The Swampscott dory is a

traditional fishing boat Traditionally, many different kinds of boats have been used as fishing boats A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recr ...

, used during the middle of the 19th century by

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 m ...

s along the North Shore coast of

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 ...

centered on

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 ...

. It is designed to be launched off the beach. The rounded hull provides more buoyancy for launching through surf than the slab sided banks dory. The flat bottom allows the boat to sit upright on the beach. The lack of a keel keeps the boat from being grabbed by a wave and allows the boat to pass cleanly through the surf. The boat still heels easily which allows large fish to be rolled into the boat vs having to lift the fish completely up over the gunnel. The Swampscott Dory, a fishing boat still in use throughout the world today, was invented in 1840 by Theophilius Brackett to row and to pull lobster pots. These dories compare favorably with the New Bedford

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

and the Gloucester seine boat. The Swampscott dory is a melding of the earlier

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 ...

design and the river

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. Th ...

, which later led to new construction techniques used in the mass production of the

Banks dory The Banks dory, or Grand Banks dory, is a type of dory. They were used as traditional fishing boats from the 1850s on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The Banks dory is a small, open, narrow, flat-bottomed and slab-sided boat with a particularly na ...

. Swampscott dories are built with rounded sides and slightly less overhang stern than a banks dory. Swampscott dories are generally from 14 to 18 ft in length, the longer boat being crewed by two oarsmen. Eventually the Swampscott dory developed into a recreational sailboat as well, known as the ''clipper dory'', and then the ''alpha'' and ''beachcomber dory''. These inexpensive sailboats were raced along the coast of Massachusetts during the early part of the 20th century. The sail rig was typically a Leg of Mutton and small jib on an unstayed mast.

Lowell's Boat Shop Lowell's Boat Shop (Hiram Lowell & Sons) is a National Historic Landmark at 459 Main Street in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The shop was built in 1793 by Simeon Lowell. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Loc ...

, one of the original builders of dories, markets a similar boat as a surf dory.

References

;Books * * * * {{fisheries and fishing Types of fishing vessels