The sharpie was so distinctive in form, proportion, and appearance that
her movements from area to area can be traced with confidence. This boat
type was particularly well suited to oyster fishing, and during the last
four decades of the 19th century its use spread along the Atlantic coast
of North America as new oyster fisheries and markets opened. The
refinements that distinguished the sharpie from other flat-bottomed
skiffs first appeared in some boats that were built at New Haven,
Connecticut, in the late 1840's. These craft were built to be used in
the then-important New Haven oyster fishery that was carried on, for the
most part, by tonging in shallow water.
The claims for the "invention" of a boat type are usually without the
support of contemporary testimony. In the case of the New Haven sharpie
two claims were made, both of which appeared in the sporting magazine
_Forest and Stream_. The first of these claims, undated, attributed the
invention of the New Haven sharpie to a boat carpenter named Taylor, a
native of Vermont.[1] In the January 30, 1879, issue of _Forest and
Stream_ there appeared a letter from Mr. M. Goodsell stating that the
boat built by Taylor, which was named _Trotter_, was not the first
sharpie.[2] Mr. Goodsell claimed that he and his brother had built the
first New Haven sharpie in 1848 and that, because of her speed, she had
been named _Telegraph_. The Goodsell claim was never contested in
_Forest and Stream_, and it is reasonable to suppose, in the
circumstances, that had there been any question concerning the
authenticity of this claim it would have been challenged.
[1] _Forest and Stream_, January 23, 1879, vol. 11, no. 25, p. 504.
[2] _Forest and Stream_, January 30, 1879, vol. 11, no. 26, p. 500.
No contemporary description of these early New Haven sharpies seems to
be available. However, judging by records made in the 1870's, we may
assume that the first boats of this type were long, rather narrow, open,
flat-bottomed skiffs with a square stern and a centerboard; they were
rigged with two masts and two leg-of-mutton sails. Until the appearance
of the early sharpies, dugout canoes built of a single white pine log
had been used at New Haven for tonging. The pine logs used for these
canoes came mostly from inland Connecticut, but they were obtainable
also in northern New England and New York. The canoes ranged from 28 to
35 feet in length, 15 to 20 inches in depth, and 3 feet to 3 feet 6
inches in beam. They were built to float on about 3 or 4 inches of
water. The bottoms of these canoes were about 3 inches thick, giving a
low center of gravity and the power to carry sail in a breeze. The
canoes were rigged with one or two pole masts with leg-of-mutton sails
stepped in thwarts. A single leeboard was fitted and secured to the hull
with a short piece of line made fast to the centerline of the boat. With
this arrangement the leeboard could be raised and lowered and also
shifted to the lee side on each tack. This took the strain off the sides
of the canoe that would have been created by the usual leeboard
fitting.[3] Construction of such canoes ceased in the 1870's, but some
remained in use into the present century.
The first New Haven sharpies were 28 to 30 feet long--about the same
length as most of the log canoes. Although the early sharpie probably
resembled the flatiron skiff in her hull shape, she was primarily a
sailing boat rather than a rowing or combination rowing-sailing craft.
The New Haven sharpie's development[4] was rapid, and by 1880 her
ultimate form had been taken as to shape of hull, rig, construction
fittings, and size. Some changes were made afterwards, but they were in
minor details, such as finish and small fittings.
[3] Henry Hall, Special Agent, 10th U.S. Census, _Report on the
Shipbuilding Industry of the United States_, Washington, 1880-1885, pp.
29-32.
[4] Howard I. Chapelle, _American Small Sailing Craft_, New York, 1951,
pp. 100-133, figs. 38-48.
The New Haven sharpie was built in two sizes for the oyster fishery. One
carried 75 to 100 bushels of oysters and was 26 to 28 feet in length;
the other carried 150 to 175 bushels and was 35 to 36 feet in length.
