Duck Trap Press sign
Wherries
ISBN 0-924947-16-0
Wherries—beautiful lines and shapely transoms. Five hundred years ago they were a part of everyday life along the Thames. Arriving on this side of the Atlantic during the colonial period, they became an integral part of the salmon fishery, for good reason. Period photos introduce the reader to the fishery at Duck Trap, the salmon wherries, and the men who built them. Six wherry models are still being built at Duck Trap, and all are thoroughly discussed. The book concludes with chapters on construction, with particular emphasis on the plank keels and the most detailed treatment of planking a wherry ever published—it ought to be, the author has planked more than 40 of them. Until now, published information on wherries has been sparse—here at last is a book dedicated specifically to wherries, arguably one of the most popular traditional boats on either side of the Atlantic.
Wherries front cover
From the Introduction...

If you are interested in wherries and how they arrived at this point in time, if you are curious about the working boats as well as the ones still being built today, or if you are even vaguely considering building a wherry of your own, this book was written for you.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Ancestry: Family Tree and the Fishery
..........What is a Wherry?
...............The Duck Trap Salmon Fishery
Chapter 2 The Salmon Wherries

.........John R. Griffin Lincolnville Salmon Wherry
...............Stimp Rhodes' Wherry
.................... The Howe Point Wherries
Chapter 3 The Newfoundland Trap Skiff Family
..........Newfoundland Trap Skiff
...............The Duck Trap Wherry
....................Christmas Wherry
.........................Littlest Wherry
Chapter 4 Boatbuilding
..........The Backbone: Plank Keel, Stem & Transom
...............Planking a Wherry
....................Making Good Oars from so-so Stock
Chapter 5 Epilogue: Is a Wherry Right for You?

Bibliography
Index (
...this one is very detailed, it runs 12 pages!)

Seanachi

Wherries 256 pages and 142 photos and illustrations...a considerable number of the photos are in full color. (The period photos alone are worth the price of the book.) 9" x 11", comb bound. US $35.00

shipping weight 2 pounds

Remember the free shipping within the Continental U.S. for orders of 2 or more books.

Newfoundland Trap Skiff Seanachi, built by Sean Hicks and launched in March of 2004. He and his trap skiff have since relocated to Ireland, from which he has sailed her to the Paris Boat Show and back.
.
If you have been looking for a book to answer your questions about wherries, this is the one. And in the meantime, for a straight across comparison of all our wherry models, just click on over to our comparison chart (The chart comes from this book too.)
Ozzie Wade

This is Ozzie Wade, one of the last of the commercial Atlantic Salmon fishermen, bringing his wherry ashore at Duck Trap. This is a larger version of the Rhodes model, built by Walter Alexander of Duck Trap (one of the Howe Point builders).

Lincolnville Historical Society photo, included in Chapter 1 of Wherries.

Griffin Wherry
This is a 16' John R. Griffin Model Lincolnville Salmon Wherry. This is the earliest model of all the fishing boats used along the shore of Penobscot Bay.

Wherries 256 pages and 142 photos and illustrations, indexed.
US$ 35.00
shipping weight 2 pounds

Want to save $10?

This book is also available now in CD format for only $25.

Wherries

Now, if you're really into wherries, and want to see for yourself how they are built, you'll want to take a close look at our Boatbuilding in Pictures CDs. We have them for:

The Newfoundland Trap Skiff
The Rhodes Wherry
and the Duck Trap Wherry.

There's even one for the Littlest Wherry.

n

Credit Card orders for Wherries may also be placed

by phone at 207-789-5363

...or you can contact us by Email.

If you prefer snail mail, our address is:

Duck Trap Press
P.O. Box 88
Lincolnville Beach, Maine 04849-0088
Return to Plans Page
Duck Trap Press

Duck Trap Decoys

Home Page

©2014 W. J. Simmons

US falg