The following paragraph is excerpted from Cultural Resources Studies, Eastern North Carolina above Cape Lookout, prepared by: Wilmington District U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with: N.C. Division of Archives and History, Archeology and Historic Preservation Section, May 1986 (image added):
"Water transport [in eastern North Carolina in the 17th century] encompassed a wide variety of boats among which the canoe, the rowboat, and the perriauger were the most popular.
Perriauger, 1862 |
["This drawing of the Hatteras lightkeeper’s boat is likely the only extant image of a North Carolina perriauger. The early perriauger was built much like the split-log canoe but was larger and might have decking. It typically carried two masts. (Drawing by Edwin Champney, 1862, courtesy of the North Carolina Outer Banks History Center)” (From https://blog.ecu.edu/sites/dashboats/periauger/)]
"George Fox [founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)], in his travels in 1672, used a canoe and rowboat. Legislation passed by the Albemarle Assembly in 1673 to regulate trade with Virginia, principally by means of Currituck Inlet, required entrance and clearance fees for decked vessels but exempted open boats. Larger craft, having to contend with shallow inlets [including Ocracoke Inlet] and narrow rivers, consisted of sloops, shallops, ketches, and barks. Shallops and sloops, which were light, two-masted vessels, were especially popular. They were used for trade principally with New England (primarily Rhode Island and Massachusetts) and the West Indies.... The shallow inlets and shifting sands at Ocracoke militated against the use of deep draft vessels engaged in trans-Atlantic trade."
This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a recording of Rex O'Neal telling about the time he fell overboard when he was gigging for flounder. The story was recorded for Coastal Voices, an oral history project about the maritime heritage of the Outer Banks and Down East region of coastal North Carolina. Click here to listen to Rex telling his story: https://carolinacoastalvoices.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/rex-oneal-gigging-flounders-2/.