The smaller sharpie was usually rigged with a single mast and sail,
though some small boats were fitted for two sails. The larger boat was
always fitted to carry two masts, but by shifting the foremast to a
second step more nearly amidships she could be worked with one mast and
sail. The New Haven sharpie retained its original proportions. It was
long, narrow, and low in freeboard and was fitted with a centerboard. In
its development it became half-decked. There was enough fore-and-aft
camber in the flat bottom so that, if the boat was not carrying much
weight, the heel of her straight and upright stem was an inch or two
above the water. The stern, usually round, was planked with vertical
staving that produced a thin counter. The sheer was usually marked and
well proportioned. The New Haven sharpie was a handsome and graceful
craft, her straight-line sections being hidden to some extent by the
flare of her sides and the longitudinal curves of her hull.
[Illustration: FIGURE 2.--A New Haven sharpie and dugouts on the
Quinnipiac River, New Haven, Connecticut, about the turn of the
century.]
The structure of New Haven sharpies was strong and rather heavy,
consisting of white pine plank and oak framing. The sides were commonly
wide plank. Each side had two or three strakes that were pieced up at
the ends to form the sheer. The sides of large sharpies were commonly
1-1/2 inches thick before finishing, while those of the smaller sharpies
were 1-1/4 inches thick. The sharpie's bottom was planked athwartships
with planking of the same thickness as the sides and of 6 to 8 inches in
width. That part of the bottom that cleared the water, at the bow and
under the stern, was often made of tongue-and-groove planking, or else
the seams athwartship would be splined. Inside the boat there was a
keelson made of three planks, in lamination, standing on edge side by
side, sawn to the profile of the bottom, and running about three-fourths
to seven-eighths the length of the boat. The middle one of these three
planks was omitted at the centerboard case to form a slot. Afore and
abaft the slot the keelson members were cross-bolted and spiked. The
ends of the keelson were usually extended to the stem and to the stern
by flat planks that were scarphed into the bottom of the built-up
keelson.
The chines of the sharpie were of oak planks that were of about the same
thickness as the side planks and 4 to 7 inches deep when finished. The
chine logs were sawn to the profile of the bottom and sprung to the
sweep of the sides in plan view. The side frames were mere cleats, 1-1/2
by 3 inches. In the 1880's these cleats were shaped so that the inboard
face was 2 inches wide and the outboard face 3 inches wide, but later
this shaping was generally omitted.
[Illustration: FIGURE 3.--Plan of typical New Haven sharpie showing
design and construction characteristics.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 4.--Plan of a large Chesapeake Bay sharpie taken
from remains of boat.]
At the fore end of the sharpie's centerboard case there was an
edge-bolted bulkhead of solid white pine, 1-1/4 or 1-1/2 inches thick,
with scuppers cut in the bottom edge. A step about halfway up in this
bulkhead gave easy access to the foredeck. In the 1880's that part of
the bulkhead above the step was made of vertical staving that curved
athwartships, but this feature was later eliminated. In the upper
portion of the bulkhead there was often a small rectangular opening for
ventilation.
The decking of the sharpie was made of white pine planks 1-1/4 inches
thick and 7 to 10 inches wide. The stem was a triangular-sectioned piece
of oak measuring 6 by 9 inches before it was finished. The side plank
ran past the forward edge of the stem and was mitered to form a sharp
cutwater. The miter was covered by a brass bar stemband to which was
brazed two side plates 3/32 or 1/4 inch thick. This stemband, which was
tacked to the side plank, usually measured 1/2 or 5/8 inch by 3/4 inch
and it turned under the stem, running under the bottom for a foot or
two. The band also passed over a stemhead and ran to the deck, having
been shaped over the head of the stem by heating and molding over a
pattern.
The sharpie's stern was composed of two horizontal oak frames, one at
chine and one at sheer; each was about 1-1/2 inches thick. The outer
faces of these frames were beveled. The planking around the stern on
these frames was vertical staving that had been tapered, hollowed, and
shaped to fit the flare of the stern. This vertical staving was usually
1-3/4 inches thick before it was finished. The raw edges of the deck
plank were covered by a false wale 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and 3 or 4
inches deep, and by an oak guard strip that was half-oval in section and
tapered toward the ends. Vertical staving was used to carry the wale
around the stern. The guard around the stern was usually of stemmed oak.
