Whitehall rowboat

Last updated
A Whitehall rowboat Wh 14 row beach.jpg
A Whitehall rowboat

A Whitehall rowboat is a style of lapstrake-built rowboat developed in the United States in the 19th century. The basic design is much older and of European ancestry. It strongly resembles a sailing ship's gig or a Thames river wherry used by watermen as a taxi service. They were first made in the U.S. at the foot of Whitehall Street in New York City to ferry goods, and people to ships in New York Harbor.

Contents

The boats range from 14 to 22 ft in length, the larger requiring two people to row them. The 25 ft Whitehall gig requires four rowers and a coxswain for a crew of five.

History

The Whitehall rowboat was the first boat to be constructed in an inverted-hull set-up to speed up the manufacturing process.

The hull shape is characterized by a nearly straight stem, and slight flare to the bow, rounded sides, with a keel running the entire length of the bottom and a distinctive wine glass transom with a full skeg. Considered one of the most beautiful row-boats, they are designed to handle the harbor chop and yet track straight. Speed was the issue with these boats, as the first to the ship with the goods generally received most of the sales. Later the shore patrol used these boats for customs, police issues, water taxi, and newspaper reporting.

Whitehalls in the early 20th century were a popular recreational boat and were known as the "bicycle of the sea". A beginning rower finds it easier to row this design in a straight line because of the tracking type keel. Turning requires stronger strokes on one side, and by braking with one oar and pulling with the other the boat can be turned in its own length.

Today

Whitehall designs are currently being built in wood, and also manufactured fiberglass usually with wood trims, and more recently thermoformed in co-polymer plastic. These boats are either traditional fixed seat row boats or slide seat rowing boats. Some models or also including sailing rigs. Many designs are mistakenly being called Whitehalls when they are not actually true to the design criteria. The Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum has a comprehensive collection of authentic Whitehall lines.

The Village Community Boathouse in New York City has dedicated its boatbuilding program [1] to almost exclusively building and restoring wooden Whitehall Gigs. They have built dozens over the last decade, most of which are available for free public use at their boathouse [2] on Pier 40 while others have been loaned or donated to sister organizations.

See also

Further reading

Modern boat builders
Classic wood boat builders
Whitehall designs for amateur builders
Youth and community education programs using Whitehalls and Whitehall gigs

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinghy</span> Type of small boat

A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which are designed first and foremost for sailing. A dinghy's main use is for transfers from larger boats, especially when the larger boat cannot dock at a suitably-sized port or marina.

The Jersey Skiff is a boat that was once popular for sport fishing in the United States. They were introduced by fishermen on the Jersey Shore, and were originally designed to be launched from the beach through the surf, so they could tend their fishing nets offshore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gig (boat)</span> Type of boat

A gig is a type of boat. It was optimised for speed under oar, but usually also fitted with a sailing rig for appropriate conditions. The type was in use by Deal boatmen in the 18th century. It first occurred as a naval ship's boat after Deal boatbuilders recommended a different design to boats ordered from them by the Royal Navy to equip the cutters purchased in the 1760s to combat smuggling. The captains of larger warships soon sought permission to substitute a gig for one of the heavier boats which were then used; some even had a gig built at their own expense. The gig therefore became part of the usual complement of ship's boats used in warships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowing</span> Act of propelling a boat using oars

Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically attached to the boat, and the rower drives the oar like a lever, exerting force in the same direction as the boat's travel; while paddles are completely hand-held and have no attachment to the boat, and are driven like a cantilever, exerting force opposite to the intended direction of the boat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racing shell</span> Rowing boat designed for racing or exercise

In watercraft, a racing shell is an extremely narrow, and often comparatively long, rowing boat specifically designed for racing or exercise. It is equipped with long oars, outriggers to hold the oarlocks away from the boat, and sliding seats. The boat's long length and semicircular cross-section reduce drag to a minimum. This makes the boat both fast and unstable. It must be balanced by the rowers to avoid tipping. Being able to balance – or "set" – the boat while putting maximum effort into the oars is therefore an essential skill of sport rowing.

