Modesty (sloop)

Article summary

Modesty was an oyster sloop built in 1923 by The Wood and Chute Shipyard of Greenport, Long Island, and is now located at the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville, New York. Modeled after the catboat Honest, which was built in 1892 by Jelle Dykstra on the west bank of Greens Creek in West Sayville, Modesty was built as a gaff-rigged sloop, but retained the extreme beam of a catboat. For auxiliary power, a two-cylinder Gaffga gasoline engine was installed. Modesty was described by oystermen as a true "southsider". She is believed to be the last sailing scallop dredger built on Long Island. A beautiful vessel, a fine sailer and typical of the old oyster sloops, her lines show graceful proportions in hull and rig. She has a wide beam and sits low in the water. Her shallow draft permitted her to operate commercially in the oyster and scallop flats of Long Island's bays and the river estuaries of Connecticut. The fact that she was even built at the end of the age of sail is due to a law enacted before World War I, which stipulated that only sail power could be used while dredging for scallops. By this time, many boats in the fleet had their centerboards plugged. After working as a scallop dredger in the Peconic Bay until 1936, Modesty moved to Connecticut to finish her working career as an oyster dredger.…

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