User:Bcooke99/Sandbox

okay, now I am trying out my new sandbox... Bcooke99 (talk) 01:11, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

The Banks dory is a particular type of dory created as an auxiliary boat for fishing off the Grand Banks of Nova Scotia. Adapted from earlier designs in the 1850's,., the narrow-bottomed, slab-sided boat with a very narrow transom could be 'nested' inside each other permitting a large number of boats to be stored on the deck of the fishing schooner. Previous to the introduction of Bank dories, fish were caught with handlines from the mother ship alone.

Banks dories have long overhangs, both bow and stern, to help lift them over large waves. With their flared sides they could hold a considerable quantity of fish and still remain safe. There were both one-man and two-man versions, the two man dory being somewhat larger. The larger ones (12ft along the bottom or more) were capable of being fitted with sails, and tiller, both were much more stable in rough weather when loaded with about half a ton of catch.

The Banks dory type is very simple and quick to produce making them well suited to mass production. The Lowell Boat shop of Amesbury Massachusetts is credited with being the first to build these boats in any numbers and excelled at their mass production. It is claimed that at one time Lowell's boat shop produced over 100 Bank dories in a single 24 hour period. By 1880, Bank dories were being built principally in the Massachusetts towns of Gloucester, Beverly, Essex, Newburyport, and Salisbury (Amesbury). Other major areas of production included Seabrook New Hampshire, Portland Maine and Bremen Maine. Salisbury alone had 7 shops producing between 200 and 650 boats a year. The firm of Higgins and Giford advertised in 1886 that it had built over 3,000 dories in the preceding 13 years.

The popularity of the Banks type for offshore fishing and the shear volume of production lead to acceptance as a beach launched boat for near shore fishing and lobstering as well.

Typically, banks dories were carried aboard fishing schooners like this one below and would be launched every morning with one or two crew to return in the evening after a full day of catching cod with handlines.

The barquentine, Gazela Primeiro, while not typical, had a long association with dories and the Grand Banks cod industry and made its final trip as late as 1969.

Banks dories have been capable of surviving long voyages, some unintentional, when the fishermen became separated from their mother ships. One of the more famous adventures was by Howard Blackburn, who survived 5 days in the North Atlantic in January.

A Banks dory is seen in Winslow Homer's painting The Fog Warning

See also: Dory, Glouster dory, Swampscott dory, and Cape Ann dory.