Produced by Colin Bell, Woodie4, Joseph Cooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY: PAPER 25 THE MIGRATIONS OF AN AMERICAN BOAT TYPE _Howard I. Chapelle_ THE NEW HAVEN SHARPIE 136 THE CHESAPEAKE BAY SHARPIE 148 THE NORTH CAROLINA SHARPIE 149 SHARPIES IN OTHER AREAS 151 DOUBLE-ENDED SHARPIES 152 MODERN SHARPIE DEVELOPMENT 154 THE MIGRATIONS OF AN AMERICAN BOAT TYPE _by Howard I. Chapelle_ [Illustration: FIGURE 1.--Scale model of a New Haven sharpie of 1885, complete with tongs. (_USNM 318023; Smithsonian photo 47033-C._)] _The New Haven sharpie, a flat-bottomed sailing skiff, was originally developed for oyster fishing, about the middle of the last century._ _Very economical to build, easy to handle, maneuverable, fast and seaworthy, the type was soon adapted for fishing along the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States and in other areas. Later, because of its speed, the sharpie became popular for racing and yachting._ _This study of the sharpie type--its origin, development and spread--and the plans and descriptions of various regional types here presented, grew out of research to provide models for the hall of marine transportation in the Smithsonian's new Museum of History and Technology._ THE AUTHOR: _Howard I. Chapelle is curator of transportation in the U.S. National Museum, Smithsonian Institution._ For a commercial boat to gain widespread popularity and use, it must be suited to a variety of weather and water conditions and must have some very marked economic advantages over any other boats that might be used in the same occupation. Although there were more than 200 distinct types of small sailing craft employed in North American fisheries and in along-shore occupations during the last 60 years of the 19th century, only rarely was one of these boat types found to be so well suited to a particular occupation that its use spread to areas at any great distance from the original locale. Those craft that were "production-built," generally rowing boats, were sold along the coast or inland for a variety of uses, of course. The New England dory, the seine boat, the Connecticut drag boat, and the yawl were such production-built boats.