The shad boat: The 'pick-up truck' of watercraft

The latest issue of Coastwatch*, the N.C. Sea Grant program's beautiful publication, has a wonderful piece on some of North Carolina's more "coastal" state symbols, such as the state shell (Scotch bonnet -- pronounced "bonn-ay") and the state fish (red drum).

Sure, it's interesting enough to have an official state shell or state fish, but I've always been intrigued that North Carolina can boast an official state boat. I knew little about the shad boat before reading this article; it now makes perfect sense why it's the state boat.

"Despite its graceful appearance, the shad boat, commonly referred to as the 'pickup truck' of watercraft, navigated our not-so-tranquil sounds in the late 19th and early 20th centuries," writes Coastwatch.

Tom Harrison with Go Wild in Washington County has more about the history of the boat:

The Albemarle Sound, being an expansive but relatively shallow body of water, has a reputation for being extremely rough in high winds. Therefore in the days of sail, traditional small sailing craft were generally not well-suited for weather conditions in the Albemarle Sound. This led to the development and evolution of what became known as the Albemarle Sound Shad Boat.

This shallow draft work boat is unique because it is the only known America sailboat design that had a combination of a spritsail, jib, and a topsail! (A sprit is a pole or spar extended diagonally upward from a mast to the topmost corner of a fore-and-aft sail, serving to extend the sail. A spritsail doesn’t usually have a traditional boom along the bottom of the sail.) The topsail was added to provide additional working canvas high in the air so the boats could work close to forested shores that would becalm the lower spritsail or jib.

The Albemarle Sound Shad Boat is a durable round-bottomed boat with a heart-shaped transom. It was developed after the Civil War and was also known as a “seine boat”. It had a straight bow that was sharply raked, (a boating term meaning, inclined from vertical). Typically, the Albemarle Sound Shad Boat was 18’-33’ in length and was constructed with native Atlantic White Cedar, locally known as Juniper. In boat shops this light-weight naturally rot resistant wood was often called “Southern Cedar”.

The hull was carvel planked, meaning the board planking ran longitudinal and was attached to the frame with nails or screws. The advantage of this traditional construction method was that if a board began to rot or was damaged, it could easily be removed and replaced without ripping the boat apart. The hull was un-decked except for washboards along the gunwales and was most often painted white. It was ballasted with 15-30 sandbags, depending on the size of the boat. The sandbag covers were made of sailcloth and the sandbags were shifted from the center to the windward side during a blow.

According to Coastwatch, original shad boats are still displayed at several locations in North Carolina, including the Roanoke Island Festival Park, the Currituck Heritage Park Museum in Corolla, the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City and the Port O'Plymouth Maritime Museum.

As a (very) amateur sailor, it seems like these boats would be easy on which to learn. Is this true, or am I just WAY off base?

*If you're a fan of the coast, seafood, sea life, etc., and you're not reading Coastwatch, you are really missing out.

ECU to open dental clinics in Ahoskie, EC and Sylva

East Carolina's somewhat controversial dental school is slated to open in 2011. Until then, the university will place dental clinics in three locations in the state in order to increase access to dental care in North Carolina.

The three locations will be in Elizabeth City, Ahoskie and Sylva, according to reports.

North Carolina's ratio of dentists to the population is below the national average. Four counties don't have dentists at all, and dentists in five more counties are close to retirement.

Quick hits: Hurricane names, 49er gridiron, EC in photos and longleaf pine art?

Hurricane names released
My "grandparents" could cause havoc this year. After all, two of the latest round of hurricane names include a "Bill" and an "Ida."

Those wacky weather people. They've also included a "Joaquin" and a "Peter" to be followed by "Rose."

Click here for the full list.


UNCC remains on track for football
"A tough economy and some disappointment in the number of prospective buyers who have followed through with a commitment to buy football seat licenses is not slowing the Charlotte 49ers' efforts to start a football program in time for the 2013 season," says the Charlotte Observer.

"Although circumstances have changed since September, when the school's board of trustees first approved moving ahead on football, athletics director Judy Rose said Tuesday that the 49ers remain on track for a program that would begin in a temporary on-campus stadium and eventually move to a new, on-campus facility.

"Any of Charlotte's football goals are contingent on the selling of at least 5,000 FSLs. As of Tuesday, just over 1,700 had been purchased. ..."

Old photo collection preserves Elizabeth City's history
"For 84 years, Cecil Richardson Jr. has lived in the area and amassed a local photo and newspaper clipping collection that fills more than 75 three-ring binders.

"Some of the photos he’s taken himself, including his shots of the night the wooden blimp hangar burned in Weeksville in the 1990s," says the Daily Advance. "Others he has collected from various residents and labeled with the address or names of those pictured. He knows most of the people in the photographs and can give background stories to places that recent Elizabeth City residents don’t even know existed.

"Cindy Williams, an owner of MMT Printers, wants to help Richardson preserve this knowledge and is collaborating with Richardson to make a photo book that would be available for sale. ..."



Craftswoman makes art from longleaf pine needles
"What can you do with pine straw? Well, there's mulch. And then there's ... mulch.

"Melanie Walter has another use: She makes baskets out of pine needles," says the Star-News.

"She has baskets on the display at the Asheville Art Museum. Her baskets won a third-place ribbon at the Orange Street ArtsFest on May 23. And she has received an invitation to show her work at the prestigious Ann Arbor Street Art Fair in Michigan.

"Most of her sales come through Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts, a crafts cooperative with a store in the Cotton Exchange. Her baskets are also available at the Sunset River Marketplace in Calabash and at the Cameron Art Museum. ..."

Quick hits: N.C. Christmas trees and ECSU's name are in trouble

Can foreign firs save N.C. trees?

"Christmas begins on the mountain slopes of North Carolina, where farmers grow Fraser firs from seedlings to decorate millions of East Coast homes – including the White House.

"An estimated 50 million Fraser firs are under cultivation, and North Carolina ranks second in the nation (behind Oregon) in the number of Christmas trees harvested," says the News & Observer.

"With the rapid increase in fir plantings have come problems, such as the spread of a highly destructive rot, called Phytophthora, that infects the roots of Frasers and kills thousands of trees each year. It costs N.C. growers an estimated $5 million to $6 million a year.

"The exotic pathogen doesn't just kill the trees. It leaves the soil unusable for growing more Frasers. Left unchecked, that poses a serious threat to a state industry that relies on the signature Fraser.

"But help may be on the way from Turkey.

"More than 50,000 Turkish firs are now growing on mountain slopes in North Carolina. ..."

ECSU should study name change

"A state lawmaker plans to ask the Elizabeth City State University Board of Trustees Monday to study a possible name change for the university to reflect ECSU’s regional appeal," says the Daily Advance.

"State Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, emphasized Saturday that his recommendation is only that ECSU officials study a name change. He said the idea has been talked about for two decades but never formally studied.

" 'I’m not suggesting anything other than they look into it and weigh the pros and cons,' Owens said.

"It’s unknown what type of reception Owens will get. However, four key alumni leaders have signed a letter opposing changing the school’s name.

"The letter from Charles D. Cherry, president of the ECSU National Alumni Association, Curtis Bryan, chairman of the NAA Board of Directors, Kenneth Henshaw, chairman of the ECSU Foundation, and Hezekiah Brown, chairman of the ECSU Board of Visitors, also opposes 'any major revision to the mission statement that excludes an acknowledgement of (ECSU’s) rich heritage as an historically black college and university.' ..."

(Photo of the Fraser Firs near Grandfather Mtn. from ncchristmastrees.com; photo of the 1899 ECSU class from ecsu.edu)