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.
The skipjack is sloop-rigged, with a sharply raked mast and extremely long boom (typically the same length as the deck of the boat). The mainsail is ordinarily triangular, though gaff rigged examples were built. The jib is self-tending and mounted on a bowsprit. This sail plan 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 and a square stern. 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 is common. A typical skipjack is 40 to 50 feet in length. The boats use direct link Edson worm 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). Most skipjacks were eventually modified with stern davits to hold a dinghy or pushboat to allow motorized travel as permitted by law.
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 bugeye developed out of the log canoe 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 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, 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 Maryland in 1985.
The popularity of the skipjack in the late 1970s is seen in Peter Stevenson's 1977 book, "Sailboats You Can Build," [1] which featured plans for a home-built skipjack as well as 2 other small day-sailing boats.
Joshua Slocum piloted a modified Skipjack, [2] a gaff rigged sloop named Spray in the first solo global circumnavigation. He wrote about the experience in his classic Sailing Alone Around the World . The rigging was modified to a Yawl near the Strait of Magellan. [3]
Smith Island is a collection of three distinct island communities, Tylerton, Rhodes Point, and Ewell, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay, on the border of Maryland and Virginia territorial waters in the United States. The island is the last inhabited island in Maryland that is not accessible by vehicle, where most of the islands are eroding due to tidal currents and sea level rise. A study conducted in 2008 by the DNR reported that Smith Island is expected to completely erode by 2100 if no action was taken.
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.
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.
Holland Island was a marshy, rapidly eroding island in the Chesapeake Bay, in Dorchester County, Maryland, west of Salisbury. The island was once inhabited by watermen and farmers but has since been abandoned as sinking of the land's surface associated with isostatic subsidence and sea level rise. It is located in the Holland Strait, between Bloodsworth Island and Smith Island, six miles west of Wenona, Maryland and Southeast of another former island, Long Island.
Hilda M. Willing is a relatively small Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1905 at Oriole, Maryland, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994.
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.
Claud W. Somers is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1911 in Young's Creek, Virginia, by W. Thomas Young of Parksley, who also built Bernice J.. She is ported at the Reedville Fisherman's Museum in Reedville, Virginia. In 1977 Claude W. Somers was struck by a squall near Hooper Strait Light, leaving six drowned, including her owner-captain.
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 Thomas W. Clyde is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, normally ported at Deal Island, Maryland. Built at Oriole, Maryland in 1911, the Clyde is one of nineteen surviving skipjacks built before 1912.
E.C. Collier is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1910 at Deal Island, Maryland. She is a 52-foot-long (16 m) two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She has a beam of 17.9 feet (5.5 m), a depth of 4.5 feet (1.4 m), and a registered net tonnage of 14 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. At the time of her documentation on the National Register of Historic Places she was located at Tilghman, Talbot County, Maryland. She is now a permanent exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michaels, Maryland.
The Minnie V is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1906 at Wenona, Maryland, United States. She is a 45.3-foot-long, two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She has a beam of 15.7 feet and a depth of 3 feet with a net 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. She is located at Tilghman, Talbot County, Maryland.
The Nellie L. Byrd is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1911 at Oriole, Maryland. She is a 53.6' long two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She has a beam of 26.7', a depth of 4.8', and a net tonnage of 18 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. When listed, she was located at Tilghman, Talbot County, Maryland. Since 2005, she is located at Middle River, Maryland, Baltimore 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 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.
I also mended the sloop's sails and rigging, and fitted a jigger, which changed the rig to a yawl [...]
| Fisheries |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Fishing | ||
| Industry | ||
| Recreation | ||
| Techniques | ||
| Tackle | ||
| Locations | ||
| Types |
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industry |
| ||||||
| Culture |
| ||||||
