The skipjack is 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 ...

used on the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

for oyster dredging. It is a

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

which succeeded the

bugeye The bugeye is a type of sailboat developed in the Chesapeake Bay for oyster dredging. The predecessor of the skipjack, it was superseded by the latter as oyster harvests dropped. Origins Between 1820 and 1865, the state of Maryland banned th ...

as the chief oystering boat on the bay, and it remains in service due to laws restricting the use of

powerboat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

s in the

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

state oyster

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

Design and construction

The skipjack is

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 ...

-rigged, with a sharply raked mast and extremely long boom (typically the same length as the deck of the boat). The

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot ...

is ordinarily triangular, though

gaff rig Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the ''gaff''. Because of the size and shap ...

ged examples were built. The

jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsail ...

is self-tending and mounted on a

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays. The word ''bowsprit'' is thought to originate from the Middle L ...

. This

sail plan A sail plan is a description of the specific ways that a sailing craft is rigged. Also, the term "sail plan" is a graphic depiction of the arrangement of the sails for a given sailing craft.> In the English language, ships were usually describe ...

affords the power needed to pull the dredge, particularly in light winds, while at the same time minimizing the crew required to handle the boat. The hull is wooden and V-shaped, with a hard

chine A chine () is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Is ...

and a square

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

. In order to provide a stable platform when dredging, skipjacks have very low freeboard and a wide beam (averaging one third the length on deck). A centerboard is mounted in lieu of a keel. The mast is hewn from a single log, with two stays on either side, without spreaders; it is stepped towards the bow of the boat, with a small cabin. As typical in regional practice the bow features a curving longhead under the bowsprit, with carved and painted trailboards. A small

figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a person who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet ''de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that they ...

is common. A typical skipjack is 40 to 50 feet in length. The boats use direct link

Edson worm Edson may refer to: Places Canada * Edson, Alberta United States * Edson, Kansas, an unincorporated community * Edson, South Dakota, a ghost town * Edson, Wisconsin, a town ** Edson (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community People ...

steering gear mounted immediately forward of the transom. The dredge windlass and its motor are mounted amidships, between the mast and deckhouse. Rollers and bumpers are mounted on either side of the boat to guide the dredge line and protect the hull. Due to state laws, the boat has no motor (other than for the

windlass The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder (barrel), which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt. A winch is affixed to one or both ends, and a cable or rope is wound arou ...

). Most skipjacks were eventually modified with stern

davit Boat suspended from radial davits; the boat is mechanically lowered Gravity multi-pivot on Scandinavia'' file:Bossoir a gravité.jpg, Gravity Roller Davit file:Davits-starbrd.png, Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on North Sea ferr ...

s to hold a dinghy or pushboat to allow motorized travel as permitted by law.

History

The skipjack arose near the end of the 19th century. Dredging for oysters, prohibited in 1820, was again made legal in 1865. Boats of the time were unsuitable, and the

developed out of the

log canoe The log canoe is a type of sailboat developed in the Chesapeake Bay region. Based on the dugout, it was the principal traditional fishing boat of the bay until superseded by the bugeye and the skipjack. However, it is most famous as a racing sa ...

in order to provide a boat with more power adapted to the shallow waters of the oyster beds. The bugeye was originally constructed with a log hull, and as the supply of appropriate timber was exhausted and construction costs rose, builders looked to other designs. They adapted the sharpies of

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 ...

by increasing the beam and simplifying the sail plan. The result was cheaper and simpler to construct than the bugeye, and it quickly became the predominant oystering boat in the bay. Debate remains to this day about the origins of the name. Some speculate it came from a name New England fisherman called the

flying fish The Exocoetidae are a family of marine fish in the order Beloniformes class Actinopterygii, known colloquially as flying fish or flying cod. About 64 species are grouped in seven to nine genera. While they cannot fly in the same way a bird do ...

, bonita. Still others claim it is derived from an archaic English term, meaning an "inexpensive yet useful servant." Maryland's oyster harvest reached an all-time peak in 1884, at approximately 15 million bushels of oysters. The oyster harvest has since declined steadily, especially at the end of the 20th century. The size of the fleet has likewise declined. New skipjacks were built as late as 1993, but a change in the law in 1965 allowed the use of motor power two days of the week. As a result, few of the boats are operated under sail in commercial use; instead, a pushboat is used to move the skipjack, and little dredging is done except on the days that power is allowed. At one time, the number of skipjacks produced is estimated at approximately 2,000; today, they number about 40, with fewer than half of them in active fishing. The future of the fleet remains in doubt as efforts continue to restore the productivity of the oyster beds. The skipjack was designated the state boat of

in 1985. Joshua Slocum piloted a modified Skipjack, a gaff rigged sloop named '' Spray'' in the first solo global

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circ ...