In competitive rowing, the following specialized terms are important in the corresponding aspects of the sport:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glasgow University Boat Club</span>

Glasgow University Boat Club (GUBC) is the rowing club of the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The club is affiliated to Scottish Rowing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selwyn College Boat Club</span> British rowing club

Selwyn College Boat Club (SCBC) is the official rowing club for members of Selwyn College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The Selwyn College Boat Club has one of the highest participation rates of novice rowers of any Oxbridge college, and has performed well in the May Bumps and Lent Bumps in recent years. Notable alumni of the Selwyn College Boat Club include Hugh Laurie, Tom Hollander, and Richard Budgett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Gatos Rowing Club</span>

The Los Gatos Rowing Club was started in 1979 to provide what was then mostly an eastern U.S. sport, to the kids in the Santa Clara Valley. In the past 20 years, more than 2,000 kids from 15 different high schools have passed through the program. Many have gone onto colleges and universities to row competitively, several have received rowing scholarships, and a few have been selected for Junior National Camps and are trying for the Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drascombe</span> Family of British sailboats

The word Drascombe is a trademark that was first registered by John Watkinson who applied it to a series of sailing boats which he designed and built in the period 1965–79 and sold in the United Kingdom (UK). They comprised the Coaster, Cruiser Longboat, Dabber, Drifter, Driver, Gig, Launch, Longboat, Lugger, Peterboat, Scaffie, Scaith and Skiff, together with a few other one-offs. They have wide and deep cockpits, adaptable boomless rigs and high bulwarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sailing yacht</span> Private sailing vessel with overnight accommodations

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llandaff Rowing Club</span> Welsh rowing club

Llandaff Rowing Club is a sport rowing club based on the River Taff in Llandaff, a district in the city of Cardiff, Wales. The club was founded in 1946 and is affiliated to the Welsh Amateur Rowing Association and to British Rowing.

Mike Davis was a boat builder who was a hands-on advocate for making recreational boat usage available on the Hudson River from New York City and New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Ayles Skiff</span> Rowing boat

The St. Ayles Skiff is a 4 oared rowing boat, designed by Iain Oughtred and inspired by the traditional Fair Isle skiff. The boat’s hull and frames are built using clinker plywood and it measures 22’ with a beam of 5’ 8”. It is normally crewed by four sweep rowers with a coxswain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swan 36</span> Sailboat design

Swan 36 is a fin keeled, fiberglass constructed masthead sloop first manufactured by Nautor's Swan in 1967. The first Swan sailing yacht ever produced by the firm, it was designed to serve recreationally but also compete in the One Ton Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Village Community Boathouse</span>

The Village Community Boathouse is a Manhattan-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting rowing, boat building, environmental stewardship and human-powered recreational boating on the Hudson River and the New York Estuary.

Michael "Mike" Matson is an American ocean rower and author who holds 2 Guinness World Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean Rowing Society International</span> Governing body for international ocean rowing

Ocean Rowing Society International (ORSI) (prior to 2006 known as ORS), is the governing body for international ocean rowing and official adjudicator of ocean rowing records for Guinness World Records. ORSI was founded in 1983 in California by ocean rower Peter Bird and Kenneth F.Crutchlow FRGS. Current coordinators of ORSI are Tatiana Rezvaya-Crutchlow and Chris Martin, and Fiann Paul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolphin Club (San Francisco)</span> Swimming and boating athletic club

The Dolphin Club, also known as the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club, is an athletic club in San Francisco, California. It caters to open water swimming, rowing, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, and 4-wall handball.

A Woods Hole spritsail boat is a small sailing and rowing craft, constructed entirely of wood, and fastened with iron or copper. It was used historically for fishing, island mail deliveries, racing, or day sailing off the coast of southeastern Massachusetts, especially in the waters of Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound near the town of Woods Hole, a community of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Although the sprit sailing rig has ancient roots, the Woods Hole spritsail boats were built and used mainly in the period between the US Civil War and World War I, becoming most prevalent during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original boats were employed almost exclusively in fishing, including handlining for finfish, trap fishing for lobster, or digging with tongs for bivalve shellfish, but by the late 19th century, newer and lighter spritsail boats began to be built for recreational sailing and racing. This transition coincided with the emergence of Woods Hole as a summer coastal tourist destination, when the Cape Cod Central Railroad began service from Buzzards Bay in 1872, followed by a private subscription railroad that was extended from Boston in 1884. This spritsail boat has now disappeared as a type, but its cultural significance endures in New England maritime museums, remaining a material symbol of the small community of Woods Hole.

References