Cape Cod Oystering Skiff 18

Description

The Cape Cod Oystering Skiff 18 by Howard I. Chapelle refers to a historic 18-foot flat-bottomed sharpie workboat documented in his seminal book American Small Sailing Craft: Their Design, Development and Construction (W.W. Norton, 1951), specifically on page 101. Chapelle recorded this as a typical example of the narrow, lightweight skiffs used by oystermen on Cape Cod in the late 19th/early 20th centuries for working shallow tidal flats, sandbars, and protected bays—poling, rowing, or sailing to harvest oysters with tongs or rakes. These were practical, no-frills workboats: fast in thin water, easy to build from local lumber (often cedar or cypress planking on simple frames), and optimized for one-person operation in variable conditions. Chapelle's drawing captures a classic flat-bottom sharpie hull with sharp entry bow, raked transom, centerboard (or pivoting daggerboard), and a simple unstayed spritsail or leg-o'-mutton rig for light winds and quick reefing (by drawing the sail to the mast). The design emphasizes speed over load-carrying compared to beamier catboats, with minimal freeboard and a fine run aft for efficiency.