The Lewis H. Story is a representation of a pinky-sterned Chebacco boat – a two-masted gaff-rigged vessel designed for inshore cod fishing and coastal trading. She measures 30 feet on deck and her hull, deck arrangement and rig are typical of post-Revolutionary War inshore fishermen. Small but rugged, Chebacco boats were utilized in various ways beyond simple fishing boats, which is why they are often considered the colonial “pick up truck.”
The Chebacco boat developed from the small shallops early settlers used for fishing, transport and trade. Over time the shallop design evolved to meet current conditions, needs, and available materials as well as the eye of the individual builders. Typically, they averaged from 24 to 48 feet in length, had two masts and no bowsprit. The deck held several cockpits, or "standing rooms" in which the fishermen stood to fish. A middle hatch gave access to the fish hold. A vessel like the Story with two men and a boy as crew could fish for a couple of days and bring home a catch of up to 10,000 pounds of salted cod.
The Story was designed and built by master shipwright Harold A. Burnham, using traditional white oak, locust treenails (trunnels), pine decking and spruce spars. The Essex Historical Society & Shipbuilding Museum commissioned Captain Burnham in 1998 to create this replica of the Chebacco boat type to be used as a flagship and roving ambassador. The Story is named in honor of Essex shipwright, carver, designer, modeler, researcher and the town’s foremost maritime historian, Lewis H. Story.
After a two year restoration at the historic A.D. Story Shipyard, the Lewis H. Story was relaunched in 2017 in order to continue her mission.
