Cover photo: Ships plans for Little Choptank Flattie by Howard I. Chapelle, c. 1954. Gift of Howard I. Chapelle, Collection of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, 1976.0042.0043
Like many others, my life with traditional sailing workboats began at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
On my first visit in the late 1980s, I picked up two publications from the Museum Store: "Chesapeake Bay Crabbing Skiffs" and "American Small Sailing Craft" by Howard Chapelle. Soon after, my son Nathan and I chose a plan from these books to build together—an 18-foot crabbing skiff originally built around 1900 near Cambridge, Md.
After Nathan graduated from college and moved to Wisconsin, he took that crabbing skiff with him.
So, when I retired two years ago, it was time to build and sail my own crabbing skiff. But which one? I was intrigued by the Smith Island double ender highlighted in "Chesapeake Bay Crabbing Skiffs."
When I looked for more information about its history and construction details, I discovered CBMM's online collections portal. On my first search, I struck gold. There was the original Smith Island skiff that Chapelle had photographed and measured at Deal Island in 1940.
I soon discovered there was lots more gold in the CBMM archive. There were hundreds of plans and photos for me to consider for my next boatbuilding project.
Just like that, the choices now seemed endless. And a new, wide field of interest had opened up.
I started visiting CBMM's Norman & Ellen Plummer Center for Museum Collections regularly to get a close-up look at what I found online. With guidance from Assistant Curator Gabriella Cantelmo, I examined hundreds of original photos, large-format ships plans, and remarkable scale models of sailing workboats in CBMM's collection.
Along with the artifacts and documents, I was seeing an opportunity to help others who are interested in traditional sailing workboats, but who live too far away to visit the archives in person. With permission from CBMM, I began publishing my discoveries on my new website, Eastern Shore Sailing Workboats.
My purpose was to enable anyone, anywhere, to "Google" the names of boat designs, historic boatyards, boatbuilders, and watermen associated with these small craft, and discover what’s in the CBMM collection. Each of my blog posts cites the CBMM catalog numbers for photos and plans that I present. When readers find what interests them, they can engage in conversation through my posts or contact the CBMM curatorial staff to continue their own research.
It didn’t take long to get sidetracked from just boat plans and photos. I wanted to know more about native wood species used by local boatbuilders.
What a surprise to find narratives about the renowned skipjack builder Bronza Parks walking through the woods to select straight and tall old-growth loblolly pines, working with local sawyers to mill the logs, and driving to Baltimore in his Cadillac to haggle with lumber merchants for mahogany for transoms and trim.
I found hours of transcribed interviews with Bronza’s daughter and grandson and more than 100 vintage photos of Bronza’s boatyard. My own boatbuilding project would have to wait. I couldn’t resist compiling and arranging this narrative into an extensive post titled, "The Bronza Parks Boatyard Tours – 1950-1956."
Along the way, I finally decided on my next project. I wanted to build the Two-Sail Crabbing Skiff that appears in Chapelle's "Chesapeake Bay Crabbing Skiffs." This skiff was built near Cambridge in 1910.
In CBMM's collection, I found not only plans but a virtual construction manual in the Edward Thieler Model Collection. Thieler had done extensive research into each of his 15 Chesapeake workboat models in the collection. His models are about three feet long, exquisitely detailed, and historically accurate. They show many construction details and methods that are not explicit in the original plans.
The collection also preserves Thieler’s lofting (scaling) plans with many measurements not found in the original drawings. Looking through photos of his model-building process is like hanging out at the boatyard to follow the boat’s progress toward launch day.
My research into the archives and my writings about Chapelle boat plans, Bronza’s boatyard, and the Thieler Model Collection have put me in touch with a community of traditional small craft experts and new friends.
Readers who comment on my blog posts often share new details of history or design about these boats and builders. Or they may ask questions that point me to new research topics.
Some have collaborated in research and writing for the next article. Gabriella also helped me start a correspondence with Ed Thieler. Ed has become a valued mentor, editor, and friend.
I remind my readers that I’m not a trained researcher or historian. But I also emphasize that the CBMM archive and professional staff are a valuable, accessible resource for amateurs like me. They empower us to explore and share the treasures we discover in the collection.
And, I often have to remind myself to take a break from exploring, close my laptop, and get back into the boat shop.
I'm pleased to report that, slowly but surely, I'm making progress on my new crabbing skiff, working off Chapelle's drawings. Right now, the strongback is set up, and most of the station molds are in place. I can’t wait to lay on some planking and see the vessel take shape at last.
Learn more about conducting research at CBMM
CBMM's Howard I. Chapelle Library is a special collections library named for the renowned naval architect and CBMM benefactor. It houses books, periodicals, photographs, media, manuscripts, ships plans and other materials focusing on the history, environment, and culture of the Chesapeake Bay region, and the maritime history of the Atlantic Coast.
Renovated and expanded in 2022 as part of the Norman & Ellen Plummer Center for Museum Collections, the Library boasts an expanded reading room for researchers and fulfills CBMM’s commitment to preserving and providing access to these unique resources.
The Library is located at 109B Mill Street in St. Michaels, Md., and is open by appointment only and free of charge. Click here to fill out a Research Request form and/or to request an appointment.
Prepare for your visit and explore more than 80,000 items in CBMM’s collections through our online collections portal at collections.cbmm.org.