New England Well-Smack for 

 the fresh hahbut fishery on Georges 

 Bank, 1836-47. Longitudinal sec- 

 tion, drawn by H. Elliott under 

 the direction of Capt. J. W. Col- 

 lins. From G. Brown Goode, The 

 fisheries and fishery industries of the 

 United States, Washington, Govern- 

 ment Printing Office, 1884-87. 



Sailmaker's Plan for a fishing schooner of the clipper 

 model, built in late 1850's. From a drawing, made 

 for the U.S. Fish Commission, in the Watercraft 

 Collection. 



Sailmaker's Plan for the sharpshooter fishing 

 schooner Romp built at Essex, Massachusetts, 1847. 

 From a drawing, made for the U.S. Fish Commis- 

 sion, in the Watercraft Collection. 



pilot-boat schooners then employed in nearly all New 

 England ports. The new class of fishing schooner was 

 named by the fishermen "sharpshooter" or "file 

 bottom," to indicate the V-form of the schooner that 

 resembled a triangular file. 



The first sharpshooter appears to have been the 

 Romp, built at Esse.x, in 1847 by Andrew Story for 

 Gloucester owners. Traditionally her crew is sup- 



posed to have refused to sail in her because she was so 

 sharp but no actual record has yet been found of this. 

 The Romp was a most successful vessel and remained 

 at Gloucester for many years. She must have made a 

 great impression while building, for she was imme- 

 diately followed by a great number of similar schoon- 

 ers, and soon all classes of new schooners, Grand 

 Bankers, Georgesmen, and market boats were being 

 designed as sharpshooters, or file-bottoms. The sharp- 

 shooter attracted much attention in Canadian waters 

 and authorities complained that the new and superior 

 class of New England schooner could outsail the 

 fishery patrol vessels and that the lawless American 

 crews were driving Canadian fishermen from their 

 fishing grounds. It was reported that the sharp- 

 shooters had heavily ironed bowsprits and that their 

 captains threatened to run down Canadian fishermen; 

 the worst of the American vessels were commanded 

 by "Whitewashed Yankees" who, said the Canadian 

 report, were Nova Scotians who had become Ameri- 

 can citizens. 



Late in the 1850's, the demand for relatively shoal- 

 draft and large keel schooners, to replace the old 

 Chesapeake Bay clippers at Cape Cod, led to the 



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