The cockpit ran from the bulkhead at the centerboard case to within 4 or
5 feet of the stern, where there was a light joiner bulkhead. A low
coaming was fitted around the cockpit and a finger rail ran along the
sides of the deck. The boat had a small square hatch in the foredeck and
two mast holes, one at the stem and one at the forward bulkhead. A tie
rod, 3/8 inch in diameter, passed through the hull athwartships, just
forward of the forward bulkhead; the ends of the tie rod were "up-set"
or headed over clench rings on the outside of the wale. The hull was
usually painted white or gray, and the interior color usually buff or
gray.
[Illustration: FIGURE 5.--Chesapeake Bay sharpie with daggerboard, about
1885. (Photo courtesy Wirth Munroe.)]
The two working masts of a 35-to 36-foot sharpie were made of spruce or
white pine and had a diameter of 4-1/2 to 5 inches at deck and 1-1/2
inches at head. Their sail hoists were 28 to 30 feet, and the sail
spread was about 65 yards. Instead of booms, sprits were used; these
were set up at the heels with tackles to the masts. In most sharpies the
sails were hoisted to a single-sheave block at the mast heads and were
fitted with wood or metal mast hoops. Because of the use of the sprit
and heel tackle, the conventional method of reefing was not possible.
The reef bands of the sails were parallel to the masts, and reefing was
accomplished by lowering a sail and tying the reef points while
rehoisting. The mast revolved in tacking in order to prevent binding of
the sprit under the tension of the heel tackle. The tenon at the foot of
the mast was round, and to the shoulder of the tenon a brass ring was
nailed or screwed. Another brass ring was fastened around the mast step.
These rings acted as bearings on which the mast could revolve.
Because there was no standing rigging and the masts revolved, the sheets
could be let go when the boat was running downwind, so that the sails
would swing forward. In this way the power of the rig could be reduced
without the bother of reefing or furling. Sometimes, when the wind was
light, tonging was performed while the boat drifted slowly downwind with
sails fluttering. The tonger, standing on the side deck or on the stern,
could tong or "nip" oysters from a thin bed without having to pole or
row the sharpie.
The unstayed masts of the sharpie were flexible and in heavy weather
spilled some wind, relieving the heeling moment of the sails to some
degree. In summer the 35-to 36-foot boats carried both masts, but in
winter, or in squally weather, it was usual to leave the mainmast ashore
and step the foremast in the hole just forward of the bulkhead at the
centerboard case, thereby balancing the rig in relation to the
centerboard. New Haven sharpies usually had excellent balance, and
tongers could sail them into a slip, drop the board so that it touched
bottom, and, using the large rudders, bring the boats into the wind by
spinning them almost within their length. This could be done because
there was no skeg. When sharpies had skegs, as they did in some
localities, they were not so sensitive as the New Haven boats. If a
sharpie had a skeg, it was possible to use one sail without shifting the
mast, but at a great sacrifice in general maneuverability.
[Illustration: FIGURE 6.--North Carolina sharpie with one reef in
moderate gale, about 1885. (Photo courtesy Wirth Munroe.)]
Kunhardt[5] writing in the mid-1880's, described the New Haven sharpie
as being 33 to 35 feet long, about 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet wide on the
bottom, and with a depth of about 36 inches at stem, 24 inches
amidships, and 12 inches at stern. The flare increased rapidly from the
bow toward amidships, where it became 3-1/2 inches for every 12 inches
of depth. The increase of flare was more gradual toward the stern, where
the flare was equal to about 4 inches to the foot. According to
Kunhardt, a 35-foot sharpie hull weighed 2,000 to 2,500 pounds and
carried about 5 short tons in cargo.
[5] C. P. Kunhardt, _Small Yachts: Their Design and Construction,
Exemplified by the Ruling Types of Modern Practice_, New York, 1886
(rev. ed., 1891, pp. 287-298).
The sharpie usually had its round stern carried out quite thin. If the
stern was square, the transom was set at a rake of not less than 45 deg..
Although it cost about $15 more than the transom stern, the round stern
was favored because tonging from it was easier; also, when the boat was
tacked, the round stern did not foul the main sheet and was also less
likely to ship a sea than was the square stern. Kunhardt remarks that
sharpies lay quiet when anchored by the stern, making the ground tackle
easier to handle.
