Daniel Sheldon Lee

Maine Lobster Boat (eBook, ePUB)

History of an Iconic Fishing Vessel

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

The modern lobster boat has evolved slowly over decades to become the craft it is today: seaworthy, strong, fast, and trusted implicitly by the lobstermen and women to get the job done and get them home, each and every time, through the most terrifying--and sometimes life-threatening--conditions that the sea can dish up. "Where do lobster boats come from?" "What is the origin of their design?" "Who builds them?" "How do they work?" The story of the Maine lobster boat needs to be told--before the storied history of this iconic American craft slips away forever into the past, on the heels of what may be the last surviving traditional lobster boat builders.

Filled with colorful characters, old maritime tales, and fascinating details, this a definitive look at the origins and lore of Maine's most ubiquitous vessel.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Down East Books
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. September 2022
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781684750054
• Artikelnr.: 64615554

Autorenporträt

By Daniel Sheldon Lee

Inhaltsangabe

Part I: "The Boats"
* "The Fastest Lobster Boat Race in the World": What could be more
exciting than watching 40-foot lobster boats racing at speeds of over
50 mph up narrow Moosabec Reach? This chapter is based on a colorful
account of a trip to the storied, annual lobster boat race on July 4
th in Jonesport-Beals, Maine. At stake is not merely the personal
pride of the competing lobster boat owners, but also the extensive
publicity and lucrative business that can accrue to boat builders in
the event of a victory. This chapter includes interviews with
competing lobstermen bent on bragging rights for their beloved boats,
as well as a generous dose of hard-to-believe and uncouth stories
from races in years past, including related festivities, the
intentional splashing of judges, firearms violations, high-speed
bridge collisions and boat rollovers.
* "In the Beginning: Dories and Peapods": While today's high-powered
lobster boats have actually reached speeds of 90 miles per hour, the
first boat used to snatch the delicious American Lobster (Homarus
americanus) from the shallows was the slow, humble, oar-powered Dory.
Simply crafted in wood, stable, practical, and long-lived, the Dory
served its purpose in the early years of the industry in the 17th
and 18th Centuries as an inexpensive, easily-built boat for the
casual harvesting of lobsters inshore, but it was rapidly eclipsed by
bigger, more seaworthy boats. Its design never made the later
transition to engine power, and thus the boat reached an evolutionary
dead end in the lobster industry early on. The Dory was followed by
its cousin, the wooden, double-ended "Peapod," the design of which is
strikingly reminiscent of a big Native American canoe. Peapods are
said to have originated in Penobscot Bay around 1870. The Peapod was
extremely seaworthy due to its high "twin bows," allowing it to be
rowed further offshore than the Dory, and it was able to be rowed
standing up, backwards as well as forwards, traits that lobstermen
constantly maneuvering around ledges to pull traps found invaluable.
The Peapod, despite its widespread use was another traditional
lobstering craft that was unable to make the transition to power, but
it lives on in the industry in a limited capacity as a tender. This
chapter tells the stories of the Dory and the Peapod, their maritime
history and use in the lobster industry, and includes several salty
tales salvaged from the distant past involving their use by
lobstermen.
* "Under Sail: The Muscongus and Friendship Sloops": As lobster catches
steadily increased in value in the late 1800s, many lobstermen turned
to the wind to help them manage their growing workload. The first
widely-adopted sailing craft in the industry was the speedy Muscongus
Sloop, so-called for its origin around Muscongus Bay, Maine. The
small, open Muscongus Sloop employed a centerboard and was used by
lobstermen largely in inshore waters. This boat later evolved into
and became widely known as the "Friendship" Sloop because of the many
notable boats of this design built by the Morse's boat shop in the
town of Friendship, Maine. In general, the clipper-bowed Friendship
is larger and more seaworthy than its predecessor the Muscongus,
employing a keel, and it was sailed by lobstermen further offshore.
