The Neiv Haven sharpie, a flat-bottomed sailing skiff, ivas 

 originally developed for oyster fishing, about the middle of the last 

 century. 



Very economical to build, easy to handle, maneuver able, fast 

 and seaivorthy, the type tvas soon adapted for fishing along the 

 eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States and in other 

 areas, hater, because of its speed, the sharpie became popular for 

 racing and yachting. 



This study of the sharpie type — its origin, development and 

 spread — and the plans and descriptions of various regional types 

 here presented, grew out of research to provide tnodels for the hall 

 of marine transportation in the Smithsonian s neiv M.useum of 

 History and Technology. 



The Author: Hoivard I. Chapelle is curator of transportation 

 in the U.S. National Museum, Smithsonian Institution. 



7 OR A COMMERCIAL BOAT TO GAIN widespread 

 popularity and use, it must be suited to a 

 variety of weather and water conditions and 

 must have some very marked economic advantages 

 over any other boats that might be used in the same 

 occupation. Although there were more than 200 

 distinct types of small sailing craft employed in North 

 American fisheries and in along-shore occupations 

 during the last 60 years of the 1 9th century, only rarely 

 was one of these boat types found to be so well suited 

 to a particular occupation that its use spread to areas 

 at any great distance from the original locale. 



Those craft that were "production-built," generally 

 rowing boats, were sold along the coast or inland for a 

 variety of uses, of course. The New England dory, 

 the seine boat, the Connecticut drag boat, and the 

 yawl were such production-built boats. 



In general, flat-bottomed rowing and sailing craft 

 were the most widely used of the North American 

 boat types. The flat-bottomed hull appeared in two 

 basic forms: the scow, or punt, and the "flatiron," or 

 sharp-bowed skiff. Most scows were box-shaped with 

 raking or curved ends in profile; punts had their sides 

 curved fore and aft in plan and usually had curved 

 ends in profile. The rigs on scows varied with the size 

 of the boat. A small scow might have a one-mast or 



two-mast spritsail rig, or might be gaff rigged; a large 

 scow might be sloop rigged or schooner rigged. Flat- 

 iron skiffs were sharp-bowed, usually with square, 

 raked transom stern, and their rigs varied according to 

 their size and to suit the occupation in which they were 

 employed. Many were sloop rigged with gaff main- 

 sails; others were two-mast, two-sail boats, usually 

 with leg-of-mutton sails, although occasionally some 

 other kind of sail was used. If a skiff had a two-mast 

 rig, it was commonly called a "sharpie"; a sloop-rigged 

 skiff often was known as a "flattie." Both scows and 

 flat-bottomed skiffs existed in Colonial times, and both 

 probably originated in Europe. Their simple design 

 permitted construction with relatively little waste of 

 materials and labor. 



Owing to the extreme simplicity of the majority of 

 scow types, it is usually impossible to determine wheth- 

 er scows used in different areas were directly related in 

 design and construction. Occasionally, however, a 

 definite relationship between scow types may be as- 

 sumed because of certain marked similarities in fitting 

 and construction details. The same occasion for doubt 

 exists with regard to the relationships of sharp-bowed 

 skiffs of different areas, with one exception — the large, 

 flat-bottomed sailing skiff known as the "sharpie.' 



PAPER 25: THE MIGRATIONS OF AN AMERICAN BOAT TYPE 



135 