[Illustration: FIGURE 7.--Plan of a Chesapeake Bay terrapin smack based
on sketches and dimensions given by C. P. Kunhardt in _Small Yachts:
Their Design and Construction, Exemplified by the Ruling Types of Modern
Practice_, New York, 1886.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 8.--Plan of North Carolina sharpie schooner taken
from remains of boat.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 9.--Plan of North Carolina sharpie of the
1880's.]
The cost of the New Haven sharpie was very low. Hall stated that in
1880-1882 oyster sharpies could be built for as little as $200, and that
large sharpies, 40 feet long, cost less than $400.[6] In 1886 a sharpie
with a capacity for 150 to 175 bushels of oysters cost about $250,
including spars and sails.[7] In 1880 it was not uncommon to see nearly
200 sharpies longside the wharves at Fairhaven, Connecticut, at
nightfall.
[6] Hall, _op. cit._ (footnote 3), pp. 30, 32.
[7] Kunhardt, _op. cit._ (footnote 5), pp. 225, 295.
The speed of the oyster sharpies attracted attention in the 1870's, and
in the next decade many yachts were built on sharpie lines, being rigged
either as standard sharpies or as sloops, schooners, or yawls.
Oyster tonging sharpies were raced, and often a sharpie of this type was
built especially for racing. One example of a racing sharpie had the
following dimensions:
Length: 35'
Width on deck: 8'
Flare, to 1' of depth: 4'
Width of stern: 4-1/2'
Depth of stern: 10"
Depth at bow: 36"
Sheer: 14"
Centerboard: 11'
Width of washboards or sidedecks: 12"
Length of rudder: 6'
Depth of rudder: 1'2"
Height of foremast: 45'
Diameter of foremast: 6"
Head of foremast: 1-1/2"
Height of mainmast: 40'
Diameter of mainmast: 5-1/2"
Head of mainmast: 1-1/2"
The sharpie with the above dimensions was decked-over 10 feet foreward
and 4 feet aft. She carried a 17-foot plank bowsprit, to the ends of
which were fitted vertical clubs 8 to 10 feet long. When racing, this
sharpie carried a 75-yard foresail, a 60-yard mainsail, a 30-yard jib, a
40-yard squaresail, and a 45-yard main staysail; two 16-foot planks were
run out to windward and 11 members of the 12-man crew sat on them to
hold the boat from capsizing.
[Illustration: FIGURE 10.--North Carolina sharpie under sail.]
Figure 3 shows a plan of a sharpie built at the highest point in the
development of this type boat. This plan makes evident the very distinct
character of the sharpie in model, proportion, arrangement,
construction, and rig.[8] The sharpie represented by the plan is
somewhat narrower and has more flare in the sides than indicated by the
dimensions given by Kunhardt. The boatmen at New Haven were convinced
that a narrow sharpie was faster than a wide one, and some preferred
strongly flaring sides, though others thought the upright-sided sharpie
was faster. These boatmen also believed that the shape of the bottom
camber fore and aft was important, that the heel of the stem should not
be immersed, and that the bottom should run aft in a straight line to
about the fore end of the centerboard case and then fair in a long sweep
into the run, which straightened out before it passed the after end of
the waterline. Some racing sharpies had deeper sterns than tonging
boats, a feature that produced a faster boat by reducing the amount of
bottom camber.
[8] Full-scale examples of sharpies may be seen at the Mariners' Museum,
Newport News, Virginia, and at the Mystic Marine Museum, Mystic,
Connecticut.
The use of the sharpie began to spread to other areas almost immediately
after its appearance at New Haven. As early as 1855 sharpies of the
100-bushel class were being built on Long Island across the Sound from
New Haven and Bridgeport, and by 1857 there were two-masted, 150-bushel
sharpies in lower New York Harbor. Sloop-rigged sharpies 24 to 28 feet
long and retaining the characteristics of the New Haven sharpies in
construction and most of its basic design features, but with some
increase in proportionate beam, were extensively used in the small
oyster fisheries west of New Haven. There were also a few sloop-type
sharpies in the eastern Sound. In some areas this modification of the
sharpie eventually developed its own characteristics and became known as
the "flattie," a type that was popular on the north shore of Long
Island, on the Chesapeake Bay, and in Florida at Key West and Tampa.
