The Friendship sloop, also known as a

Muscongus Bay Muscongus Bay is a bay on the coast of Maine, United States, between Penobscot Bay and John's Bay. Muscongus was the name of an Abenaki village meaning "fishing place" or "many r largerock ledges." John Smith recorded the river in 1616 as Nusco ...

sloop or lobster sloop, is a

gaff-rigged Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the ''gaff''. Because of the size and shap ...

working boat design that originated in

Friendship, Maine Friendship (formerly known as Meduncook) is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. It is 31 miles (49.9 km) southeast of Augusta. The population was 1,142 at the 2020 census. History Abenaki Native Americans called it Meduncook, ...

around 1880 and has survived as a traditional-style

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

History

Fishermen in Friendship and neighboring

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

collectively originated the boat's design, influenced in part, by the fishing sailboats of

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

. The boat was used primarily for lobstering or local commerce. Boat builder Wilbur A. Morse was principle among five major Muscongus Bay builders that produced the design from the 1880s to the 1910s. From then until 1960 four major builders continued the tradition, three from the region. One person could manage its single-masted rig and haul traps unassisted, yet the boat could carry sizable loads. With an open cockpit aft, and a small forward cabin outfitted with bunks and a stove, it made fishing during cold weather much less arduous than in an open boat. By 1900 these sloops ranged from feet long along the deck and were used for bringing fish or lobsters from offshore vessels to processing plants. In the 1900s the boats received auxiliary motors until 1920, when power boats supplanted them for commercial use. Thereafter, the fleet became available to those who adapted boats to become affordable sailing yachts. Modern reproductions, both

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

en and

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

, continue to be built. although the cockpits and interiors of such pleasure craft tend to be substantially different from the original workboats. The overall design and historical example of the type are preserved through the Friendship Sloop Society. The society holds annual races in Maine.

Design and classification

Friendship sloops typically have a clipper bow, a full

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

, an elliptical

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

and a

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar (sailing), spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestay, forestays. The bowsprit’s purpose is to create ...

. The mast height is approximately equal to the length of the deck and stepped forward, such that the head sails are attached to the bowsprit. The hull typically has a full length keel, traditionally ballasted with rocks or more recently with steel. They are

, with a

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast (sailing), mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. T ...

, a

staysail A staysail ("stays'l") is a fore-and-aft rigged sail whose luff can be affixed to a stay running forward (and most often but not always downwards) from a mast to the deck, the bowsprit, or to another mast. Description Most staysails a ...

and normally a

jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its forward corner (tack) is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main ty ...

. They may additionally have a

topmast The masts of traditional sailing ships were not single spars, but were constructed of separate sections or masts, each with its own rigging. The topmast is one of these. The topmast is semi-permanently attached to the upper front of the lower m ...

with a main

topsail A topsail ("tops'l") is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails. Square rig On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a typically trapezoidal shaped sail rigged above the course sail and ...

and jib

(

flying jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its forward corner ( tack) is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two mai ...

). They have ranged from feet along the deck; plans are available for such vessels up to along the deck. The Friendship Sloop Society initially classified the boats, as follows: * Class A – Original vessels * Class B – Replicas * Class C – Near replicas * Class D – Near replicas other than wood In 1986, it combined classes B through D. The boats recognized as "one of a kind" outnumber those regarded as "semi-production". Races are held in two divisions for boats or shorter on the deck (Division I) and those longer than that (Division II).

References

External links

Friendship Sloop Society
{{fisheries and fishing Types of fishing vessels Keelboats