The Friendship Sloop was quickly abandoned by lobstermen in the early
1900s, however, when its design proved incompatible with engine
power. Today, the strikingly-beautiful Friendship Sloop endures as a
classic icon raced by yachtsmen and enjoys a passionate following.
This chapter tells the interesting story of these sloops, their
history, design, and use, as well as local maritime tales that
highlight their "racy" past.
* "Hampton and Reach Boats: The Transition to Power": Lobster boats
under sail reached their evolutionary height at the end of the 19th
Century with the Muscongus and Friendship Sloops together with two
other notable crafts, Hampton and Reach boats. Notably, the designs
of the Hampton and Reach boats allowed them to later transition to
engine power, while the Muscongus and Friendship Sloops were unable
to make this vital change, and thus reached an evolutionary dead end
in the industry. The sturdy, handsome Hampton boat originated in
Hampton, New Hampshire, and was widely employed by lobstermen on the
western coast of Maine. The narrower Reach Boat, sort of a cross
between a Peapod and a Hampton boat, was widely used Down East around
Muscongus Bay, and its lines became the predecessor to the classic
long, thin, and fast powered lobster boats that characterize Eastern
Maine. The square transom of the Hampton boat, in particular,
combined with its overall design, proved to be the perfect platform
for engine-power in the early 20th Century, and thus the Hampton
served as the natural, de-facto link between sailing and powerboats
in the lobster industry. This chapter tells the fascinating story of
the Reach boat and the legendary Hampton boat, the design of which
has heavily influenced innumerable commercial and recreational boat
designs up to the present day.
* "Under Power: The Modern Lobster Boat": The transition of lobstermen
to engine-powered boats in the early years of the 20th Century,
starting with the Hampton Boat, has culminated in the huge,
high-powered craft of today seen flaunting their speed in the lobster
boat races that take place annually all along the Maine Coast. There
have been several major design factors along the way that led to
these large, high-powered boats, including most notably the
ever-increasing pressure on lobstermen to haul more traps and travel
greater distances to obtain more lobsters as the industry grew
steadily more competitive. The advent of the lighter and more
powerful 4-cyclinder automobile engines that became available to boat
builders after World War I also created dramatic change in lobster
boat designs. This chapter describes the fascinating evolution of
these design changes, and also begins to introduce the many and
various salty Maine characters that introduced them, as lobster boat
building became more specialized and migrated from fishermen's
backyards to local boat shops.
Part II: "The Builders"
* "The Beals and Beals Island": The Beals are one of the legendary
Maine lobster boat-building families. There were so many lobster boat
builders on Beals Island, located "way Down East" on Muscongus Reach,
that as the old saying goes "you could kick over a stump and find a
boat builder there." And that builder would very likely have been a
Beal. There was Riley Beal, Alvin Beal, Isaac Beal, Calvin Beal,
Adrian Beal, Willis Beal, Osmond Beal...the list goes on and on, and
then, eventually, it actually starts to repeat itself as another
generation manned the boat shops. The Beal's themselves will tell you
that "We don't have a family tree; we have a family wreath (it just
keeps going round-and-round)." But despite the family similarities,
many of the Beal's were outstanding boat builders in their own right,
and many of them brought something unique to the ever-evolving design
of the Maine lobster boat. There were no formal schools for their
trade - the many boat shops were where each successive generation
learned the craft, which was generally passed down from father to
son, or father to son-in-law. Wooden lobster boat building flourished
on Beals Island until about 1980, with the last wooden boat built on
the island in 1991 by Willis Beal. This chapter tells the fascinating
story of the Beal family, and includes some of the famous (and some
infamous) lobster boat tales that permeate Beals Island.
* "The Wizard of Beals Island: Will Frost": Mainers' may not want to
hear it, but probably the most influential designers in the evolution
of the Maine lobster boat weren't originally from Maine at all. They
were imports from even further Down East - straight across the Bay of
