Hudson River Sloops
Hudson River Sloop Restoration, Inc., 1970

Chapter 3

A Technical Description

These early yachts had plumb stems, full bows and the high stern castles familiar to sailors of those days. Their rig, however, was a departure from the thwart-ship square rig of the ships of the period. They carried a single mast well forward, a large mainsail on a boom and gaff, and from their long high lifting bowsprits would hoist two or more triangular staysails. They also carried one or two square-rigged topsails that were good for running before the wind when the mainsail blanketed the staysails.

These, in essence, were the first sloop-type vessels to come to the Hudson River. Their bottoms were fairly flat, but with their heavy timber keel protruding well below, they drew a lot of water -eight to twelve feet, depending on their size- and required a very knowledgeable master to sail them up the Hudson. There is a print of New York harbor, dated 1717, which shows several of these sloops of varying size.

In Holland, the Dutch used leeboards in shallow waters and, since many of the early Hudson River settlers were Dutch, it was only natural that they should incorporate their ideas in the sloops used here. In 1810, when there were 206 sloops on the Hudson, there were both deep-keel and leeboard ships being sailed, in 1811, a patent for a centerboard was granted to three brothers of Cape May, New Jersey, and, in 1815, the Advance, built by Henry Grosvenor of Nyack, was one of the first centerboarders of size to sail the River.

In 1830, Laughlin McKay, brother of Donald McKay of New England clipper ship fame, proposed the lines for a Hudson sloop showing finer lines than her predecessors. In 1836, the Robert Wiltsie was built at Nyack by \Villiam Dickey. She had a 63’ 9” length, 23’ 5” beam, and with a 5’ 9” depth of hold, she modernized the Hudson River sloop hull lines to an extent that has not been improved on since. She had a sloping stem, a fine sharp bow with easy entry, and a fairly long flat run aft, somewhat similar to our modern fiberglass racing yachts. Her deck was lowered for less freeboard, that is, to make less wind resistance. The bowsprit, over the years, has been lowered to an almost horizontal location, enabling the set of a larger jib. Although the high stern castle of the seventeenth-century sloops has been lowered considerably, still the Robert Wiltsie’s after cabin was fairly high and, for that day, most spacious.

The Hudson is a tidal river and has many shoal areas. The great sloop captains wanted to make the best time for their passengers and goods, so they cut curves, skimmed shoals, and drove many a good boat aground. Because of the broad, nearly flat, bottom of these sloops, they sat there reasonably level to await the rising of the tide so they could go on again.

It was the rig which made the Hudson River Sloop a distinctive type. Many of these boats were built or ordered by the captain who sailed them. As their individual tastes and pocketbooks and the use for which they were proposed dictated many of their features, no set and sharply defined style ever came to be. However, the features of the rig (a term encompassing mast, sails and lines for handling and bracing) are truly Hudson River sloop.

Consider the Victorine of Cold Spring which was built by J. F. Welsie in 1848 at Piermont:

Length (without bowsprit) 68’ 9”
Bowsprit 25’
Draft (with centerboard up) 4’ 6”
Draft (with centerboard down) 10’ 6”
Main mast 80’
Main boom 74’
Top mast 42’
Gaff 36’
Mainsail area 4,063 sq. ft.
Jib area 1,044 sq. ft.
Topsail area 640 sq. ft.

The early sloops carried a square-rigged topsail, but since this required at least three extra crewmen to handle, and since wages were a strong factor even in those days, it was dispensed with in favor of a triangular topsail which only required one additional crew member. In fact, it was this same cost-of-labor consideration which caused the sloops gradually to give way to the schooners in the late 1800’s. Many sloops were re-rigged as schooners between 1870 and 1890. The schooners were, perhaps, an edge faster when reaching or running than were the sloops; but hard on the wind, there were no sailing boats built during the period which could hold a candle to these great white-winged beauties.

The Hudson River sloop rigging was fairly simple, consisting of three heavy shrouds athwartship to the mast hounds, with no spreaders, and tightened by rigging through dead eyes on the lower shroud ends, and an extended frame timber. The sloops carried a forestay to the masthead and a second forestay from the same point on the bowsprit to the head of the top mast. There were no backstays or runners; the weight of the boom, sail, and gaff surely must have been more than sufficient, considering also that the shrouds were run nearly plumb from a slightly raked mast, giving considerable backstaying effect.

The main sheet was a multiple-part block-and-tackle, rigged from the traveler at the taffrail to one point above on the boom. Consider having 3,000 or so feet of one-inch main sheet and perhaps six-part tackle, and you can realize what a tremendous mass of gear came sweeping across during a jibe. It is no wonder that a “North River Jibe” was a fearful maneuver!

The early sloops used two double-part jib sheets, belayed to pins on the rail near the shrouds. Later sloops used a jib club or boom and had a heavy timber traveler athwartship just ahead of the mast to which the jib was sheeted. The gaff was hoisted and peaked up by two halyards through anywhere from six- to twelve-part tackle and, with so much line and the weight of the heavy canvas, a deck hand must have needed tremendous brute strength! The topsail was hoisted by a single halyard, tacked down to the mast near the jaws of the gaff and sheeted to the peak of the gaff. It was hoisted and dropped many times during a voyage as the wind direction changed. All of the mainsails had at least three reefing points, and when the mariners reefed down, they would fasten down the tack and clew, sway out on the clew, and leave the rest of the sail loose to lie gathered by the lazy jacks, of which there were usually two sets.

