. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. Sailmaker's Plan for the sharpshooter fishing schooner Romp built at Essex, Massachusetts, 1847. From a drawing, made for the Fish Commis- sion, in the Watercraft Collection. pilot-boat schooners then employed in nearly all New England ports. The new class of fishing schooner was named by the fishermen "sharpshooter" or "file bottom," to indicate the V-form of the schooner that resembled a triangular file. The first sharpshooter appears to have been the Romp, built at , in 1847 by Andrew Story for Gloucester ow
. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. Sailmaker's Plan for the sharpshooter fishing schooner Romp built at Essex, Massachusetts, 1847. From a drawing, made for the Fish Commis- sion, in the Watercraft Collection. pilot-boat schooners then employed in nearly all New England ports. The new class of fishing schooner was named by the fishermen "sharpshooter" or "file bottom," to indicate the V-form of the schooner that resembled a triangular file. The first sharpshooter appears to have been the Romp, built at , in 1847 by Andrew Story for Gloucester owners. Traditionally her crew is sup-. posed to have refused to sail in her because she was so sharp but no actual record has yet been found of this. The Romp was a most successful vessel and remained at Gloucester for many years. She must have made a great impression while building, for she was imme- diately followed by a great number of similar schoon- ers, and soon all classes of new schooners, Grand Bankers, Georgesmen, and market boats were being designed as sharpshooters, or file-bottoms. The sharp- shooter attracted much attention in Canadian waters and authorities complained that the new and superior class of New England schooner could outsail the fishery patrol vessels and that the lawless American crews were driving Canadian fishermen from their fishing grounds. It was reported that the sharp- shooters had heavily ironed bowsprits and that their captains threatened to run down Canadian fishermen; the worst of the American vessels were commanded by "Whitewashed Yankees" who, said the Canadian report, were Nova Scotians who had become Ameri- can citizens. Late in the 1850's, the demand for relatively shoal- draft and large keel schooners, to replace the old Chesapeake Bay clippers at Cape Cod, led to the 168. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of
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