The skipjack is shown witli ihc typical lonahcacl. 

 hcadrails, and trails. The single mast is stepped well 

 Ibi'ward and has much rake. Risj is typical and in- 

 cludes a single larg;e jil) and a lesj-ot-mutton mainsail 

 laced to a long boom. Model shows this skipjack as 

 taken off and does not show the usual deck plan of an 

 ovster dredge skipjack of tiiis size. The deck arrange- 

 ment shown is heel bitts right forward, iron jib horse, 

 mast, low trunk cabin, main hatch, and after hatch. 



Scale of model is 's inch to the foot; the Price was 

 40 feet 6 inches over the log rail, 14 feet 3 inches beam, 

 and drew 2 feet at post and 1 foot 5 inches at stem 

 with centerboard raised. Her mainmast stood 56 

 feet 9 inches above the deck, the boom was 41 feet 3 

 inches long, and the bowsprit extended 14 feet 9 

 inches outboard of the stem rabbet at deck. 



Made and given by William E. Lee. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY SKIPJACK, 1903 

 Builder's Half-Model, usnm 312329 



Lillie G. Spicer 



The Chesapeake Bay skipjack, or "bateau." LilUc 

 G. Spicer was built from this model at Taylor's Island. 

 Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1903 by Joseph T. 

 Spicer for the oyster fishery. This model of sloop, 

 which became popular on the Chesapeake about 1890, 

 was an adaption of the skipjack model that appears to 

 have come into use on Long Island Sound about 1860. 

 The skipjack or "V-bottom." or "diamond bottom," 

 or "corner boat" was a framed hull ha\ing sections 

 made up of straight lines with the bottom V-form and 

 usually planked fore-and-aft. The C'hesapeake build- 

 ers, however, adapted the skiff or sharpie construction 

 and planked the bottom athwartships; to obtain the 

 necessarv twist in the bottom plank thev put it on so 

 that the seams raked aft on each side of the keel. This 

 form of bottom plank, locally known as "herring- 

 bone," is now used in Chesapeake Bay V-bottom 

 motorboats. 



The rig of the Chesapeake skipjacks was usually a 

 large jib-headed mainsail and a single large jib 

 hanked to a stay set up on a bowsprit. The mast 

 raked sharply aft and the bowsprit was hogged down 

 outboard. These sloops had the long head of the 

 bugeye and most of them, like the Spicer, had the 

 rudder "outdoors," hung on the stcrnpost outside the 

 transom. The oyster dredge skipjacks ranged in 

 Custom House measurement from about 35 feet to 60 

 feet on deck. A few were rigged like bugeyes, with 

 two masts. 



The half-model shows a V-bottom hull, wide and 

 shoal, having a wide square stern raking slightly and 

 the stem rabbet straight and also with a slight rake. 

 The kerl raljbct cambers fore-and-aft (the model 

 shows the skcg); the keel was thus straight and had 

 some drag. The entrance is rather long and sharp 

 and the run somewhat short and full; the dead rise of 

 the bottom is moderate and the sides flare out above 

 the chine, or angular bilge. The sheer is moderate 

 and the freeboard low. 



These very shoal-draft craft had a long centerboard; 

 the Spicer' s was 1 3 feet 6 inches. This sloop had a 

 trunk cabin forward, just abaft the mast, and a large 

 cargo hatch amidships with a sip.all standing-room 

 hatch for the helmsman. In recent times skipjacks 

 often ha\e an after trunk in place of the old standing- 

 room hatch. 



Scale of the half-model is 1 inch to the fool; the 

 Spicer was 40 feet 4 inches on deck, 1 5 feel 3 inches 

 moulded beam, and 34 inches moulded depth (regis- 

 ter dimensions 38.2 feet .x 15.0 feet .x 2.7 feel). A 

 rigged model of a skipjack is in the \\atercraft Col- 

 lection (usnm 312828, on p. 275). 



Gi\en by James K. Spicer, Taylor's Island, Dor- 

 chester Covmty, Maryland. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY 'CRAB SCRAPER," 1915 

 Rigged Model, usnm 316629 



Jesse Willard 



Model is of a small skipjack, or "bateau." of a type 

 once used on the Eastern .Shore of Maryland in the 

 Chesapeake Bay crab fishery, in summer. These 

 lioats were also used in \vintertime oyster longing, in 

 some localities. The boats ranged in size from 24 to 

 30 feet on deck and. as a class, they were smart 

 sailers. The sailing crabber and oyster longer went 

 out of fashion after the 1 '514-18 war. being replaced 

 by launches. 



The model represents a boat built at Dames 

 Quarters, near Deal Island, Maryland, in 1915, 

 named the Jesse Jl'illard in honor of the boxing 

 champion of the world at that time. The Ji'illard 

 was a typical boat of her class in rig, form, and size. 

 These boats were V-botlomed, of the form known as 

 "skipjack" to yachtsmen but called "bateau" on the 

 Eastern Shore. The Willard was abandoned at 

 Cambridge, Maryland, about 1950, after being 

 converted to a motor lioat. 



The model shows the Willard as a bateau having a 

 strong sheer, a straight keel line formed by a skeg. 



276 



