The Chesapeake Bay deadrise or deadrise workboat is a type of traditional fishing boat used in the Chesapeake Bay. Watermen use these boats year round for everything from crabbing and oystering to catching fish or eels.
Traditionally wooden hulled, the deadrise is characterised by a sharp bow that quickly becomes a flat V shape moving aft along the bottom of the hull. A small cabin structure lies forward and a large open cockpit and work area aft.
The deadrise workboat is the official boat of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
"Deadrise" refers to the line rising upward horizontally from the keel rabbet (the point where the top of the keel connects to the hull) to the chine (or sideboards). It rises on each side of the keel in a straight line, or "dead rise," creating the flat V shape of the bottom of the hull. The bottom of the hull is planked in a herring bone pattern with planks running diagonally from keel to chine. The sides are planked longitudinally. As a result, it is both useful in shallows and very forgiving when the Bay turns rough.
Though earlier types such as skipjacks shared a similar hull form, the term "deadrise workboat" is generally understood to refer to more recent engine-powered vessels.
The design and construction of deadrise workboats evolved from the sailing skipjacks. One of the first types of purpose-built small powered fishing boats to appear on the Chesapeake Bay were the Hooper Island draketails of the 1920s and 1930s. The Hooper Island draketails featured construction similar to the sailing skipjacks, but were narrower as stability was not needed to carry a sail and a narrow hull made best use of the limited power from the available gasoline engines. As higher power engines became available, hulls became wider. Higher powered engines permitted higher speeds, which required sterns that were wider and flatter under the waterline to prevent the stern from squatting down in the water at higher speeds.
A hull is the watertight body of a ship, boat, submarine, or flying boat. The hull may open at the top, or it may be fully or partially covered with a deck. Atop the deck may be a deckhouse and other superstructures, such as a funnel, derrick, or mast. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.
Boat building is the design and construction of boats — and their on-board systems. This includes at minimum the construction of a hull, with any necessary propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other service systems as the craft requires.
Sharpies are a type of hard chined sailboat with a flat bottom, extremely shallow draft, centreboards and straight, flaring sides. They are believed to have originated in the New Haven, Connecticut region of Long Island Sound, United States. They were traditional fishing boats used for oystering, and later appeared in other areas. With centerboards and shallow balanced rudders they are well suited to sailing in shallow tidal waters.
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.
A chine in boat design is a sharp change in angle in the cross section of a hull. The chine typically arises from the use of sheet materials as the mode of construction.
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 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.
A sailing yacht, is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applies here to sailing vessels that have a cabin with amenities that accommodate overnight use. To be termed a "yacht", as opposed to a "boat", such a vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities. Sailboats that do not accommodate overnight use or are smaller than 30 feet (9.1 m) are not universally called yachts. Sailing yachts in excess of 130 feet (40 m) are generally considered to be superyachts.
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 Stanley Norman is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1902 by Otis Lloyd, Salisbury, Maryland. She is 48 feet 3 inches (14.71 m) in length overall with length on deck (LOD) OF 47.5 feet (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 Elsworth is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1901 at Hudson, Maryland. She is a 39.9-foot-long (12.2 m) two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She has a beam of 14.3', a depth of 3.1', and a gross registered tonnage of 8 tons. She is one of the 35 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay skipjacks and a member of the last commercial sailing fleet in the United States.
The F. C. Lewis Jr. is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1907 at Hopkins, Virginia. She is a 39-foot-long (12 m) two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She has a beam of 14.6 feet (4.5 m) and a register depth of 3 feet (0.91 m); her register tonnage is 6. Likewise, she is one of the 35 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay skipjacks and a member of the last commercial sailing fleet in the United States. She is located at Wenona, Somerset County, Maryland.
The Fannie L. Daugherty is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1904 at Crisfield, Maryland. She is a 41.3-foot-long (12.6 m) two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She is built by cross-planked construction methods and has a beam of 8 feet (2.4 m) and a depth of 3.6 feet (1.1 m). She one of the 35 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay skipjacks and a member of the last commercial sailing fleet in the United States. She is located at Wenona, Somerset County, Maryland.
The Ida May is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1906 at Urbanna or Deep Creek, Virginia. She is a 42.2-foot-long (12.9 m), two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She has a beam of 14.4 feet (4.4 m), a depth of 3.3 feet (1 m), and a net register tonnage of 7. She is one of the 35 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay skipjacks and a member of the last commercial sailing fleet in the United States. She is located at Chance, Somerset County, Maryland.
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 Menger Oysterman 23 is an American trailerable skipjack that was designed by Bill Menger as a daysailer and cruiser and first built in 1977.
Howard I.Chappelle, “American Small Sailing Craft”, W. M. Norton & Company, 1951.
Paula J. Johnson, “The Workboats of Smith Island”, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.