Fundy, around Digby, Nova Scotia. Will Frost seemingly appeared out
of nowhere on Beals Island in 1912, possibly riding an especially
turbid blast of freezing easterly wind. He then proceeded to build
the most bewitchingly-beautiful, and fastest, motorboats anyone there
had ever seen, including the famous "Red Wing." Twenty-six feet long
and just five-and-a-half feet wide, this long, thin motorboat
introduced the "torpedo stern" to Maine, a striking design affect
possibly derived from navy destroyers where the stern angles gently
out and away from the boat, as opposed to the typical stern angle
that cuts back under the boat to the waterline. The "Red Wing" was by
far the fastest boat Down East. Over 100 boats were reportedly built
along its lines, and because of its speed and irresistible good
looks, it greatly influenced the design of the modern lobster boat.
Will Frost brought in another Nova Scotian, Harold Gower, to build
boats with him on Beals Island. Incredibly, Gower turned out to be as
good, or even better at designing boats than Will Frost. Some of his
boats were so highly esteemed that they have been fully restored and
are in use today. This chapter tells the interesting and unlikely
story of these two Canadian boat builders, who came to Maine and most
unexpectedly supplied the genius behind the design of one of the
state's most treasured cultural icons.
* "The Lowells Take the Torch": The Lowells, like the Beals, are a
hugely-influential family of lobster boat builders who have left an
indelible mark on the craft. Riley Lowell was the lucky man that
married Will Frost's oldest daughter, and afterwards worked
side-by-side with the master, learning his trade secrets and
continuing his design traditions. Royal, Riley's son and Frost's
grandson, later designed several well-known lobster boats built by
Eastern, Newman, Holland and other builders. Carroll Lowell, also
Frost's grandson, was another force in the industry, building Blue
Hill boats and contributing well-known designs to Johns Bay Boats.
Today, Carroll's sons, Jamie and Joseph, carry on the Lowell
tradition in the same family boat shop in Yarmouth. This chapter
relates the significant boat-building accomplishments of the Lowells,
including how they have been instrumental in continuing Will Frost's
lasting influence on the industry.
* "Modern Lobster Boat Builders": Lobster boat builders in the late-20
th- and 21st Century have continued to build on and enhance the
tried-and-true traditions of the past. Although they adopted new
technologies such as fiberglass, albeit often reluctantly, many
modern builders still built lobster boats using only lines derived
from half-hull boat models, just as had their predecessors. Early on,
many boat shops remained somewhat primitive: some were completely
outside, and several notable shops were said to have "holes in the
walls big enough to throw a dog through." Some of these builders, of
which there are many, included most notably the Young Brothers, who
would always give you a quote but wouldn't always build your boat,
Ernest Libby Jr., who led the (often-despised) transition from wood
boats to fiberglass, Richard Duffy, whose name is now synonymous with
modern lobster and fishing boats due to his popular designs, and
Terry Jason, who was building traditional lobster boats in Maine
until just a few years ago when he passed away. Today the Lowell
Brothers still build lobster boats in the Frost tradition in Maine,
SW Boatworks is building lobster boats based on Calvin Beal's and the
Young Brothers' original designs, and Hollands Boat Shop in Belfast
and Johns Bay Boat Company in South Bristol, along with several other
notable shops, also carry on the time-honored traditions of the past.
* "Afterword: The Future of the Craft": As discussed in previous
chapters, the lobster boat building industry is heavily dependent on
the state of the lobster fishery, which is today still one of the
most lucrative marine business in New England. However, major current
challenges to the fishery include declining lobster catch rates and a
recent ruling at the federal level driven by environmentalists that
will seek to protect Right Whales from the alleged harm they incur
from lobstering gear. And most recently, Maine boat builders have
been impacted significantly by coronavirus regulations and its
negative effect on the economy. Only time will tell if the beloved
maritime icon we know as the Maine lobster boat will survive to grace
our coastlines in years to come.