In the 1870's the heavily populated oyster beds of the North Carolina
Sounds began to be exploited. Following the Civil War that region had
become a depressed area with little boatbuilding industry. The small
boat predominating in the area was a modified yawl that had sprits for
mainsail and topsail, a jib set up to the stem head, a centerboard, and
waterways along the sides. This type of craft, known as the "Albemarle
Sound boat" or "Croatan boat," had been developed in the vicinity of
Roanoke Island for the local shad fishery. Although it was seaworthy and
fast under sail, this boat was not particularly well suited for the
oyster fishery because of its high freeboard and lack of working deck
for tonging.
[Illustration: FIGURE 17.--Deck of a North Carolina sharpie schooner
showing U-shaped main hatch typical of sharpies used in the Carolina
Sounds.]
Because the oyster grounds in the Carolina Sounds were some distance
from the market ports, boats larger than the standard 34-to 36-foot New
Haven sharpie were desirable; and by 1881 the Carolina Sounds sharpie
had begun to develop characteristics of its own. These large sharpies
could be decked and, when necessary, fitted with a cabin. In all other
respects the North Carolina sharpie closely resembled the New Haven
boat. Some of the Carolina boats were square-sterned, but, as at New
Haven, the round stern apparently was more popular.
Most Carolina sharpies were from 40 to 45 feet long. Some had a cramped
forecastle under the foredeck, others had a cuddy or trunk cabin aft,
and a few had trunk cabins forward and aft. Figure 6 is a drawing of a
rigged model that was built to test the design before the construction
of a full-sized boat was attempted.[10] The 1884 North Carolina sharpie
shown in this plan has two small cuddies; it also has the U-shaped main
hatch typical of the Carolina sharpie. It appears that the clubs shown
at the ends of the sprits were very often used on the Carolina sharpies,
but they were rarely used on the New Haven tongers except when the craft
were rigged for racing. The Carolina Sounds sharpie shown under sail in
figure 8 is from 42 to 45 feet long and has no cuddy.
[10] In building shoal draft sailing vessels, this practice was usually
possible and often proved helpful. In the National Watercraft Collection
at the United States National Museum there is a rigged model of a
Piscataqua gundalow that was built for testing under sail before
construction of the full-scale vessel.
The Carolina Sounds sharpies retained the excellent sailing qualities of
the New Haven type and were well finished. The two-sail, two-mast New
Haven rig was popular with tongers, but the schooner-rigged sharpie that
soon developed (figs. 9, 11-18) was preferred for dredging. It was
thought that a schooner rig allowed more adjustment of sail area and
thus would give better handling of the boat under all weather
conditions. This was important because oyster dredging could be carried
on in rough weather when tonging would be impractical. Like the Maryland
terrapin smack, the Carolina sharpie schooner adhered closely to New
Haven principles of design and construction. However, Carolina sharpie
schooners were larger than terrapin smacks, having an over-all length of
from 40 to 52 feet. These schooners remained in use well into the 20th
century and, in fact, did not go out of use entirely until about 1938.
In the 1920's and 1930's many such boats were converted to yachts. They
were fast under sail and very stiff, and with auxiliary engines they
were equally as fast and required a relatively small amount of power.
Large Carolina sharpie schooners often made long coasting voyages, such
as between New York and the West Indies.
[Illustration: FIGURE 18.--Deck of a North Carolina sharpie schooner
under sail showing pump box near rail and portion of afterhouse.]