Much
has been written on the classic American sailing icon, the Friendship
Sloop. I'll not do much more then offer a short overview of its history
as most is well documented. What I'd like to do here is look at how this
well known type came to be. It's reasonably well assumed that the class
was developed from the shoal draft lobster smack, used in and around the
rock ledges bordering Muscongus Bay, Maine. There certainly are some elements
of these smacks in Friendships, but the direct connection isn't as clear
as is another local type. The desire to work in deeper and less sheltered
water required a vessel of better design. Though the smack was known to
be fast, capable of good capacity and sturdy an obvious choice could be
had in the "Sloop Boat" of Gloucester.
Our country was just finding its boots at the turn of the 19th century.
We didn't even have a proper navy, until the need to build 5 frigates
to combat the pirates off the Barbary Coast, was funded in 1797. The ships
and boats we used in the first half of the 1800's were European prizes
or copies of their working craft. Very little development of our small
craft fleets was born of American minds. In the years between the revolution
and the 1812 war, sharp lined schooner development was high, but oddly
enough, merchant and smaller working craft suffered from the heavily burdened
shapes of the revolution and pre-revolution era. This was an economic
decision based on the fact that ships and working craft had to earn a
living, so cargo carrying was given the effort in the design. The sharp
lines required to gain performance, reduced this ability. It is also important
to note that the sharp line models seen in the schooner development during
this period, came about because many of these vessels were engaged in
illicit, or otherwise dangerous occupations.
The sharp footed "clipper" model, visualized in the manta for
speed among the owners and builders in Baltimore, was slow to catch on.
The owners of fleets were still much against the reduction in capacity.
The years after the second war with England saw a slow progression in
the sharp model hull form. The ship rig vessels and packets of the day
gradually felt the effects of the trend and the benefits of speedy voyages
through stormy North Atlantic winters. This trait trickled down through
the merchant fleets into the working craft.
The fishing boats of the period struggled on, using craft better suited
for North Sea work. Of these were the British smack and our variants.
These, particularly the stone sloop, were much burdened boats, having
near square midship sectional shapes to gain the maximum cargo capacity.
Early American Smack,
Showing Strong British Influence
Another generation of boat builder's began to take over the controls
of their father's shops after the 1812 war. They knew of the sharp Baltimore
model and the frigate model successes in the war, given the opportunity,
began to hone the ends of their craft. We now had a few generations of
designers and builders, quite capable and familiar with the needs of the
trade the craft would be working and the likely owner's willingness to
grasp their concepts.
The coal, ice, stone and wood carrying plus fishing trades put application
specific sloops to work. These influences, in addition to the demands
of owners, owner/skippers and masters caused rise to finer ended craft.
Steam was coming and speed was a real issue for sail power. As the 1800's
worn on, the country as a whole started to feel the benefits of its huge
natural and industrial bases. A guy named Speers designed a fine-ended
boat and kicked some fancy pants Brits best offerings in a yacht race.
We brought home a real ugly trophy and promptly renamed it after the yacht
that earned it. (We sold them the boat, in typical Yankee style.) America
was able to spend effort and money on pleasure craft.
Development of the near shore fisher broke into two distinct needs, shoal
and deep water. The shallow boats became the smacks. These boats were
characterized by rather robust construction and several key features that
made their tasks easier to perform at sea. Smacks were used in working
the bays and estuaries throughout the area. One look at a Smack and you'll
see a Weekender or Vacationer less it headstay and shrouds. The Muscongus
Bay lobster smack was a small, open boat, usually less then 25', sometimes
equipped with the newly re-discovered centerboard and free-standing rig
using solid spars. Some of these little fishers had very small cabins,
but most had just a deck from the mast partners forward.
