Some Sculling (Merrymeeting Bay) Boat History

Jeff Reardon

Jeff Reardon

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The sculling discussion (and some glass and paint touch up work on the boat) got the juices flowing, and I remembered that the folks at "Friends of Merrymeeting Bay" have some historic duck hunting literature on their website. These go more to how the Merrymeeting Bay boats were used, and differences between "Upper Bay" and "Lower Bay" boats, than they do to design.

These are both fairly long reads, but worth the time.

I'd say those of us using our MMB boats partly as floating blinds and partly to scull are carrying on a long tradition.

"Duck Shooting Along the Atlantic Tidewater (Merrymeeting Bay Chapter)", Ransom Kelley, 1947:
http://www.friendsofmerrymeetingbay.org/cybrary/pages/19470000-Duck-Shooting-In-Merrymeeting-Bay-Ransom-Kelley.pdf

"Duck Shooting on Merrymeeting Bay at Darton Farms" (old advertisement pamphlet)
http://www.friendsofmerrymeetingbay.org/cybrary/pages/Darton%20Ducks.pdf

Part of the history on Merrymeeting Bay is that at one time guides who controlled permanent blinds on the Bay tried to get shooting from a boat banned. They went to the Legislature with a bill to ban sculling boats and failed. Soon thereafter the Legislature instead banned permanent blinds. It remains illegal to this day to construct a permanent blind or leave duck decoys out overnight anywhere on the Bay.

In my opinion that makes it a much more pleasant place to hunt than areas where the better spots are occupied by permanent blinds.
 
Don't forget the punt guns and battery boats (where you have a bunch of black powder gun barrels set up to go off at once)...I always felt the MMB scull boats, came from those market hunter lines. Especially the MMB scull boats. They look to me like they were designed to have a big'ole punt strapped to the bow.-Seth Freeman
 
Part of the history on Merrymeeting Bay is that at one time guides who controlled permanent blinds on the Bay tried to get shooting from a boat banned. They went to the Legislature with a bill to ban sculling boats and failed. Soon thereafter the Legislature instead banned permanent blinds. It remains illegal to this day to construct a permanent blind or leave duck decoys out overnight anywhere on the Bay.
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Classic example of being careful what you ask for and who you piss off in the process!!!
 
Don't forget the punt guns and battery boats (where you have a bunch of black powder gun barrels set up to go off at once)...I always felt the MMB scull boats, came from those market hunter lines. Especially the MMB scull boats. They look to me like they were designed to have a big'ole punt strapped to the bow.-Seth Freeman

There is some discussion of the early market hunters in the Ransom Kelley piece, including a description of a local gunner whose arsenal included: "a double six, two tens, and two twelves, all muzzle loaders."

Kelley says most of the market gunners used double 8's or 6's "in the strap", and that the 2 man scull didn't become popular until repeating guns were common.
Click to expand...
 
Jeff~

You know about John Gardner's "More Building Classic Small Craft" ? Chapter 3 is "Merrymeeting Bay Duckboat" (pp. 36-42) built by George Stadel off the original by Will Rittal. I don't know much about these boats but they sure are gorgeous!

All the best,

SJS
 
There are a lot of versions of the MMB boat. Interestingly, among many of the old timers on the Bay, there's not a tremendous amount of interest in the different styles and makers. (Those who make the boats are a different story.) I've seen nice old wooden boats at the launch several times and tried to engage the owners in a discussion of who made their boat, and the reply is often, "I don't know. It's just a gunning float."

I think the nicest boats I've seen all come from a modern maker named Buster Prout. He's been making boats for decades, so there are a lot of "Buster boats" around.

Here's a photo of one of Buster's newer boats from 2010, before paint, at the local DU event.

View attachment buster-boat1.jpg

More photos of multiple old MMB area boats here:

http://www.duckhuntingchat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=126394
 
I missed Frank's post, as I was posting, but he's right, Confluence is a great read, and has some fantastic photos of the bay and boats on the Bay.

PS: Frank, a friend of mine just secured a place to keep his boat over towards the mouth of the Eastern River. Perhaps we'll run into each around Green Point or Swan Island this year.
 
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