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A dory is a small, shallow-
draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...
, about long. It is usually a lightweight boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. It is easy to build because of its simple lines. For centuries, the dory has been used as a
traditional fishing boat Traditionally, many different kinds of boats have been used as fishing boats to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Even today, many traditional fishing boats are still in use. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Org ...
, both in coastal waters and in the open sea.


Definition

Strictly speaking, the only true defining characteristic of the dory is that it is planked with wide straight boards running fore-and-aft; "It should be well understood, that it is the dory's special mode of construction, not its hull shape, that sets it, and its related sub-types apart from other boats".Gardner, page 15. More generally speaking, the dory can be defined as a small boat which has: * a flat bottom, with the bottom planks fastened lengthwise (bow to stern). * a hull shape defined by the natural curve of a sawn plank (never steam-bent). * planks overlapping the stem at the front of the boat and an outer "false" stem covering the hood ends of the planks. * (with some exceptions) a fairly narrow transom often referred to as the "tombstone" due to its unique shape.Chapelle, pages 85-87, The hull's bottom is transversely flat and usually bowed fore-and-aft. (This curvature is known as "rocker".) The stern is frequently a raked narrow transom that tapers sharply toward the bottom forming a nearly double-ended boat. The traditional bottom is made from planks laid fore and aft and not transverse, although some hulls have a second set of planks laid over the first in a pattern that is crosswise to the main hull for additional wear and strength. Despite their simplicity of design, dories were known for their seaworthiness and rowing ease, although this reputation owed more to the skill of the operators than inherent factors in the design. Because of their narrow flat bottoms, they have little initial stability and are "tippy". Traditionally, they were designed to carry large amounts of wet fish — often over a ton. They were commonly rowed by experienced seamen who understood the characteristics of the design and could compensate for the limitations. Dories exhibit high ultimate stability, tipping to a point and then stiffening up significantly and resisting further heel. By design they are quite voluminous and can carry a heavy load for their size. Their high sides give ample freeboard even when heavily loaded, and as the load increases, so does the stability.


History

With no clear definition of the type, and few early illustrations or detailed descriptions to go by, the early history of the dory is muddled at best. The first known mention of a dory in detail was in 1719. Until about 1870, there are to be found no recorded dory lines, details, nor any list of particulars that would enable us to say with certainty what the earlier dories were really like.""Gardner, page 4 In its most popular form, the dory was created in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
fishing towns sometime after the early 18th century. Howard Chapelle writes, "... some kind of dory boat was in use on the
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
coast as early as 1726."Chapelle, page 85 A definite precursor to the dory type was the early French
bateau A bateau or batteau is a shallow- draft, flat-bottomed boat which was used extensively across North America, especially in the colonial period and in the fur trade. It was traditionally pointed at both ends but came in a wide variety of sizes. T ...
type, a flat bottom boat with straight sides used as early as 1671 on the
Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...
.Gardner, page 18 The common coastal boat of the time was the
wherry A wherry is a type of boat that was traditionally used for carrying cargo or passengers on rivers and canals in England, and is particularly associated with the River Thames and the River Cam. They were also used on the Broadland rivers of No ...
and the merging of designs between the wherry type and the simplified flat bottom construction of the bateau initiated the birth of the dory. Other anecdotal evidence exists of much older precursors throughout Europe. England, France, Belgium, and Italy all have small boats from the medieval periods that could reasonably be construed to be predecessors of the Dory. Dories were widely built from
Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
to Newfoundland. In
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
, the towns of Lunenburg and Shelburne maintained a rivalry in mass production of dories. A distinction emerged in 1887 with the use in Shelburne of "dory clips", metal braces used to join frames, versus the more expensive but stronger natural wood frames used in Lunenburg dories. The John Williams Dory Shop in Shelburne was one of several Shelburne factories mass-producing dories. It is now the Dory Shop Museum, operated by the
Nova Scotia Museum Nova Scotia Museum (NSM) is the corporate name for the 28 museums across Nova Scotia, Canada, and is part of the province's tourism infrastructure. The organization manages more than 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, and speci ...
and continues to produce banks dories. Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...
, 1836–1910" style="float:center;"> File:Winslow Homer - The Fog Warning (lightened).jpg, ''
The Fog Warning ''The Fog Warning'' is one of several paintings on marine subjects by the late-19th-century American painter Winslow Homer (1836–1910). Together with ''The Herring Net'' and ''Breezing Up'', painted the same year and also depicting the hard li ...
'',
halibut Halibut is the common name for three flatfish in the genera '' Hippoglossus'' and ''Reinhardtius'' from the family of right-eye flounders and, in some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish. The word is derived from ''h ...
fishing, 1885 File:Winslow Homer - Gloucester Harbor and Dory (1880).jpg, ''Gloucester Harbor and dory'', 1880 File:Winslow Homer - Three Boys in a Dory with Lobster Pots - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Three boys in a dory with lobster pots'', 1875 File:Winslow Homer - Boys in a Dory.jpg, ''Boys in a dory'', 1873 The Dory Shop in Lunenburg first opened its doors in 1917 when W. Laurence Allen began building Banks Dories for the many fishing schooners that filled Lunenburg's Harbour. Though ownership has changed hands a few times since then, they are still producing dories today using the very same jigs and patterns used 100 years ago. Very little has changed in the way they build their dories, however they now also build many other types of wooden boats as well and offer dory building classes for fishing history enthusiasts. Today many Hollywood producers have employed the iconic form of the dory and they are choosing to use a traditional dory over many of the modern-styles of small wooden boats. Some more notable appearances of Lunenburg dories are in ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl'', at the opening scene when Captain Jack Sparrow steps off the mast of his ship Jolly Mon; the final scene in ''Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End'' where Captain Jack is seen sailing away in a smaller Black Rocks dory; ''Reign III'' when King Francis and Queen Mary take a few days alone to sail together; ''Pirate Master'' Emmy Award-winning producer Mark Burnett's tall ship based reality TV show; and many more!


