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 The predecessor of the skipjack, it was superseded by the latter as oyster harvests dropped.
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 The predecessor of the skipjack, it was superseded by the latter as oyster harvests dropped.
Between 1820 and 1865, the state of Maryland banned the practice of dredging for oysters. In the latter year, the law was relaxed; the use of steam power remained banned, however, and remained entirely prohibited until 1965, in which year powered dredging was allowed two days of the week. As long as dredging for oysters in the Chesapeake was prohibited, oystermen working from log canoes tonged for oysters. In 1854 the Maryland legislature permitted the use of dredges in the waters of Somerset County, Maryland, expanding the use of dredges to the rest of the Bay following the Civil War. Opening the Chesapeake to oyster dredging after the Civil War created a need for larger, more powerful boats to haul dredges across the oyster beds.
The first vessels used were the existing sloops, pungys and schooners on the Bay, but none of these types was well suited to the purpose; pungys and schooners were too deep in their draft to work the shallower waters of the Bay, the schooners and sloops had bulwarks too high to facilitate handling the dredges, the relatively complex rigs of all three types required uneconomically large crews of skilled sailors, and the vessels themselves were relatively expensive to build and maintain.
The log canoes had none of these disadvantages, but were too small to successfully haul dredges. The result was the development during the 1870s and 1880s of the brogan, an enlarged log canoe. In [1] [2] brogans, the open hull of the log canoe was decked, with hatches covering holds created by subdividing the hull with bulkheads. Brogans typically used the same sail plan as the log canoes of the Tilghman Island region, a leg-of-mutton (i.e., triangular) foresail, mainsail and jib, with the foremast taller than the main. Both masts raked rather sharply aft, with the mainmast raked significantly more sharply than the foremast.1
Brogans were still too small to effectively haul dredges, and continued to be enlarged and improved. By the early 1880s, or possibly even earlier, the first bugeyes were being built.2 Over the next twenty years, the bugeye became the dominant type of vessel employed in oystering, but by 1893 construction of new bugeyes began to decline with the introduction of the skipjack, which was less expensive to build, operate and maintain yet was very well suited to dredging for oysters. No working bugeyes appear to have been built after 1918, but bugeyes continued to be employed in oystering and freighting until the middle of the Twentieth Century, albeit in ever-decreasing numbers.3
The origin of the name is obscure.
Like the earlier brogan, the typical bugeye, designed by William Reeves who was originally from Nova Scotia, was two-masted, with triangular “leg-of-mutton” mainsail, foresail and jib. By modern standards, this rig would be described as a ketch rig, but it appears that watermen of the time referred to it as simply a leg-of-mutton or a bugeye rig. Unlike modern ketches, the forward-most mast was referred to as the foremast and the after mast was termed the mainmast, although like the brogan and log canoe, the mainmast was shorter than the foremast. As with the earlier brogans and the log canoes, the masts were sharply raked (tilted), although they were set up with stays and shrouds. Unlike the brogan, however, the mainmast was raked only slightly more sharply than the foremast.4 A bowsprit with trailboards was inevitably used.
The hull was beamy (wide) and shallow, with no chine. Initially it was chunked from logs, in the manner of the log canoe; eventually conventional framed construction was introduced as the supply of suitable trees was depleted. The usual form was double-ended, with a sharp stern, and most such boats had a heavy beam called the "duck tail" projecting a short distance from the stern in order to protect the rudder. To increase deck space a "patent stern" was installed after 1893; it consisted of a set of three beams: one across the duck tail, and two joining its ends to either side of the boat. The ostensible purpose, according to the patent in question, was to provide a mounting spot for davits for a dinghy; the whole area, however, could be planked over to provide a considerable increase in deck space. All log bugeyes were sharp-sterned, but some frame versions had round sterns; a very few had a square transom. The freeboard was invariably low, the better to lift the dredges onto the deck.
Due to the wide, flat bottom, a centerboard was provided. Early boats used a tiller for steering, but as patent steering gear became available, the wheel came into use instead.
Besides the raked, paired masts, the other distinctive feature of the bugeye is the mounting of the bowsprit. This was mounted between paired hawsepieces (boards with a rope- or cable-hole) and knightheads, and terminated in a large vertical post called the "samson post", upon which the anchor windlass was also typically mounted. The hawsepieces projected above the deck and, with the prominent hawseholes, are thought possibly to be the origin of the name "bugeye".
In the center of the ship sat the windlass (generally called the "winder") for the dredge lines. Early winders were simple hand-cranked spools, eventually equipped with devices to prevent injuries when the dredge caught on an obstruction. As gas and diesel engines became available they replaced the hand-cranked winder. In either case a pair of rollers was mounted at the rail on either side, to protect the hull from rubbing and to reduce friction as the dredges were raised.
