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it's a shallop

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:57 pm
by wa2crk
Hi Gang

In 1607 when Capt. John Smith landed in the Virginia colonies at the mouth of the Chesapeake
Bay, he brought with him a shallop - a shallow-draft boat, principally rowed or sailed, for use in
exploring the Chesapeake Bay areas. The boat was about 30 feet in length, built in England,
sawed in half and carried in 2 pieces on a larger ship. Upon arrival the two pieces were rowed
ashore and joined together and then used by Capt. Smith to explore the shallow Chesapeake
bay
Last year, one of our members, Bob Johnson was contacted by representatives of Hancock
Reservation, a group of Maryland volunteers who were restoring and maintaining an 18th
century Maryland historic farming estate located on the Chesapeake Bay
(www.hancockreservation.org). They asked Bob to build a replica of Capt. Smith’s shallop for
their museum. This is Bob's effort
bob's boat - Copy.jpg
bob's boat - Copy.jpg (73.28 KiB) Viewed 1242 times
Bill V
This boat was NOT built from a kit. Just from photos of the remains of an original and all hand done

Re: it's a shallop

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 8:32 pm
by bainin
very nice work - did they use a shallop to harvest scallop? =)

Re: it's a shallop

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 10:40 pm
by wa2crk
I don't know about scallops but they did use it to harvest oysters and reportedly clams as well. The fellow who built this boat has also built about a dozen models of various working boats used in the Chesapeake Bay. I got a real history lesson talking to him.
Bill V

Re: it's a shallop

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:05 am
by bainin
Wooden ship building is a wonder to me. yesterday my cat put his front paws on something I had built and broke the top off it haha.
Its a long way from that to making a seaworthy wooden object !

Re: it's a shallop

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:40 pm
by Hobbyman2
Nice job, the timing is incredible here , we started watching a series on netflix titled TURN , its time table is the 1700's and the war of our nations independence , I may be wrong however I believe the movie shows those exact same boats .

Re: it's a shallop

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:56 pm
by wa2crk
My wife and I watched the entire series of TURN. We both grew up in central Long Island so we were familiar with all the town names. Did not notice the boats then but would not be surprised if they the same. Lots of clamming and oystering on LI. Oyster Bay on Long Island is appropriately named.
Bill V