Free standing rig, meaning no stays or shrouds to hold the stick upright,
served a couple of purposes, the first was to provide deck space, free
of standing rigging which could foul nets and drags and the other was
a safety feature in heavy weather. The solid mast was sized to bend and
spill wind in gusts and to break clean, if over powered enough to endanger
the vessel. This was a common trait in many workboats of the era. The
mast was placed forward in the hull, near the "eyes" of the
boat, much like a cat, to again, free up deck space. This forced the use
of long sprits to balance the mainsail. Much rake was used in the mast
to help apply tension to the headsail, as there was no standing rigging
to serve this need.
Late 1800's Smack
In use, this rig was quite handy; the boom was swung out near perpendicular
to the centerline of the boat making it easy to see why shrouds would
cause trouble. Chafe was a very big concern in these vessels and protecting
the only mode of propulsion was paramount. The jib would be sheeted in,
hard to the centerline. This would permit the vessel to "lie to"
well balanced and under control, where fishing operations could be undertaken
without tending the rig.
The hull form was thick, with her beam carried well aft (cargo carrying
ability) ballast being all inside - usually stone, heavy quarters, immersed
counter, hollow garboards with hard bilges to obtain sail carrying power.
There was drag in the deadwood assembly (fore to aft rake on the keel,
see drawings), but reasonably close to paralleling the waterline, the
bow was plumb or near so and naked (no trail boards or knees) The sprit
was well buried on the deck and a chain bob stay used to carry the load
of the headsail. The heavily raked counter was to allow nets to be dragged
over the transom without fouling the corners and keel hung rudder. Quite
a few had rounded or elliptical sterns for the same reasons.
1903 Gloucester "Sloop Boat" 49'
A deeper water model was required for less sheltered areas. A look at
the sloop boats of Gloucester made the selection easy. There are some
differences, enough to distinguish between the Friendship and Gloucester
sloop boat. The sloop boat is a finer model, has tighter garboards, slightly
softer bilges, no log rail, longer overhang percentage of waterline length,
counter well clear of the LWL and is garnished with a raised quarter deck
rail. There is much more rake in the stem profile and a sweeter run and
buttocks. Both boats would have carried their ballast inside as stone
or iron pigs, making trim and ballast adjustments rather easy (unless
you were the unlucky crew lugging the stuff up on deck) A lot of the type
refinements can be seen as well as the changes in for the style of the
day, like the rake added to the stylized clipper bow compared to the more
traditional clipper look of the Friendship below. This sloop boat's bow
would have been very "sexy" in its day and is still quite appealing,
at least to my eye.
The version of the Gloucester model married to the scale and refinements of the smack became the boat of choice. A builder named Morris out of Friendship, Maine, was noted for his long lived construction and good craftsmanship. His yard was also very prolific in the production of hard working, fast and able sloops. Owners cried, "Build it like the short guy up in Friendship does . . ." So, the name Friendship was attached, eventually becoming the class designation.
Late 19th Century 30' Friendship Sloop
Pleasure craft in this style were desired so, load carrying capacity was
diminished, by removing some of the displacement and making the entry
finer. The rig was moved aft a bit to shorten the "widow maker"
and stayed. These yachts didn't have to carry tons of fish back to port
and survive storm conditions, so the scantlings were lightened. The cabins
became longer; the side decks, wider and with much crafted architectural
detailing. These boats were no longer the sisters of distant, working
cousins, but a newly emerging style of vessel. The most long-lived of
these early yachts caused the love affair seen today. Those vessels would
have been the high dollar custom yachts or conversions of their day, built
with the best materials and workmanship. Each generation would have had
a new boat built "like granddad had" and the type improved slightly
by each new designer involved. As a result the current idea of a Friendship
is rather different then the boats that made the name famous.
The Friendship Sloop has a long an enduring following of fans, owners,
former owners and want-a-be owners. It ranks very high as a most recognized
class of sailing yacht. Schooners and Friendship sloops have a strong
love amongst Americans. They are a type of purely American influence,
desire and ingenuity. The European sailors of the day and since have been
rightly coveting our little gem.
Back Yard Yacht Builders
A non-commercial association of amateur boat-builder enthusiasts.
All our wooden boats are Stevenson designs.