and sternsheets. The centerboard is slightly forward 

 of midlength. The model does not have the usual 

 skeg, the run being formed with a planked deadwood 

 not commonly found in this type. The mast is stepped 

 in the third thwart, at the fore end of the center- 

 board case, and rigged with a loose-footed sprit- 

 mainsail; the jib is tacked to the stemhead; there is 

 a pole topmast, with much of it overlapping the 

 mainmast, and a jib-headed boom topsail is sheeted 

 independently of the mainsail. 



Scale of the model is 1 inch to the foot, for a boat 

 24 feet long, 7 feet 3 inches beam, and about 2 feet 

 3 inches depth, mainmast 14 feet 6 inches above 

 thwart, sprit 20 feet 6 inches long, and topmast 21 

 feet 9 inches total length and standing 13 feet 11 

 inches above masthead. The boat is fitted to row two 

 oars to a side; six sandbags are shown as ballast. 

 Made and given by U.S. Fish Commission, 1893. 



Restored by Merritt Edson, Jr., 1958. 



SHARPIE, about 1890 

 Rigged Model, usnm 76249 



The sharpie, a flat-bottom sailing boat with the 

 bottom planked athwartships, was employed widely 

 in the American coastal fisheries during the last half 

 of the 19th century. The boat type, developed some- 

 time before 1849, first rose to prominence at New 

 Haven, Connecticut, and by 1876 the "New Haven 

 sharpie" had become a standardized model and rig 

 built in two basic sizes. One, between 24 and 28 

 feet overall, carried about 75 to 100 bushels of oysters, 

 and was rigged with one or two masts and leg-of- 

 mutton sails; the other, between 34 and 36 feet, 

 carried 150 to 175 bushels. The New Haven sharpie 

 was low sided and rather narrow; the beam on the 

 bottom was one-sixth to one-fifth the length; the 

 beam of a 35-foot boat was about 6 feet at chines, 7 

 feet 2 inches at rail; that of a 28-foot boat was 4 feet 6 

 inches to 4 feet 9 inches at chine and about 6 feet 

 beam at rail. The stem was straight and upright, 

 the stern was either round (with a vertically staved 

 fantail) or finished in a flat and much raked transom. 

 The sheer was strong and the rocker of the bottom 

 was such that the heel of the stem was brought just 

 clear of the water. The bottom was flat athwart- 

 ships and the sides straight and cjuitc flaring. A 

 large centerboard was fitted; its length was almost 

 one-third that of the boat, and the sharpies were 

 half-decked, with a large o\al cockpit. The masts 

 could be shifted so that the boat could be sailed with 

 various combinations of sail. The rig was simple 



nnd efficient; the sails were loose-footed and spread 

 by a sprit boom whose heel was set up by a mast 

 tackle to give flat sails on the wind. 



From this parent type many variations of sharpie 

 were developed as the type was introduced into new 

 localities. In general, the variations were in the di- 

 rection of increased size, particularly in beam, to 

 give greater capacity for a given length. The sharpie 

 was introduced on Lake Champlain and on the 

 Great Lakes, on the North Carolina Sounds, and, 

 by 1885, on the Florida coast. It was also adapted 

 to yachting in the years between 1857 and 1885. 



The model represents a small sharpie of the type 

 developed first on the North Carolina sounds. This 

 was a close copy of the New Haven type except for 

 a marked increase in the beam. The first New Haven 

 sharpie was brought to the Carolina Sounds in 1875 

 and was a 34-foot boat. Soon the sharpie was being 

 built there in lengths up to 45 feet and by 1890 the 

 rig had become that of a gaff-schooner. In Florida 

 the type was first a yacht, but commercial sharpies 

 were soon being built with some modifications in 

 rig, and as schooners up to about 60 feet of length. 

 Generally speaking, the sharpies had the reputation 

 of being inexpensive and swift, as well as of carrying 

 heavy loads on light draft. This model is of an oyster 

 sharpie of Newbern, North Carolina, built about 

 1889. 



The model shows a flat-bottom, skiff-like hull 

 having a large centerboard, two masts and two Icg- 



Sh.\rpie Schooner 28-32 feet long, a type once pop- 

 ular in the Middle and South Adanuc Coast fisheries. 

 Drawing b)' Kunhardt, from Forest and Stream, 1885. 



282 



