

CENTERBOARD FISHING SCHOONER, about 1846 

 Builder's Half-Model, usnm 76098 



C. Chase 



The shoal-draft ccnterboard fishing schooner C. 

 Chase \vas buill from this half-model at Baltimore. 

 Maryland, about 1846 by William Skinner & Sons 

 for Wellfleet, Massachusetts, owners but does not 

 appear to have been registered in the Barnstable 

 district. It represents a type much favored in the 

 Chesapeake oyster fishery. In the decade 1845-55 

 New England fishermen who were seeking faster vessels 

 obtained a considerable number of Chesapeake Bay 

 built schooners, particularly for the oyster business 

 at Wellfleet. These were employed in the summer 

 in the mackerel fishery and in the winter to transport 

 oysters from the Chesapeake to Cape Cod. Some 

 were shoal-draft keel vessels of the pungy type, others 

 were centerboarders like the C. Chase, but all had 

 sharp lines and were designed for speed. The Chesa- 

 peake schooners proved fast in light and moderate 

 weather and were liked in the rnackerel fishery, but in 

 blowing weather they were wet and uncomfortable. 

 Eventually they were replaced by New England built 

 schooners, but the centerboard type shown in the 

 C. Chase was employed in the Cape Cod and Long 

 Island Sound oyster fisheries as long as schooners 

 were used there. 



The model shows a schooner having very slight dead 

 rise and a rather marked liilge, shallow-bodied and 

 low-sided. The entrance is rather sharp and short; 

 the run is very long and fine; the raking stem is fitted 

 with a short heavy head; the transom is in two parts, 

 both curved athwartships, the upper one curved 

 the most; and the stern is wide. The scale of the 

 half-model is )i inch to the foot producing a vessel 



Chesapeake Bay Centerboard Fishing Schooner 

 C. Chase, built at Baltimore, Maryland, about 1846, for 

 Cape Cod owners. Lines taken oflF builders' half- 

 model USNM 76098. 



60 feet 7 inches i)etween perpendiculars. 19 feet 2 

 inches moulded i^eam, about 5 feet depth of hold, 

 and about 5 feet 6 inches draft. 



The Chesapeake schooners of this date usually had 

 an open rail to the quarterdeck, supported by turned 

 stanchions. Their centerboards, and the mast as 

 well, were usually off" the center line of the hull to 

 bring the board far enough aft to give proper balance 

 to the rig used. They carried large sail areas and 

 lofty masts. At about the time this schooner was 

 built, the longhead began to replace the "naval 

 head" in the Chesapeake. 



Given by William Skinner & Sons, shipbuilders, 

 Baltimore, Maryland. 



FISHING SCHOONER, 1848 

 Builder's Half-Model, usnm 76293 



David R. Proctor 



The codfishing schooner David R. Prnctor was built 

 from this model at Lamoine (now Trenton) Maine, 

 by Louis King in 1848, for the Labrador fishery, in 

 which she was employed for a numi^er of years. She 

 was a typical Banker of her period, though slightly 

 smaller than the average Massachusetts-built Banks 

 schooner. X'essels of this type were employed in the 

 Labrador codfishery until it was given up by the 

 Americans. 



The model is of a burdensome fishing schooner hav- 

 ing moderate sheer, straight keel with some drag, 

 curved and raking stem rabbet, slightly raking post, 



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189 



