Thomas Winer Malone (November 1, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was a Bahamian wooden

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

builder who single-handedly crafted over 200

dinghies A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...

in his lifetime. Ranging , his boats were hewn from memory without the use of power tools, jigs, or templates. Malone used wood from trees he cut himself on the

Abaco Islands The Abaco Islands lie in the north of Bahamas, The Bahamas, about 193 miles (167.7 nautical miles or 310.6 km) east of Miami, Florida, US. The main islands are Great Abaco and Little Abaco, which is just west of Great Abaco's northern tip. T ...

. Malone's Abaco dinghy is open-hulled and single-masted with a small "banana board" supporting the top of the sail. Before the advent of outboard motors in the 1950s, Bahamian dinghies often provided the sole means of transportation for

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

, farmers, and visiting families, as well as the occasional smuggler (or

rum runner Rum-running, or bootlegging, is the illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. The term ''rum-running'' is more commonly applied to smuggling over water; ''bootlegging'' is applied to smuggl ...

Notes

Additional references

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Thomas Winer 1929 births 2018 deaths Boat builders People from Hope Town