Traditional types


Beach dories

The earliest known dories were beach dories developed for beach-launched fishing operations. The principal example is the
Swampscott dory The Swampscott dory is a traditional fishing boat, used during the middle of the 19th century by fishing villages along the North Shore coast of Massachusetts centered on Swampscott. It is designed to be launched off the beach. The rounded hull p ...
, named after
Swampscott Swampscott () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population was 15,111 as of the 2020 United States Census. A former summer resort on Massachusetts Ba ...
, Massachusetts where they were introduced. Early wherry types were modified with flat bottoms and borrowed construction techniques found in the French bateaus. This resulted in an almost-round-sided boat with a narrow flat bottom, well suited to launching through the surf and able to hold up against aggressive ocean conditions. The narrow "tombstone" transom assured that the boat rode well against a
following sea A following sea refers to a wave direction that is similar to the heading of a waterborne vessel under way. The word "sea" in this context refers to open water wind waves. In the strict sense, a following sea has a direction of propagation betwee ...
or breaking surf, and also made the boat easy to row.


Banks dories

It is often assumed that the Banks dory was the original dory. In fact, the Swampscott dory preceded the Banks dory by fifty years. The Banks dories first appeared in the 1830s and were probably the most numerous at their height of popularity. They were "designed specifically as a ships boat but it became so well known and so common a type that it not only was used alongshore but influenced the design of some local fishing boats".Chapelle, page 85 Adapted almost directly from the low-freeboard French river bateaus, with their straight sides and removable thwarts, bank dories could be nested inside each other and stored on the decks of fishing schooners, for their trip to the
Grand Banks The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...
and other fishing banks. They are not as handy or easy to row as the slightly more complicated Swampscott dories but were mass-produced in much larger numbers. Banks dories were also popular as work boats.


Sailing dories

As the need for working dories diminished, the Swampscott or beach dory types were modified for pleasure sailing. These sailing dories became quite popular at the beginning of the 20th century around the town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. They were generally longer, yet remained narrow with low freeboard and later were often decked over. Another common distinctive feature of the sailing dory was a long boom on the rig that angled up with a mainsail that was larger along the foot than the luff. The Townclass, a sailboat still raced today, is a late example of a sailing dory. Earlier types were the Beachcomber and Alpha series, built by the famed dory builder William Chamberlain, and raced extensively in Salem and Marblehead between 1900 and 1910.Gardner, page 209 Few of the original Chamberlain-designed dories remain intact. An original Alpha dory can be seen at the Marblehead Historical Museum in Marblehead, Massachusetts.Marblehead Historical Museum
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River dories

The western river dory, though sharing features with sea dories, is adapted for a different place and purpose. The key differentiating features are wider beam, more flare to prevent waves coming on board, and extensive built-in buoyancy/storage areas with water-resistant hatches to shed water and keep the boat afloat in the event of a capsize. The first small flat bottomed dory run of note on the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
was made by Ramon Montez and George Flavell on an 1896 river cruise from
Green River, Wyoming Green River is a city in and the county seat of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 12,515 at the 2010 census. History The townsite of Green River, Dakota Territory was platted ...
, through the
Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
to Temple Bar, Arizona.Martin, page 101, Western river dories have additional special features such as strong rowlocks, long oars, and long blade oars to operate in the highly aerated waters in rapids. In rapids the master rower faces down river to see the rock and or hydraulic obstacles. In a rapid the oars are often used to steer the boat as well as to propel it. The first documentation of this "stern first" technique in Grand Canyon was by George Flavell in 1896.Marston, page 172, Credit for the "stern first" technique is often given to Nathaniel Galloway who used it on his cruise through Grand Canyon a few months after the Flavell-Montez cruise.Marston, page 177,


Motor dories

With the introduction of the
outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...
the "semi-dory" or "half-dory" was developed. Because typical dory bottoms are so narrow, the thrust of an outboard motor pushes the stern of the dory down creating a very unstable and inefficient boat. The semi-dory is basically a Swampscott dory with the stern widened and the rocker straightened aft to support the thrust of the outboard motor."Gardner, page 225


