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
flat-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 skiffs 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 Chesapeake. 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 center board of
the "daggerboard" form. They were rigged with two leg-of-mutton 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 Chesapeake 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 for those skiffs used in the Tangier
Island area, it is not evident that the Bay skiffs were influenced by
the New Haven sharpie to any great degree, in form at least.
[Illustration: FIGURE 16.--Stern of a North Carolina sharpie schooner
showing planking, staving, molding, and balanced rudder.]
Schooner-rigged sharpies developed on Long Island Sound as early as
1870, and their hulls were only slightly modified versions of the New
Haven hull in basic design and construction. These boats were, however,
larger than New Haven sharpies, and a few were employed as oyster
dredges. After a time it was found that sharpie construction proved weak
in boats much over 50 feet. However, strong sharpie hulls of great
length eventually were produced by edge-fastening the sides and by using
more tie rods than were required by a smaller sharpie. Transverse tie
rods set up with turnbuckles were first used on the New Haven sharpie,
and they were retained on boats that were patterned after her in other
areas. Because of this influence, such tie rods finally appeared on the
large V-bottomed sailing craft on Chesapeake Bay.
The sharpie schooner seems to have been more popular on the Chesapeake
Bay than on Long Island Sound. The rig alone appealed to Bay sailors,
who were experienced with schooners. Of all the flat-bottomed skiffs
employed on the Bay, only the schooner can be said to have retained much
of the appearance of the Connecticut sharpies. Bay sharpie schooners
often were fitted with wells and used as terrapin smacks (fig. 7). As a
schooner, the sharpie was relatively small, usually being about 30 to 38
feet over-all.
Since the 1880's the magazine _Forest and Stream_ and, later, magazines
such as _Outing_, _Rudder_, and _Yachting_ have been the media by which
ideas concerning all kinds of watercraft from pleasure boats to work
boats have been transmitted. By studying such periodicals, Chesapeake
Bay boatbuilders managed to keep abreast of the progress in boat design
being made in new yachts. In fact, it may have been because of articles
in these publications that the daggerboard came to replace the pivoted
centerboard in Chesapeake Bay skiffs and that the whole V-bottom design
became popular so rapidly in the Bay area.