Yawl

A yawl is a two-masted fore-and-aft-rigged sailboat with the mizzenmast stepped far aft so that the mizzen boom overhangs the stern. Here is a drawing of two 18th century yawl-rigged fishing vessels.

1700 Drawing by Sir Oswald Walter Brierly

 












In 1939 Isaac (Big Ike) O"Neal (1865-1954) had this to say about his childhood and growing up on Ocracoke Island and Pamlico Sound: "I declare, I don't know why a lot of us weren't drowned in those days. About the only boats we had were yawls, the small boats we picked up from ships that were wrecked on the island. We'd beat around the sounds in these little boats in all kinds of weather. Nothing unusual to be away from home for a week or two weeks at a time."

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is a history of Village Craftsmen (1970 - the Present). You can read the Newsletter here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/history-village-craftsmen-ocracoke-island/.