Talk:Well smack

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Welled smack[edit]

I have put up this article in the hope that someone can add to or correct the very limited existing information on this type of fishing boat. This is a piece of English history which has almost completely disappeared. Maybe someone somewhere has seen that pre-1920 (Faroese?) film too (I saw it in 1960/61). Or maybe a marine archaeologist or diver on one of those underwater sites off Holland may realise what they have found. Cheers. Storye Book.

Update: I wrote the above notice in 2004 when I started the page (which has since been moved from "Welled smack" to its present title). It's great to hear now of the Emma C. Berry in New England. Also I did hear of someone in the south of England repairing an old smack which had long been converted to a dry boat. No further news of a UK well smack, though.--Storye book (talk) 12:35, 8 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well smack in U.S.[edit]

There is a restored sloop-rigged well smack at the Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Conn. It sounds similar to the craft described as an English welled smack. Apparently it sailed out of Moank, Ct., south of Mystic. It is named the Emma C. Berry. I am building a model of the vessel in 1:32 scale. It would be interesting to see if the Connecticut version is similar to the English craft. Putting the name of the Mystic craft on the browser will result in several good hits, including a collection of photographs of the Emma.

English Fishing Smack[edit]

I have read this article with interest as I am currently working on a 3D computer model of a fishing smack with a well. The model is based on plans from Architectura Navalis Mercatoria by Fredrik Henrik af Chapman published in 1768.

I am uncertain of the date of the plans but Chapman studied abroad, including England, from 1752-56 and it is possible they relate to this period.

The plans can be viewed in the archives of the Swedish National Maritime Museum.(Plate LIX No 3) [1]


The boat is described as "an English Fishing Smack" for flatfish. It is 38 feet in length.

JMCDavies 13:53, 23 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Livewell[edit]

@Storye book: A quick Google Books search for 'livewell smack' brings up plenty of sources that are happy to call what's in these boats a livewell (live well, live-well, etc.), going back as far as the 1870s. A piped link to livewell doesn't seem inappropriate. 2001:48F8:4002:684:5969:CF6C:DB1A:3F4C (talk) 03:20, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, the Livewell article does not contain the information which you found by Googling. Everything that that article says, is inappropriate for the well in a well smack. Unless you can edit the Livewell article to be appropriate for 18th to early 19th-century technology on well smacks (with citations), we cannot use that link. Storye book (talk) 08:42, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]