By and large there was very little development within the type, other than the minor improvements already listed. There was a small trend towards increasing size; bugeyes averaged around 55 feet (17 m) in length, but some later examples were well over 80 feet (24 m) long. Variations in the sail plan were tried, particularly with additional jibs, gaff rigging and staysails. A few were built with a single mast, resulting in a boat with a superficial resemblance to the skipjack.
Oystering was performed in the winter (the "R months" of September through April); in the summer the boats were used in light freight work where it was available. For oystering the boat would be taken out to the bed, and the dredge would be dropped as a pass was made at speed over the bed. At the end of the run the dredge would be lifted onto the deck and the live oysters separated from the dead shells and other debris. This process would be repeated until sufficient oysters were obtained. More enterprising captains would then sail the boat directly to the markets in Baltimore, Crisfield, and other towns where the oysters were bought at wholesale and processed. Alternatively, the catch could be sold to a buy boat, which acted as a middle man in the process. Some boats both dredged and acted as buy boats, in which case a bushel basket would be mounted on the fore mast to indicate the latter.
With its low freeboard, the bugeye was not generally considered to be an ocean-going vessel; some boats were however sailed to the West Indies in the off season for the tropical trade. One bugeye, the Brown Smith Jones , was built for the Maryland Oyster Police. It had the distinction of being commissioned in the United States Navy in World War I, taking the name USS Dorchester in this service.
Construction of bugeyes closely paralleled the oyster harvest, which peaked in 1884. As the catch declined, the skipjack became more popular, as it was smaller and cheaper to build. Bugeye construction dropped to almost nothing shortly after the turn of the century. Many of the survivors gave up dredging and devoted themselves to the buy boat business, in which case the sails were no longer wanted. In a typical conversion the bowsprit and main mast were removed entirely, and the fore mast shortened and modified into a derrick for hoisting. A stern cabin for the wheel and an engine for power completed the transformation. (The William B. Tennison is a surviving example of such a conversion.) [3] As a result of such conversions, and simple attrition, surviving bugeyes are extremely rare, and only one (the Edna E. Lockwood) survives in its original form. [4] The plan was however taken up as a pleasure craft, and new versions for that purpose continue to be built.
One of the best examples of the type still in existence is the Edna E. Lockwood, which is on exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michaels, Maryland. The Lockwood is a nine log bugeye launched on October 5, 1889 at Tilghman Island, Maryland, by John B. Harrison for Daniel Haddaway, at a cost of $2,200. She worked for at least seven sets of owners from 1899 until 1967, and was then sailed as a yacht until donated to the museum in 1973. The museum undertook an extensive restoration of the Lockwood from 1975 through 1979, which restored the bugeye to its 1910 appearance with the "patent stern" that had been added sometime prior to that year. She is the last bugeye retaining the sailing rig and working appearance of the type, and is a National Historic Landmark. Her length is 53 ft-6 in, with a 15 ft-3 in beam and a 2 ft-7 in draft with the centerboard up, and a maximum sail area of approximately 1,700 square feet (160 m2).
In the novelette "Angelfish", Lester Dent described the fictional Sail in great detail: "The bugeye Sail was a Chesapeake Bay five-log, thirty-four-feet waterline. She looked to have been built last week, she was sixty-eight years old. Her beam was twelve feet, she drew two feet with the centerboard up." [5] Sail is one of the principal characters described, second only to her owner, named Oscar Sail. Dent owned a bugeye, Albatross, in the mid-1930s, which he used in the Caribbean to look for treasure.
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.
A ketch is a two-masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast, and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The Mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the Ketch from a yawl, which has its mizzen mast stepped aft of its rudder post. In the 19th and 20th Centuries, Ketch rigs were often employed on larger yachts and working watercraft, but ketches are also used as smaller working watercraft as short as 15 feet, or as small cruising boats, such as Bill Hanna's Tahiti Ketches or L. Francis Herreshoff's Rozinante and H-28.
The skipjack is a traditional fishing boat used on the Chesapeake Bay for oyster dredging. It is a sailboat which succeeded the bugeye as the chief oystering boat on the bay, and it remains in service due to laws restricting the use of powerboats in the Maryland state oyster fishery.
Lazy jacks are a type of rigging which can be applied to a fore-and-aft rigged sail to assist in sail handling during reefing and furling. They consist of a network of cordage which is rigged to a point on the mast and to a series of points on either side of the boom; these lines form a cradle which helps to guide the sail onto the boom when it is lowered, reducing the crew needed to secure the sail. Lazy jacks are most commonly associated with Bermuda rigged sails, although they can be used with gaff rigged sails and with club-footed jibs. Blocks and rings may be part of some lazyjacks.
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 sailboat, and races continue to be held.
The pungy is a type of schooner developed in and peculiar to the Chesapeake Bay region. The name is believed to derive from the Pungoteague region of Accomack County, Virginia, where the design was developed in the 1840s and 1850s.