. He wrote about the experience in his classic ''

Sailing Alone Around the World ''Sailing Alone Around the World'' is a sailing memoir by Joshua Slocum in 1900 about his single-handed global circumnavigation aboard the sloop ''Spray''. Slocum was the first person to sail around the world alone. The book was an immediate ...

''. The rigging was modified to a

Yawl A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put. As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast p ...

near the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

Remaining skipjacks

Chesapeake Bay skipjacks drying sails while inport

# ''Ada Mae'', New Bern, North Carolina. Built in Rose Bay, North Carolina in 1915. # ''Anna McGarvey'', Cambridge, Maryland. Built in Baltimore in 1981. Now ''Han Em Harve''. Dredge # 62. # ''Barbara Batchelder'', Rock Hall, Maryland. Built in Rock Hall, 1956, as a recreational vessel for Irénée du Pont, Jr. # ''Caleb W. Jones'', Cobb Island, Maryland. Built in 1953 in Reedville, Virginia. Dredge #51. # ''City of Crisfield'', Deal Island, Maryland. Built in Reedville, Virginia in 1949. Dredge #44. # '' Clarence Crockett'', Deal Island, Maryland. Built in Deep Creek, Virginia in 1908. # '' Claude W. Somers'', Reedville, VA. Built in Young's Creek, VA in 1911, now a sailing museum boat at the Reedville Fishermen's Museum. Dredge #55. # ''Curlew III'', Deal Island, Maryland. Built in Cambridge, Maryland in 1964 as a recreational boat, converted to a dredge boat. # ''Dee of St. Mary's'', Solomons, Maryland. Built in Piney Point, Maryland in 1979, now a sailing museum boat that the

Calvert Marine Museum The Calvert Marine Museum is a maritime museum located in Solomons, Maryland. The museum has three main themes: * regional paleontology, * estuarine life of the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay, * maritime history. Among its exhibits are the ...

. Dredge #16. # '' E.C. Collier'', St. Michaels, MD. Built in Deal Island in 1910.(Currently an onshore display at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum). Dredge #7. # ''Elsie Peggy Joyce'', Madison, Maryland. Built 1970, converted from a recreational boat to a dredge boat. Dredge # 91. # ''

Elsworth Elsworth is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, 9 miles northwest of Cambridge and 7 miles southeast of Huntingdon. At the 2011 census, the population was 726. It was one of only two sites in Cambridgeshire to be cover ...

'', Chestertown, Maryland. Built in 1901 in Hudson, Maryland, operated by the Echo Hill Outdoor School as a sailing classroom boat. Dredge #22. # ''Faith'', Talbot County, Maryland. Built in Oxford, Maryland in 1968. Formerly ''Ada Fears'', operated as a dredge boat. Dredge #17. # '' Fannie L. Daugherty'', Deal Island, MD. Built in Crisfield, Maryland in 1904. Dredge #58 (previously 2). # '' F. C. Lewis, Jr'', Cambridge, Maryland, built 1907 in Hopkins, Virginia. Dredge #36. # ''Fortune'', Cambridge, Maryland. Built in Little Ferry, New Jersey in 1978. Operated as a dredge boat. Dredge #95. # ''George W. Collier'', built in Deal Island, Maryland, 1900, was Allegheny and Norfolk, being restored in Deal Island, Maryland. # ''Helen Virginia'', Deal Island, Maryland. Built in 1948 in Crisfield, Maryland. Dredge #53. # '' Hilda M. Willing'', Tilghman Island, Maryland. Built in Oriole, Maryland in 1905. Dredge #11. # ''H.M. Krentz'', Saint Michaels, MD. Built in Harryhogan, Virginia in 1955. Dredge # 59 (previously 23). # '' Ida May'', Deal Island, MD. Built in Deep Creek, Virginia in 1906. Dredge #41. # ''Joy Parks'', St. Mary's County, Piney Point Lighthouse Museum. Built in Parksley, Virginia in 1936. # ''

Kathryn Kathryn is a feminine given name and comes from the Greek meaning for 'pure'. It is a variant of Katherine. It may refer to: In television and film: * Kathryn Beaumont (born 1938), English voice actress and school teacher best known for her Disn ...

