Figure 15. — Midbody and stern of a North Carolina sharpie schooner showing 

 planking, molding, and other details. 



shorter length. Probably it was the garvey's relative 

 unattractiveness and the fact that it was a "scow" 

 that prevented it from competing with the sharpie in 

 areas outside of New Jersey. 



The Chesapeake Bay Sharpie 



The sharpie appeared on the Chesapeake Bay in the 

 early 1870's, but she did not retain her New Haven 

 characteristics very long. Prior to her appearance on 

 the Bay, the oyster fishery there had used several boats, 

 of which the log canoe appears to have been the most 

 popular. Some fiat-bottomed skiffs had also been 

 used for tonging. There is a tradition that sometime 

 in the early 1870's a New Haven sharpie named Frolic 

 was found adrift on the Bay near Tangier Island. 

 Some copies of the Frolic were made locally, and 

 modifications were added later. This tradition is 

 supported by certain circumstantial evidence. 



Until 20 years ago Tangier Island skiff's certainly 

 resembled the sharpie above the waterline, being long, 

 rather narrow, straight-stem, round-stern, two-masted 

 craft, although their bottoms were V-shaped rather 

 than flat. The large number of boat types suitable 

 for oyster fishery on the Bay probably prevented the 

 adoption of the New Haven sharpie in a recognizable 

 form. After the Civil War, however, a large sailing 



skiff did become popular in many parts of the Chesa- 

 peake. Boats of this type had a square stern, a curved 

 stem in profile, a strong flare, a flat bottom, a sharply 

 raking transom, and a centerboard of the "dagger- 

 board" form. They were rigged with two leg-of-mut- 

 ton sails. Sprits were used instead of booms, and 

 there was sometimes a short bowsprit, carrying a jib. 

 The rudder was outboard on a skeg. These skiffs 

 ranged in length from about 18 feet to 28 feet. Those 

 in the 24- to 28-foot range were half-decked; the 

 smaller ones were entirely open. 



In the late 1880's or early 1890's the V-bottomed 

 hull became extremely popular on the Chesapeake, 

 replacing the flat-bottom almost entirely, as at Tangier 

 Island. Hence, very few flat-bottomed boats or their 

 remains survive, although a few 18-foot skiffs are still 

 in use. 



Characteristics of the large flat-bottomed Chesa- 

 peake Bay skiff are shown in figure 4. While it is 

 possible that the narrow beam of this skiff, the 

 straightness of both ends of its bottom camber, and its 

 rig show some New Haven sharpie influence, these 

 characteristics are so similar to those of the flatiron 

 skiff that it is doubtful that many of the Bay sharpies 

 had any real relation to the New Haven boats. As 

 indicated by figures 5 and 7, the Chesapeake flat- 

 bottoms constituted a distinct type of skiff. Except 



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BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



