Figure 12. — North Carolina sharpie schooner converted to yacht, 1937. 



Kunhardt mentions the extraordinary sailing speed 

 of some sharpies, as does certain correspondence in 

 Forest and Stream. A large sharpie was reported to 

 have run 11 nautical miles in 34 minutes, and a big 

 sharpie schooner is said to have averaged 16 knots 

 in 3 consecutive hours of sailing. Tonging sharpies 

 with racing rigs were said to have sailed in smooth 



water at speeds of 15 and 16 knots. Although such 

 reports may be exaggerations, there is no doubt that 

 sharpies of the New Haven type were among the 

 fastest of American sailing fishing boats. 



Sharpie builders in New Haven very early developed 

 a "production" method. In the initial stages of 

 building, the hull was upside down. First, the sides 



Figure 13. — Bow of North Carolina sharpie schooner showing head rigging. 

 146 BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



