''Emma C. Berry'' is a fishing

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

located at the

Mystic Seaport Mystic Seaport Museum or Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea in Mystic, Connecticut is the largest maritime museum in the United States. It is notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats and for the re-creation of the craf ...

Museum in

Mystic, Connecticut Mystic is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Groton, Connecticut, Groton and Stonington, Connecticut, United States. Historically, Mystic was a significant Connecticut seaport with more than 600 ships built over 135 years starting in ...

, United States, and one of the oldest surviving commercial vessels in America. She is the last known surviving American

well smack A well smack was a type of traditional fishing boat in use in the United Kingdom and then the Faroe Islands between the late 18th century and around 1920. It had a well amidships. The well was filled with circulated external water, which kept f ...

. This type of boat is also termed a sloop smack or Noank smack. The Noank design was imitated in other regions of the United States. ''Emma C. Berry'' was built in 1866 at the Palmer Shipyards in

Noank, Connecticut Noank ( ) is a village in the town of Groton, Connecticut. This dense community of historic homes and local businesses sits on a small, steep peninsula at the mouth of the Mystic River with a long tradition of fishing, lobstering and boat-buildin ...

by James A. Latham. and
The boat was named for Captain John Henry Berry's daughter. In 1886 she was rigged as a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

, and in 1916 a gasoline engine was added. She was restored in 1931 to her original condition. She was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1994.

Construction

The ''Emma C. Berry'' was built in 1865 by John Latham in the R. & J. Palmer Shipyard in Noank, Connecticut for John Henry Berry. The ship was named after his daughter and constructed in a similar way to other Noank smacks. The ship was launched in 1866 with a sloop rig and two head-sails.

History

Originally, John Henry Berry had a 1/2 stake with Moses Wilbur, William Latham, Charles Spencer and Amos Lanplear each owning 1/8 stake. Ownership changed by September 1866, with Berry having no stake in the ship. In 1870, the ship was owned by Henry Chapel with 5/8 and Henry Brown with 3/8. In 1872, Robert Westcote was the sole owner and master of the ''Emma C. Berry''. Henry Chapel became the managing owner in 1886 and the sole owner in 1887, and then she was re-rigged as schooner. It changed ownership several times from 1895 to 1910, when it became owned by the Marston Lobster Pound Co. (5/8), Sargent Land and Co. (1/8) and by Charles A. Baker (2/8). Just two years later in 1918, S. A. Skilling and Son had a 6/8 stake and Clarence A. Baker retained his 2/8th stake. From 1918 through 1929 various individuals came to own her. Her career as a fishing vessel ended around 1924 and she was left on the flats of

Beals, Maine Beals is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States, located on an island opposite Jonesport. The town was named after Manwarren Beal, an early settler. The population was 443 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United Sta ...

. In 1926, she was purchased by Milton Beal and used as a coastal freighter. F. Slade Dale purchased the ship in 1931, restored it and registered the ship in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Dale retained ownership until it was donated to the Mystic Seaport in 1969. Captain Dayton O. Newton, bandmaster at Admiral Farragut Academy (Pine Beach, NJ) and captain of the Schooner Adventure (Camden, ME) met Dale in the early 1960s and offered to assemble a volunteer crew of Admiral Farragut Academy cadets to work on the ''Berry''. Newton convinced Dale that she should sail back to the yard in Noank 100 years following her launch. In 1965 Captain Newton and volunteers sailed the ship on a shakedown cruise up the Hudson to Troy, NY carrying a cargo of historical documents to the Albany Historical Society. During this shakedown cruise,

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

came aboard for a concert from the Berry raising funds for his soon to be built Clearwater. In 1992, the ''Emma C. Berry'' sailed from the Mystic Seaport down to Fishers Island Sound under sloop rig, for the first time in 106 years.

Alterations

The ''Emma C. Berry'' has undergone numerous alterations in rigging, modification and repairs throughout its career before undergoing an extensive restoration to return it to its original configuration. The original sloop was rerigged as a schooner in 1887 and Will Beal installed a Knox gasoline engine around 1916. Woodward and Hopkins changed the ship to a freighter and Milton Beal would later remove the well. In 1963, a $5000 "restoration" of the ship was used to make her seaworthy. The ship's tonnage varies according to the official records. In 1894 and 1897, at 15.76 gross tons and 14.96 net tons. In 1912 and 1915, it registered 15 gross tons and 14 net tons.

Restoration

After its arrival at the Mystic Seaport, the ''Emma C. Berry'' underwent the first phase of its restoration, lasting from 1969 to 1971. The restoration restored the original sloop rig and wet well and renewed the stanchions and rotting frames and floor timbers. After additional research and a collection of photographs were acquired, the Mystic Seaport began a second restoration from to restore the deck, horn timbers, spar ironwork and sails. The Mystic Seaport drew upon literature and other sources to accurately restore her to her original configuration and appearance. The painting of the hull black follows the ''Rattler'', an 1855 Noank smack built by R. & J. Palmer; previous to it hulls were painted "bottle green". Further evidence is the painting of the 1867 Noank smack ''Mary E. Hoxie'' by Elisha Baker, depicting the black hull. The choice to restore the ship to its original sloop condition was not universally accepted. Jack Wilbur, a Noank boat builder and master mariner, believes the return to the sloop rigging was nonsensical because it went against the way the ship sailed from its early years, as a schooner. Wilbur states that the schooner rig served the ''Emma C. Berry'' longer than the entire lives of those who made the decision.

Importance

The National Historic Landmark nomination form states that, "the sloop smack ''Emma C. Berry'' is the last known surviving American smack." Important as the last surviving American well smack and with a lengthy service life, the ship is typical of the Noank smacks of the era.

References