arpie

The sharpie was so distinctive in form, proportion, and appearance that
her movements from area to area can be traced with confidence. This boat
type was particularly well suited to oyster fishing, and during the last
four decades of the 19th century its use spread along the Atlantic coast
of North America as new oyster fisheries and markets opened. The
refinements that distinguished the sharpie from other flat-bottomed
skiffs first appeared in some boats that were built at New Haven,
Connecticut, in the late 1840's. These craft were built to be used in
the then-important New Haven oyster fishery that was carried on, for the
most part, by tonging in shallow water.

The claims for the "invention" of a boat type are usually without the
support of contemporary testimony. In the case of the New Haven sharpie
two claims were made, both of which appeared in the sporting magazine
_Forest and Stream_. The first of these claims, undated, attributed the
invention of the New Haven sharpie to a boat carpenter named Taylor, a
native of Vermont.[1] In the January 30, 1879, issue of _Forest and
Stream_ there appeared a letter from Mr. M. Goodsell stating that the
boat built by Taylor, which was named _Trotter_, was not the first
sharpie.[2] Mr. Goodsell claimed that he and his brother had built the
first New Haven sharpie in 1848 and that, because of her speed, she had
been named _Telegraph_. The Goodsell claim was never contested in
_Forest and Stream_, and it is reasonable to suppose, in the
circumstances, that had there been any question concerning the
authenticity of this claim it would have been challenged.

[1] _Forest and Stream_, January 23, 1879, vol. 11, no. 25, p. 504.

[2] _Forest and Stream_, January 30, 1879, vol. 11, no. 26, p. 500.

No contemporary description of these early New Haven sharpies seems to
be available. However, judging by records made in the 1870's, we may
assume that the first boats of this type were long, rather narrow, open,
flat-bottomed skiffs with a square stern and a centerboard; they were
rigged with two masts and two leg-of-mutton sails. Until the appearance
of the early sharpies, dugout canoes built of a single white pine log
had been used at New Haven for tonging. The pine logs used for these
canoes came mostly from inland Connecticut, but they were obtainable
also in northern New England and New York. The canoes ranged from 28 to
35 feet in length, 15 to 20 inches in depth, and 3