The sloops were nearly always steered by a long heavy tiller set on the rudder head. They must have had a heavy weather helm, as did most of the old gaff riggers, so a helmsman had considerable work to do when hard on the wind.

The old sloops were built in many yards in many towns along the Hudson. Nyack, Piermont, Mount Pleasant, Peekskill, Hudson, and Cold Spring are only a few of the towns mentioned in books of the period. The sloops were built of local wood of almost every kind known to the Valley. It is said that the old carpenters went into the woods and picked out the trees which already had the bends and shapes they needed for stems, knees, and frames. This eliminated much of the need for bending and shaping that would have been necessary if all straight timber had been used. The interior cabins of the packet or passenger sloops were luxuriously paneled in fine woods, and the floors of white pine were meticulously holystoned clean and white. Most of the sloops were gaily painted, and the sloops of Nyack were particularly noted for their many-colored hulls.

Hudson River Sloop Restoration, Inc. was formed to build a replica of these famous ships. The organization’s purpose is threefold-historical interest, a love of sailing ships, and a dedi- cation to the restoration of the beauty and cleanliness of the River.

The first task of the organization was to engage a naval architect to research the history of the sloop and to present HRSR with reasonably authentic plans from which to build. Members of the organization had scoured the Hudson Valley for an old hulk to restore, but to no avail; none remained. They knew from their research that few plans had been drawn, and fewer still published or stored away in local archives; so it was a great challenge which they turned over to naval architect Cyrus Hamlin in late 1968.

Hamlin’s information about the old sloops came from many sources. An issue of a now defunct magazine, The Rhode Island Mariner, published in July 1928 provided some information; a painting by Mr. Phillip Paulding done in the heyday of the sloops showed many details of one sloop; and two articles from 1932 and 1933 issues of Yachting Magazine suggested how they might have developed. A great deal of assistance was given by Mr. Howard Chappelle, Senior Historian at the Smithsonian Institution, \who had several half models of sloops in his collection.

After the basic lines had been drafted, Mr. Hamlin’s problem was to reconstruct an authentic rig. The size, shape, and proportions of masts, sails, and their controlling and bracing lines all came under this heading.

Next came the problem of incorporating a modern auxiliary engine into a centerboard hull, without changing the classic lines or destroying her authenticity as a true replica; and it became a major challenge. The auxiliary engine was decided on quite early for three reasons: to supply electricity; to be able, despite occasional fickle and capricious winds and tides, to keep to a schedule as the sloop toured the River; and, finally, to permit handling her in today’s small and crowded River docks and marinas. Since the sloop was to be sailed by an amateur and volunteer crew, and since this crew was to be replaced weekly with “green” hands, the maneuvering of a seventy-foot vessel to dockside under sail alone was too much to expect.

After long months of design and drafting by Mr. Hamlin, and even longer months of fund-raising and membership drives by HRSR, a contract to build was let. The Harvey Gamadge Shipyard Company of South Bristol, Maine was selected to construct the sloop. Mr. Gamadge is one of the best of the fast disappearing line of artisans in old-style wood boat construction.

Throughout all of the stages of planning and construction, the U. S. Coast Guard was a welcome member of the team. The ship was to be a semi-public venture, and it was important to have her certified as seaworthy and safe for those who would come aboard. Coast Guard regulations and standards were therefore adhered to. One of the major factors of Coast Guard Certification is that of stability. Requirements call for positive righting force at a 70 degree heel angle.

This is a greater angle than many of today’s keel yachts can sustain and, for a centerboard boat, is unusual. Tests have shown that the sloop will meet this rigorous requirement.

Tradition, or perhaps, more accurately, one voice of tradition has it that the rig of the Hudson River sloop falls within certain parameters in proportion to the hull length, width and depth. The size of the rig one hundred years ago depended on whether an owner and captain was a driver and a bit of a daredevil, or a prudent and cautious man. Any rig designed today would then be likely to fall between two extremes. Since the new sloop was to have only a few professional hands aboard, the Coast Guard and Mr. Hamlin produced a rig able to drive the boat in almost any set of conditions, and yet, with a full gale of wind, to permit stability and safety.

The new sloop compares in this manner with the traditional sloop:

Mast Topmast Boom Mainsail Topsail Jib

New Sloop 75’ 37' 65’ 2,910 sq. ft. 460 sq. ft. 935 sq. ft.

Traditional Sloop 79’ (above deck) 40’ 79’ 3,300 sq. ft. 568 sq. ft. 1,100 sq. ft.

The total sail area of the new sloop is 4,305 square feet, as compared to a total area of 4,968 for the traditional nineteenth-century sloop. The mainsail has less than the traditional sail area, but it is still one of the largest mainsails on a fore-and-aft rigged boat sailing today, and it will require two six-part tackles to hoist and peak up the thirty-three foot gaff. No toy, this boat.

On May 17, 1969, the new sloop, christened the Clearwater, slid gracefully into the cold spring water of Maine’s coast, while an admiring crowd of 2,500 persons watched. It was a glorious sight-a dream come true-to see this beautiful ship enter her domain and ride so proudly on the water. A short period later her mast was stepped, her rigging completed, and her sea trials” run. By July, the Clearwater had been fitted out. She sailed on her maiden voyage to her home waters, and arrived at South Street Pier on lower Manhattan on August 1, ready to begin a long career on the Hudson River.