Knockabout Schooner
F1. Maritime HistoryDefinition
Late nineteenth century New England fishing schooner without bowsprit.
A knockabout schooner is a fishing schooner built without a bowsprit, developed in New England (Gloucester, Massachusetts) around 1900 to cut the loss of crew swept from the bowsprit, the ‘widow-maker’, while handling headsails. The headstay set to a long, fine clipper bow instead, so the jibs were tended from the safety of the deck. The type, exemplified by Helen B. Thomas of 1902, traded a little speed for greatly reduced fatalities in the Grand Banks cod and halibut fishery.
Source: Knockabout fishing schooner, Gloucester, Massachusetts, c. 1900 to 1902 (Helen B. Thomas); standard maritime-history reference.