316 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



sleeping and cooking were more commodious, if not yet 

 luxurious. " x 



After a few years of depression in the mackerel fishery, 

 ending with the year 1845, the business became prosperous 

 again and there arose a demand for larger and swifter 

 schooners. In 1847 an attempt was made to produce a 

 clipper schooner at Essex when the schooner Romp was 

 built. This vessel had easier lines than her predecessors, 

 her stern was narrower, and she was provided with a 

 longer head. In her day the Romp was regarded as a 

 very sharp craft; but measured by present day standards 

 the new type represented merely a natural step towards 

 the models of the present time. 



For a decade after the appearance of the Romp there 

 was a revolution in the building of schooners of this class. 

 Rivalry was keen among the fishermen to procure models 

 of schooners that would be both seaworthy and speedy. 

 The tendency at the time was to build them on the "cod's 

 head and mackerel tail" principle. The clipper schooner 

 as evolved at the time had leaner bodies and sharper lines 

 under water; their bows were longer and cleaner, with 

 a long pointed cut-water; the angle of entrance forward 

 was reduced from the old style of 85 to an angle of 45 ; the 

 spars were lengthened; the schooners were rather straight 

 on top, they had little draught forward, with a greater 

 draught aft. The hull was painted green under the water 

 and black above, with one or two white stripes. Most 

 schooners had gilded figure-heads forward, and carved and 

 gilded moldings on the trail-boards along the sides. 2 



From 1860 to 1885 changes were made in the clipper 

 schooners but they were undesirable or unimportant modi- 

 fications in most cases. The schooners were constructed 

 longer and wider, with little change made in their depth. 



1 Collins, pp. 341-342. 



2 Hall, Report on the Ship-building Industry of the U. S., p. 22. 



