Customer Reviews

The Workboats of Smith Island

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Smith Island is the preserve of some of the most individualistic Americans to be found anywhere. Cowboys of the Bay. Isolated and dependent upon small boats for commerce, transportation, livelyhood and as a cultural icon, the Smith Islanders have produced a variety of watercraft that are much like the Islanders themselves, cranky, idiosyncratic but subject to the tides of change. The text leaves much unsaid and unillustrated such as the Hooper's Island drake tail, a boat fashioned after the fantail of early destroyers. Building details are well illustrated but limited and the history of deadrise workboats, bugeyes, catrigged crabbing skiffs and the infamous gunning punts are not that well explained. The advent of the new wave of crab boats such as Buddy Evans BHM hull and the role of Robbins, the Jones Brothers on Hooper's Island and Markleys are poorly represented. Otherwise this is the best treatment of Smith Island since Chapelle's.

Anyone who is interested in deadrise workboats should buy this book. There are many books that describe the lives of Chesapeake watermen and there are some books that describe the design and construction of older fishing craft ("American Small Sailing Craft" by Howard Chapelle), but this is the only book that I am aware of that features actual lines drawings and construction information for the deadrise workboats that can be seen presently on the Chesapeake Bay. My only gripe is that the book features drawings for just one example of each type of boat (skiffs, crabscrappers, & deadrise workboats) used by the watermen.