Hilda M. Willing is a relatively small Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1905 at Oriole, Maryland, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994.
A fishing dredge, also known as a scallop dredge or oyster dredge, is a kind of dredge which is towed along the bottom of the sea by a fishing boat in order to collect a targeted edible bottom-dwelling species. The gear is used to fish for scallops, oysters and other species of clams, crabs, and sea cucumber. The dredge is then winched up into the boat and emptied. Dredges are also used in connection with the work of the naturalist in marine biology, notably on the Challenger Expedition.
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is located in St. Michaels, Maryland, United States and is home to a collection of Chesapeake Bay artifacts, exhibitions, and vessels. This 18-acre (73,000 m2) interactive museum was founded in 1965 on Navy Point, once a site of seafood packing houses, docks, and work boats. Today, the Museum houses the world's largest collection of Chesapeake Bay boats and provides interactive exhibits in and around the 35 buildings which dot the campus. The Museum also offers year-round educational seminars and workshops.
The Edna E. Lockwood is a Chesapeake Bay bugeye, the last working oyster boat of her kind. She is located at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michaels, Maryland. She was built in 1889 at Tilghman Island, Maryland by John B. Harrison and is of nine-log construction, similar to the smaller log canoe, and was launched on October 5, 1889 for Daniel Haddaway, at a cost of $2,200. She worked for at least seven sets of owners from 1899 until 1967, and was then sailed as a yacht until donated to the museum in 1973. The museum undertook an extensive restoration of the Lockwood from 1975 through 1979, which restored the bugeye to its 1910 appearance with the "patent stern" that had been added sometime prior to that year. She is the last bugeye retaining the sailing rig and working appearance of the type. Her length is 53.5 feet (16.3 m), with a 15.25 feet (4.65 m) beam and a draft of 2.58 feet (0.79 m) with the centerboard up, and a maximum sail area of approximately 1700 square feet.
The Rebecca T. Ruark is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack built at Taylor's Island, Maryland. She is homeported at Tilghman Island, Maryland. Built in 1896, she is the oldest surviving skipjack in the Chesapeake Bay fleet. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003.
The Kathryn, a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, was built at Crisfield, Maryland in 1901. Ported at Chance, Maryland, she is reputedly one of the fastest skipjacks on the Bay. She was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 19, 1994. She is one a small number of older skipjacks to survive in working condition.
The William B. Tennison is a Chesapeake Bay bugeye built in 1899 and converted to an oyster buy-boat in 1906–07. With the conversion her sail rig was removed and an engine inserted, and is the only surviving example of this conversion. Her construction marks a transition between log construction and plank construction. She is homeported at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland. The Tennison is reputed to be the second oldest licensed passenger vessel in the United States.
The Nellie Crockett is a Chesapeake Bay oyster buy-boat built for Andrew A. Crockett of Tangier, Virginia, in 1925. She is located at Georgetown, Maryland, USA. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994.
The Mystery is a Chesapeake Bay log canoe, built in 1932, by Harry Sinclair in Oxford, Maryland. She measures 34'-7" long, has a beam of 8'-81⁄2" and has a centerboard. She is noted for her very tall masts, is privately owned, and races under No. 8. She is one of the last 22 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay racing log canoes that carry on a tradition of racing on the Eastern Shore of Maryland that has existed since the 1840s. She is located at Kingstown, Queen Anne's County, Maryland.
The Stanley Norman is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1902 by Otis Lloyd, Salisbury, Maryland. She is a 48-foot-3-inch-long (14.71 m) in Length overall with length on deck (LOD) OF 47.5-foot-long (14.5 m) two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She has a beam of 16 feet (4.9 m), a depth of 4 feet (1.2 m) at the stern with the centerboard up, and a registered tonnage of 7 tons.
The Brown Smith Jones was a patrol boat of the Maryland State Fishery Police which also served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918.
An oyster buy-boat, also known as deck boat, is an approximately 40–90 foot long wooden boat with a large open deck which serviced oyster tongers and dredgers. Similar in function to sardine carriers, buy boats circulated among the harvesters collecting their catches, then delivered their loads to a wholesaler or oyster processing house. This spared the fishermen the task and its downtime, allowing them to catch more oysters. Buy-boats also bought seed oysters, or spat, for planting in oyster beds.
The Helen Virginia is a Skipjack boat built in Crisfield, Maryland in 1948. Having fallen into disrepair after decades of use, she underwent restoration beginning in 2013 in Chance, Maryland. The work was completed just in time to enter the 55th Annual Deal Island Skipjack Race, where maritime history was made on Sep 1, 2014 as the first-ever all-female skipjack crew, captained by Katarina Ennerfelt, sailed her to victory.
The Tilghman Watermen's Museum records the maritime traditions of the people of Tilghman Island and the unique way of life of the watermen who lived on the island. It is located on Tilghman Island, Talbot County, Maryland, United States.
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