New England Shore Fishery Scene, 1862. A keel 

 New England 2-niasted lobster boat is in the fore- 

 ground. Dories and a spritsail rigged skiff are on 

 the beach. {Smithionian photo ^^ycjo-j.) 



keel with skeg, a curved raking stem, a raking flat and 

 heart-shaped transom, sharp entrance, easy run, and 

 strong sheer. The beam is great and is carried \\ell 

 aft; the gunwale is full at bow to give flaring forward 

 sections. The midsection is formed with a rising 

 straight floor, rather slack bilge, and flaring topside. 

 There is a good deal of wood outside the keel rabbet. 



The rudder is hung outboard and fitted with a steer- 

 ing yoke; the model has fi\e thwarts and stern sheets. 

 Square tholes are shown. Boats of this type were usu- 

 ally fitted to sail as well as to row; the usual rig was a 

 loose-footed spritsail, but other rigs were employed, 

 particularly the boomed gaff-sail. 



Scale of model is 2 inches to the foot, for a boar 20 

 feet on the gimwales. 6 feet beam, and 2 feet 6 inches 

 rabbet to gun\vale. The model is of a large yawl, 

 the range of length being from 16 to 22 feet; 18 feet 

 was a common length on fishing schooners. 



Given by Cragin & Sheldon, boatljuilders, Boston, 

 Massachusetts. 



BOSTON FISHING CUTTER, 1890 

 Rigged Model, usnm 57131 



This model of an improved Irish fishing cutter such 

 as was used at Boston, Massachusetts, from 1857 to 

 about 1906, represents a more finished design than 

 most of the Irish cutters but shows the general features 

 of their design. This type of sailing fishing boat, in- 

 troduced at Boston in 1857 by Patrick Gannon, a 

 boatbuilder from County Galway in Ireland who had 

 settled at Boston, was the old Galway hooker, a cutter 

 having a good turn of speed. The Boston boats were 

 variously called 'Trish boats," "Boston hookers," and 

 ■"dundavoes." As the years passed, the Irish boat 

 changed in details from the old Galway hooker, de- 

 veloping a sharper entrance, a straighter and more 

 upright stem, and an improved rig. The Boston 

 boats were often swift sailers, seaworthy and weatherly, 

 though sometimes roughly built and finished. 



A cuddy deck forward is entered through a com- 

 panionway. Abaft the break, these boats were open, 

 with the after end partitioned off with pen-boards to 

 form a steering well there, with a large fish pen amid- 

 ships. The stone or iron ballast was floored over in 

 the open part of the l)oat, and the fish pen was often 



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