Chebacco Boat, Pinky, and Schooner 

 Smack 



In the years after the Revohition, many of the 

 fishermen in Massachusetts were unable to replace 

 the large fishing schooners lost during the war. 

 At the same time, the coastal fisheries became very 

 active. The resulting demand for small craft, led to 

 an improvement in the old shallop, or 2-masted boat. 

 This improvement appears to have originated at 

 Esse.x, Massachusetts, then called the Chebacco 

 Parish of Ipswich. It is probable that the improve- 

 ment was largely a mere increase in size and some 

 refinement in model and rig, but the resulting craft 

 were found to be very efficient fishing boats and the 

 type soon became the "Chebacco boat," in the 

 fishermen's vernacular. Tradition supposes the Che- 

 bacco boat was "invented" at Essex and goes so far 

 as to claim that the first one was built in an attic of 

 one of the houses in the village, quite a feat considering 

 the size of a Chebacco boat and of the Essex houses. 

 The Chebacco was built in two basic models — 

 one was referred to as a Chebacco, or "Jeljacco," boat, 

 and was pink-sterned, the other was called the 

 "Chebacco dogljody," or just "dogbody," and was 

 square-sterned. The rig was 2-masted, schooner 

 fashion but with the foremast in the eyes of the hull; 

 there was no bowsprit, no headsail and no topsails. 

 The boats were decked, the smaller craft under 40 

 feet length had "standing rooms," or cockpits, in 

 which fishermen stood when fishing and the helmsman 

 also had a "steering room"; the boats above 40 feet 

 were usually decked and were without these "rooms." 

 Commonly the square-sterned dogbody was smaller 

 than the contemporary pink-stern Chebacco; the 

 square stern gaxe equal deck room in less length. 

 At the end of the 18th century the Chebacco boats 

 rarely exceeded 23 tons register and most were be- 

 tween 36 and 38 feet length, 11 and 12 feet beam, 5 

 and 5)2 feet depth. By 1810 the average boat was still 

 under 30 tons register; 39 to 42 feet on deck, 11)^ to 

 12)^ feet beam, and 5)^ to 6 feet depth in hold. Dur- 

 ing the War of 1812 some large Chebaccos were built, 

 up to 45 feet length and 13 feet beam, of about 35 

 tons. The small boats had low rails; the large boats 

 had bulwarks. The Chebacco was often a fast-sailing 

 boat and very seaworthy. As a result, boats of this 

 type are known to have made \oyages to the West 

 Indies and fishing trips to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 The type was at its height of popularity in the decade 

 1800-10. 



The Chebacco boats were marked by a curved stem 

 profile, raking post, drag to the keel, and usually a 

 marked sheer. Often the low bulwarks or chock rails 

 were cut short of the stem; the latter stood high and 

 could be employed as a mooring bitt. The masts were 

 usually raked and the sails were rather .square-headed. 

 The boats usually had a raised cuddy-deck forward, 

 but the rail line might be flush at sheer in spite of 

 this; in the small boats the rail stopped at the break 

 of the cuddy-deck and the fore rail was a low log 

 rail, or bow chock-rail, carried almost to the stem. 



Sm.^ll Cheb.acco Bo.\t, 1790-95, a type much used in 

 the Massachusetts inshore fisheries from 1785 to 1815. 

 1 his old and somewhat crude rigged model (USNM 

 39198), of indeterminate scale, shows the basic fea- 

 tures of a small boat of the type. {Smithsonian photo 



In their home ports the Chebacco boats employed 

 a mooring made of a large block of granite, of 3 

 or 4 tons weight, having a hole in its center about 

 8 inches in diameter; in this a white oak timber was 

 set and secured at the butt, below the granite block, 

 with a fid. Over the head of this oak timber, which 

 was about 14 to 18 feet long, to stand 3 or 4 feet above 

 high tide, was placed a short timber, 18 to 24 inches 

 long, in which was a hole large enough to fit loosely 

 over the top of the long timber; it was held in place 

 h\ a fid through the head of the long piece. This 

 short Ijlock, or "craij," could revolve on the upright 

 oak piece. A piece of well-tarred cable, aijout two 

 inches in diameter, was made fast to one end of the 



164 



