT center, on 

 the opposite side from the centerboard. By 1850 the 

 standard Chesapeake Bay centerboard schooner hull 

 had a straight keel, rather upright and flaring stem 

 rabbet, upright post, round tuck, upper-and-lower- 

 transom square stern, moderate sheer, flush deck, a 

 short but usually sharp convex entrance, and a rather 

 long, fine run. The midsection had a slightly rising 

 straight floor, a low, full round bilge, and some 

 tumble-home in the topsides. A short, heavy head 

 complete with headrails and trails was used until 

 about 1850, when the local fashion turned to the long 

 and projecting cutwater that, exaggerated in time, 

 came to mark all Chesapeake schooners and bugeyes. 



A local type of Chesapeake Bay schooner, mentioned 

 earlier (p. 25), that was employed in the Bay coasting 

 trade and occasionally in the trade to the Bahamas, 

 was the "pungy," the last survivor of the Baltimore 

 clipper model in the cargo-carrying class of schooners. 

 Known at first as an inexpensive example of the true 

 Baltimore clipper, it was commonly flush-decked and 

 usually with stanchion-and-cap rails aft but with a low 

 log rail forward. The draft was rather deep, the ends 

 quite sharp, and there was a good deal of rise in the 

 floor amidships. But by 1850, at least, the most 



common pungy model was closely related to that of 

 the Norfolk, or Virginia, pilot-boat schooner in that 

 there was only moderate rise of floor amidships (the 

 hull being relatively shallow), a low round bilge, 

 and sharply flaring topside. The pungy was a very 

 fast sailer, particularly in light and moderate winds, 

 but was wet in blowing weather. Some of the pungies 

 were employed in the sea fisheries for a short period 

 in the 1840's and early 1850's, as well as in the fruit 

 trade. 



When the clipper ship became popular in the 1850's 

 coasters soon showed the clipper-ship influence and 

 many fine vessels were built of good model and well 

 finished; for by this time the coasting trades were all 

 very profitable and most owners could afford such 

 refinements. The old round tuck stern, with its wide 

 upper-and-lowcr transoms, went slowly out of 

 fashion all along the coast; it was replaced, first by a 

 flat and sharply raking transom with round tuck, 

 then by a short counter with a raking transom 

 curved athwartships and, in New England, elliptical 

 in shape. Round fantail counters became popular in 

 the 1850's in some areas. New York and Boston in 

 particular. 



In the last half of the 1 9th century the New England 

 coasting schooner reached its maximum develop- 

 ment and, from Maine to Connecticut, schooners 

 were being built that had good capacity, construction, 

 and sailing qualities combined with good looks. 

 There were basically two models of the 2-master in 

 New England in this period; one was the true schooner 

 hull in which the depth of hull was not very great 

 and the entrance and run were rather short, sharp, 

 and well formed. In some trades another model 

 was developed in large coasters; it resembled that of a 

 square-rigged down-Easter, having great depth of 

 hull and the run formed with marked reverse curves 

 in the buttocks. In model such schooners were really 

 in some instances medium clippers. The New Eng- 

 land coaster of two masts then carried a fore-and-aft 

 rig with two headsails (jumbo and jib) fisherman 

 fashion, fore and main gaff-topsails in summer, and 

 only a topsail in winter. Square sails were very rarely 

 employed in the.se vessels after the Civil War. Two- 

 masters of from 100 to 135 feet on deck were built 

 during that period, but were found very expensive 

 to operate, as they required large crews. By 1885 

 some had been fitted with a donkey engine and boiler 

 used not only to raise the anchor but also to hoist 

 sails. However, by then the gradual loss of the 

 package trade to steamers required coasting schooners 



40 



