Modern Sharpie Development 



The story of the New Haven sharpie presents an 

 interesting case in the history of the development of 

 small commercial boats in America. As has been 

 shown, the New Haven sharpie took only about 40 

 years to reach a very efficient stage of development 

 as a fishing sailboat. It was economical to build, 

 well suited to its work, a fast sailer, and attractive in 

 appearance. 



When sailing vessels ceased to be used by the fishing 

 industry, the sharpie was almost forgotten, but some 

 slight evidence of its influence on construction re- 

 mains. For instance, transverse tie rods are used in 



the large Chesapeake Bay "skipjacks," and Chesa- 

 peak motorboats still have round, vertically staved 

 sterns, as do the "Hatteras boats" used on the Caro- 

 lina Sounds. But the sharpie hull form has now 

 almost completely disappeared in both areas, except 

 in a few surviving flat-bottomed sailing skiffs. 



Recently the flat-bottomed hull has come into use 

 in small, outboard-powered commercial fishing skiffs, 

 but, unfortunately, these boats usually are modeled 

 after the primitive flatiron skiff and are short in length. 



The New Haven sharpie proved that a long, narrow 

 hull is most efficient in a flat-bottomed boat, but no 

 utilization has yet been made of its design as the basis 

 for the design of a modern fishing launch. 



U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1961 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

 Washington 25, D.C. Price 25 cents 