[Illustration: FIGURE 11.--North Carolina sharpie schooner hauled up for
painting.]
The sharpie's rapid spread in use can be accounted for by its low cost,
light draft, speed, handiness under sail, graceful appearance, and
rather astonishing seaworthiness. Since oyster tonging was never carried
on in heavy weather, it was by chance rather than intent that the
seaworthiness of this New Haven tonging boat was discovered. There is a
case on record in which a tonging sharpie rescued the crew of a coasting
schooner at Branford, Connecticut, during a severe gale, after other
boats had proved unable to approach the wreck.
However, efforts to improve on the sharpie resulted in the construction
of boats that had neither the beauty nor the other advantages of the
original type. This was particularly true of sharpies built as yachts
with large cabins and heavy rigs. Because the stability of the sharpie's
shoal hull was limited, the added weight of high, long cabin trunks and
attendant furniture reduced the boat's safety potential. Windage of the
topside structures necessary on sharpie yachts also affected speed,
particularly in sailing to windward. Hence, there was an immediate trend
toward the addition of deadrise in the bottom of the yachts, a feature
that sufficiently increased displacement and draft so that the
superstructure and rig could be better carried. Because of its large
cabin, the sharpie yacht when under sail was generally less workable
than the fishing sharpie. Although it was harmful to the sailing of the
boat, many of the sharpie yachts had markedly increased beam. The first
sharpie yacht of any size was the _Lucky_, a half-model of which is in
the Model Room of the New York Yacht Club. The _Lucky_, built in 1855
from a model by Robert Fish, was 51 feet long with a 13-foot beam; she
drew 2 feet 10 inches with her centerboard raised. According to
firsthand reports, she was a satisfactory cruiser, except that she was
not very weatherly because her centerboard was too small.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: FIGURE 13.--Bow of North Carolina sharpie schooner
showing head rigging.]
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 were assembled and the planking and frames secured;
then the inner stem was built, and the sides nailed to it, after which
the bulkhead and a few rough temporary molds were made and put in place
and the boat's sides bent to the desired curve in plain view. For
bending the sides a "Spanish windlass" of rope or chain was used. The
chine pieces were inserted in notches in the molds inside the side
planking and fastened, then the keelson was made and placed in notches
in the molds and bulkhead along the centerline. Next, the upper and
lower stern frames were made and secured, and the stern staved
vertically. Plank extensions of the keelson were fitted, the bottom
laid, and the boat turned over. Sometimes the case was made and fitted
with the keelson structure, but sometimes this was not done until the
deck and inboard works were finished.
[Illustration: FIGURE 14.--The entrance of a North Carolina sharpie
schooner and details of her sharp lines and planking. Note scarphs in
plank.]
The son of Lester Rowe, a noted sharpie builder at New Haven, told me,
in 1925, that it was not uncommon for his father and two helpers to
build a sharpie, hull and spars, in 6 working days, and that one year
his father and two helpers built 31 sharpies. This was at a time after
power saws and planers had come into use, and the heavy cutting and
finishing of timber was done at a mill, from patterns.
In spite of Barnegat Bay's extensive oyster beds and its proximity to
New Haven, the sharpie never became popular in that region, where a
small sailing scow known as the "garvey" was already in favor. The
garvey was punt-shaped, with its bow narrower than the stern; it had a
sledlike profile with moderately flaring sides and a half-deck; and it
was rigged with two spritsails, each with a moderate peak to the head
and the usual diagonal sprit.[9] The garvey was as fast and as well
suited to oyster tonging as the sharpie, if not so handsome; also, it
had an economic advantage over the New Haven boat because it was a
little cheaper to build and could carry the same load on 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.
[9] The foremast of the garvey was the taller and carried the larger
sail. At one time garveys had leeboards, but by 1850 they commonly had
centerboards and either a skeg aft with a rudder outboard or an
iron-stocked rudder, with the stock passing through the stern overhang
just foreward of the raking transom. The garvey was commonly 24 to 26
feet long with a beam on deck of 6 feet 4 inches to 6 feet 6 inches and
a bottom of 5 feet to 5 feet 3 inches.
[Illustration: FIGURE 15.--Midbody and stern of a North Carolina sharpie
schooner showing planking, molding, and other details.]