anchored with its deck almost awash and covered with marsh grass or 

 reeds. When used as a skiff to "sneak up" on the ducks, it became known 

 as a sneakbox. Sometimes described as looking like a deep spoon covered 

 by a shallow spoon, larger boats of the same general design began to appear 

 in the early part of the nineteenth century. 



Authorities differ as to when the Sneakboxes began or when they first 

 acquired sail. One version states that the first boat was built on Bamegat 

 Bay, New Jersey, by Hazelton Seaman, in 1836. Despite its being called 

 the "devil's coffin," other boats followed, in many ways like forerunners of 

 the modern racing scows. While these boats were very fast under sail, 

 when not properly equipped they had a tendency to bury the bow if the 

 sail was too large or the mast was too far forward. By the late 1800s more 

 than fifty Sneakboxes had been built, and they were racing at the turn of 

 the century, some of them operating as sandbaggers on which shifted sand- 

 bags supplemented shifting people in helping the boats to carry sail. 



In the early 1900s, when J. Howard Perrine of Barnegat designed and 

 built his famous 15-foot gaff-rigged catboat, the Barnegat Bay Sneakboxes 

 came into wide use. Over three thousand were sold. No national association 

 was formed nor was there any insignia on the sails. The principal sailing 

 areas are in Barnegat Bay and in New England camps. 



viTALSTATiSTics f or the 15-foot, gaff -rigged version are : L.O. A. 15'; 

 waterline 13'; beam 5'9"; draft without centerboard 6", with C.B. down 

 5'; sail area 156 sq. ft. (no spinnaker); weight 350 lbs.; trailable. 



During i960 Allan R. Chadwick of Barnegat, a former associate of the 

 late Howard Perrine, redesigned the Sneakbox into a 14-footer with a sloop 

 rig and called the new model the 8 Ball, with that as an insignia. There are 

 also versions of the Sneakbox in a 12-foot sprit rig and in an 18-foot sloop 

 rig, as well as the 15- and 14-footers, all built by Chadwick. 



Mr. Chadwick writes : "Could you possibly incorporate in your book some- 

 thing about the durability, seaworthiness, and safety of the Sneakboxes? 

 Although we ask this as lovers of Sneakboxes, we are backed up by most of 

 the experts. There are Sneakboxes over forty and fifty years old that are 

 still being sailed. When all other boats their size have had to head for port 

 in a blow, the hardy Sneakbox is in its glory. And it is generally agreed that 

 the Sneakbox is the safest small sailboat for training youngsters." 



The 8 Ball Sneakbox class President at the time of writing is Earl Beard 

 (Beach Haven, N.J.); the Secretary-Treasurer Rev. A. David Seeland (Bar- 

 negat, N.J. ) . About thirty boats of this class have been built. 



VITAL STATISTICS for the new 14-footer: L.O. A. 14'; waterline ii'6''; 

 beam 5'io"; draft without centerboard ';^/'i' ■, with C.B. 4'; sail area 105 sq. 

 ft. (spinnaker allowed); approximate weight 275 lbs.; trailable. 



26 THE SAILBOAT CLASSES OF NORTH AMERICA 



