and a depth in the hold of Sjj to 6 feet 6 inches. The 

 smaller Chebaccos had low ijulwarks, but the large 

 jjoats had bulwarks like the pinky and were usually 

 rather burdensome compared to the early craft. 

 The small iioats had hatches, or "standing rooms," 

 in which the helmsman and fishermen stood while 

 working, but the 40-foot boats were often completely 

 decked and without such structures. As a general 

 rule the square-sterned dogbody Chebacco was 

 smaller than the pink-sterned boats, as the square 

 stern gave the same deck area in a smaller ijcat. 

 The dogbody was apparently replaced by small 

 schooners in the first decade of the 19th century, at 

 least at Gloucester, but the pink-sterned boats were 

 built for some years after 1800 in Massachusetts and 

 much later than the War of 1812 in Maine and in 

 the Maritime Provinces. 



A pink-sterned Chebacco named Lion was built at 

 Ipswich (Essex), Massachusetts, in 1804. She was 37 

 feet 9 inches between perpendiculars, 1 1 feet 2 inches 

 beam, 5 feet 10 inches depth of hold, and 22^J^5 tons. 



The sizes of the two models, based on boats built 

 in 1804 and recorded in the customhouse records, are 

 compared thus: Liberty, Chebacco boat 41 feet be- 

 tween perpendiculars, 11 feet 10 inches beam, 5 feet 

 11 inches depth of hold. Aleil, dogbody, 38 feet 3 

 inches between perpendiculars, 1 1 feet beam, and 5 

 feet 11 inches depth of hold. Chebacco boats were 

 employed in a few instances as privateers in the War 

 of 1812 and the Royal Navy carried one on the Navy 

 List at Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a fisheries patrol ves- 

 sel or guard as late as 1815. 



The model is crude in workmanship and not to 

 scale, but indicates clearly the general arrangement 

 and form of a pink-stern Chebacco of the late 1790's. 

 Stuch' of the model and comparison of measurements 

 and proportions indicate that it represented a boat of 

 about 38 feet on deck, 11 feet 4 inches beam, and 5 

 feet 6 inches depth in the hold, using specific custom- 

 house measurements as guides. Such a Chebacco 

 would draw about 5 feet 8 inches at post and 3 feet 6 

 inches forward. A scale of % inch to the foot applied 

 to the model would produce dimensions of 32, 9U, 

 and 4)^ feet, respectively, too small for the type of deck 

 fittings shown in the model. 



Using this model and others as guides, and the cus- 

 tomhouse records as references, the Chebacco boat 

 may accurately be described as follows: The entrance 

 was sharp but quite short, the run was long and often 

 well formed with after sections taking a marked Y- 

 shape. The extreme forward sections were almost 



V-shaped. The stem was slightly curved and raked, 

 and the sternpost raked sharply. The boats had rather 

 long, straight sides at deck, fore-and-aft, and the keel 

 was straight, with marked drag. The sheer was strong 

 and graceful. The midsection showed a rising straight 

 floor, a rather high and hard bilge, and a nearly up- 

 right or slightly flaring topsides. The last-built Che- 

 baccos, launched during or just before the War of 

 1812 had \ery sharp lines, a marked rise in the floor, 

 and a rather easy bilge; the stem was rounded in pro- 

 file so that the forefoot was somewhat cut away; one 

 such boat was described as "like a pilot-boat schooner" 

 by her British captor. 



The model shows a standing-room boat with low 

 bulwarks and the raised deck forward, the "cuddy 

 deck," brought to the level of the bulwarks. A bow- 

 chock rail is fitted to the raised deck. The stem head 

 stands high ai:)ove the deck; it is chamfered and fitted 

 with a pin to serve as a mooring bitt. The foremast 

 stands right in the eyes, and in the model there is just 

 barely room for a small handspike windlass between 

 stem and foremast; other models show the windlass 

 abaft the foremast. At the break in the raised deck, 

 scaling about 5 feet abaft the foremast, is a com- 

 panionway hatch and a wooden chimney. On a full- 

 size boat the chimney would have been bricked or 

 plastered inside, and under the cuddy deck would be 

 found a brick fireplace and berths for the crew (two 

 men and a boy for a boat of this size) . .\baft the break 

 and on the maindeck is a standing-room hatch scaling 

 8 feet wide athwartships and 2% feet long fore-and-aft. 

 Right abaft this is a fish hatch scaling 2)4 feet long and 

 4 feet wide. The foreboom crotch and mainmast are 

 next abaft and then another standing room and fish 

 hatch like the first. Abaft these is a wooden pump 

 and at the stern a small helmsman's standing room 

 scaling 2'2 feet long and about 5 feet wide. In the 

 pink stern is the wooden mainsheet horse and there is 

 no seat of ease abaft it in this model, though there is 

 in other models. The boat is steered with a tiller that 

 passes under the mainsheet horse. 



The sail plan consists of two gaflf-sails only, the main- 

 sail somewhat larger in area than the foresail. No 

 topsail, staysail, or jib are fitted. The sails were fitted 

 with booms as a rule though some Chebaccos had 

 "lug," or loose-footed, overlapping foresails. It is not 

 known when it became practice to lace the sails to 

 their booms i)ut this was done soon after the War of 

 1812, at any rate, in the Chebaccos. 



A 40-foot boat would have a foremast standing 

 about 28 feet above deck and a mainmast standing 



180 