Other dories, and related types

Other, less but traditional types were the double ended surf and gunning dories. The pointed bow and sterns made these boats excel at launching through the surf. Gunning dories were built quite light in comparison to the more traditionally constructed beach dories. The "dory skiff" is another variation of the dory type. For inshore work the transom was widened, and freeboard was lowered making an exceptionally easy-to-row boat that was more stable (initial stability not ultimate stability) than their offshore cousins. However, they are not as
seaworthy Seakeeping ability or seaworthiness is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea stat ...
as the Swampscott or Banks dories.Gardner, page 257 The
Gandelow The gandelow is a traditional wooden fishing boat used on the River Shannon on the west coast of Ireland. The boat has been in use by fishing communities since at least the 17th century, mostly for catching salmon and cutting reeds. The gandelow ...
, much like a dory design from midships forward, is native to the Shannon estuary in
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. The main difference is that, at the stern, the gandelow has upper 'butterfly planks' which are twisted to make the stern wider and more buoyant, while the lower planks, twisted opposite, form a hollow boxed skeg, much like a
Sea Bright Skiff The Sea Bright Skiff is a box-skegged skiff developed on the northern shore of New Jersey. It was used for fishing, by being launched through the surf, sailed to the fishing grounds, and returned through the surf. Description The boat is quite dif ...
. The space created, when covered, provides a netlocker and a platform. The cot, a protean Irish traditional boat, has variants quite similar to dories, although some have a transom bow as well as stern, resembling a
jonboat A jon boat (or johnboat) is a flat-bottomed boat constructed of aluminum, fiberglass, wood, or polyethelene with one, two, or three seats, usually bench type. They are suitable for fishing, hunting and cruising. The nearly flat hull of a jon bo ...
. (The boat name originated as a word for an open dugout canoe, ''coit'', but became used for many types of small open boats.) The dory type spread by contact among fishing fleets, and was naturalized in many countries. File:Snurper og doryer.jpg, Norwegian fishing vessel with dories alongside, 1938 File:Doris-DSC 6257-1.jpg, Museum dory equipped for fishing File:Fishing 4666.JPG, Fishing from a dory


Modern interpretations

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the dory style. Many contemporary marine architects and backyard amateurs have been experimenting with the dory type and refining the type to some extent. These boats are designed primarily for pleasure and use new building materials and techniques not available to the originators of the dory. The basic form remains ensuring the survival and growth of the type. New England is no longer the center of dory construction and dories have been built all over the world. Modern dory designers include
Phil Bolger Philip C. Bolger (December 3, 1927 – May 24, 2009) was a prolific American boat designer, who was born and lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He began work full-time as a draftsman for boat designers Lindsay Lord and then John Hacker in the ...
of Gloucester and John Welsford of New Zealand. Most modern dories are about long, built of lightweight plywood, fastened by fibreglass tape and epoxy resin. They are much lighter than traditional dories and compensate for the lack of initial stability by having slightly wider bottoms and very low
high High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...
seats and are fitted with skegs for directional stability. Welsford recommends the carrying of a water container on a rope that can be thrown to the bow or stern to adjust trim in different sea conditions. Unlike a conventional wide bottom dinghy it is dangerous to sit or stand in the extreme ends due to the minimal displacement. Modern designs, like their traditional counterparts, gain significant stability when heavily laden amidships.


Notes


References

* Chapelle, Howard L. (1951), ''American Small Sailing Craft'', WW Norton and Company, New York, London. . * Gardner, John (1987), ''The Dory Book''. Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic Connecticut. . * Marston, Otis (2014), ''From Powell to Power'', Vishnu Temple Press, Flagstaff, Arizona. . * Martin, Tom (2012), ''Big Water Little Boats'', Vishnu Temple Press, Flagstaff, Arizona. . p. 101 * Walker, David A. and Wayne Barrett (1990), ''Small Wooden Boats of the Atlantic'', Halifax, NS: Nimbus (1990)


Further reading

* Brewer, Ted (1993)
''Understanding Boat Design''
McGraw-Hill Professional. . pp. 10–12. * Gardner, John (1996). ''Building Classic Small Craft I & II''. International Marine/
McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes refere ...
, Camden, ME. . * Molyneaux, Paul (2006). ''The Doryman's Reflection: A Fisherman's Life''. Thunder's Mouth Press. .


External links


The Dory Shop

Dan's Dories
(modern and historical dories)
www.buildyourowndoryboat.info
(Build Your Own Dory Boat) *
Dory Builder
' Documentary produced by
Oregon Field Guide ''Oregon Field Guide'' is a weekly television program produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting focusing on recreation, the outdoors, and environmental issues in the state of Oregon. The show has become part of the Oregon zeitgeist. Steve Amen is th ...
{{Authority control Types of fishing vessels Boat types