Ship Model, Bugeye <I>Lillie Sterling</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1885
name: label: maker
content: Tull, E. James
notes: label: Description
content: The bugeye was a type of sailing work boat unique to the Chesapeake Bay. Designed for oyster dredging, it was also used for hauling freight in the Bay’s shallow waters. This model, like the bugeye it represents, was built in 1885 by E. James Tull, a boatbuilder in Pocomoke City, Maryland. Tull displayed this model of the <I>Lillie Sterling</I> at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair as part of an exhibit organized by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. He won a medal for the vessel’s practical design.
label: Description
content: Bugeyes were first built after the Civil War, when the Maryland state legislature repealed an 1820 ban on oyster dredging. Dredges--heavy iron frames holding long mesh bags--were introduced in the bay by New Englanders seeking to replenish northern oyster beds with Chesapeake oysters. Maryland lawmakers banned dredging and restricted oyster harvesting to residents of the state. But as markets expanded in the 1860s, the ban was lifted to allow dredging in certain areas of the bay. Fearful that dredging would deplete the bay’s oysters, lawmakers sought to limit the dredge’s efficiency by restricting its use to sailing vessels. This law ensured that sailing craft, not steamers, would dominate the Chesapeake’s oyster industry. To this day, oyster dredging is still carried out by sail-powered boats in Maryland.
label: Description
content: The first bugeyes were large log canoes, built of seven or nine logs that were hollowed out, shaped, and pinned together lengthwise. They were built with full decks, which provided a working platform for the crew to empty the dredges and sort through the catch. By the 1880s, bugeyes like the <I>Lillie Sterling</I> were constructed with full framing and planking instead of logs. Although bugeyes were widely used in the oyster trade for several decades, they were gradually replaced by skipjacks, an easier and cheaper vessel to build. The origin of the name "bugeye" remains unknown.
place: label: displayed
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
label: unique to
content: United States: Chesapeake Bay
topic: label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
label: related event
content: World's Columbian Exposition
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Work
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content: Natural Resources
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content: Transportation
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content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of the U.S. Fish Commission
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.76256
label: accession number
content: 28022
label: catalog number
content: 76256
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship model, bugeye, Chesapeake Bay
label: Object Name
content: model, rigged ship
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: textile (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 33 in x 33 in x 7 in; 83.82 cm x 83.82 cm x 17.78 cm