'', Deal Island, Maryland. Built in Crisfield, Maryland in 1901. Dredge #21. # ''Lady Helen'', Kent Island, Maryland. Built in Pasadena, Maryland in 1987 as a recreational vessel. # ''Lady Katie'', Cambridge, MD. Built in Wingate, Maryland in 1956. Dredge #25. # '' Maggie Lee'', West Denton, MD. Built in Pocomoke City, Maryland in 1908. Dredge #9. # ''Mamie A. Mister'', Deal, MD. Built in Champ, Maryland in 1911. Dismantled for storage in Deal Island, in poor condition. # '' Martha Lewis'', Havre de Grace, MD. Built in Wingate, Maryland in 1955. Operated by the Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy. Dredge #8. # '' Mary W. Somers'', St. Mary's City, MD. Built in Mearsville, Virginia in 1904. # '' Minnie V'', Deal Island, Maryland. Built in Wenonah, Maryland in 1906. Formerly operated by the Living Classrooms Foundation, returned to work as a dredge boat. Dredge #50 (previously 33). # Miss Victoria, built in Deltaville, Va 1977, not part of the original oyster fleet. # Modern Day, built in Madison, Maryland, 2015, not part of the original oyster fleet. Dredge #94. # ''Nathan of Dorchester,'', Cambridge, MD. Built Cambridge, Maryland. Commissioned in 1994. # '' Nellie L. Byrd'', Middle River, Maryland. Built in Oriole, Maryland in 1911. Dredge #28. # ''Oyster Catcher'', formerly ''Connie Francis'', Piney Point, Maryland. Built in 1984, Gloucester Point, Va, no longer skipjack rigged. Dredge # 63. # '' Rebecca T. Ruark'', Tilghman Island, MD. Built in Taylors Island, Maryland in 1886. Dredge #29. # '' Reliance''. Built at Fishing Creek, Maryland in 1904. present location not known. Dredge #4. # ''Ringgold Bros'', Norwalk, Connecticut. Built in Oriole, Maryland, 1911, no longer skipjack rigged. Working clam dredge. Dredge #32. # '' Rosie Parks'', St. Michaels, Maryland. Built in Wingate, Maryland in 1955. Operated by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Dredge #19. # '' Sigsbee'', Baltimore, Maryland. Built in Oriole, Maryland 1901, now operated as a classroom boat by the Living Classroom Foundation. Dredge #5. # ''

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

'', Wenona, Maryland. Built in Reedsville, Virginia in 1949, working dredge boat. Dredge #33 (previously 35). # '' Stanley Norman'', Annapolis, Maryland. Built in 1902, Salisbury, Maryland. Operated by the

Chesapeake Bay Foundation The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is a non-profit organization devoted to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. It was founded in 1967 and has headquarters offices in Annapolis, Maryland. The foundation h ...

for educational programs. Dredge #60 (previously 20). # ''Talbot Lady'', Canton, New Jersey. Built at Skipton Creek, Maryland, 1984. Private pleasure boat. # '' Thomas W. Clyde'', Tilghman Island, Maryland. Built in Oriole, Maryland in 1911. Working dredge boat. Dredge #39. # '' Virginia W'', Cambridge, Maryland. Built in Guilford, Virginia in 1904. Working dredge boat. Dredge #12. # ''Wilma Lee'', Annapolis, Maryland. Built in Wingate, Maryland in 1940. Operated by Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park, arriving June 20, 2018 from Ocracoke, North Carolina. Dredge #24.

Documented destroyed and wrecked skipjacks

# ''Esther F''. Built in Fairmount, Maryland in 1954. Sunk at moorings in Wittman, Maryland, broken up in 2009, formerly on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Dredge #2. # ''Ethel Lewis'' Built in Onancock, Virginia in 1906. Burned in 2010 after it was determined to be beyond repair. # '' Flora A. Price''. Built in Champ, Maryland in 1910. Sunk at moorings in Cambridge, raised and burned 2013. # ''Lorraine Rose'', remains are in Knapps Narrows, Tilghman Island. Built 1949 in Reedville, Virginia. # ''Maggie Lee'', remains are in West Denton, Maryland on the Choptank River. Built 1903 in Pocomoke, Maryland. Dredge #9. # ''Ralph T. Webster'', remains are in Knapps Narrows, Tilghman Island, Maryland., next to ''Lorraine Rose''. Built in Oriole, Maryland in 1905. Dredge #3.

References

Citations

Sources

Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks

from State of Maryland Archives site

for Chesapeake Skipjack ''Hilda M. Willing'' *

Bibliography

External links

Youtube: 1930s photos of the skipjack fleet at Chesapeake
{{Oysters Chesapeake Bay boats Types of fishing vessels Oysters Ship types