Emma C. Berry (sloop)
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| History | |
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| Builder: | Palmer Shipyards |
| Launched: | 1866 |
| Status: | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 15 GRT |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 14.6 ft (4.5 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 5.7 ft (1.7 m) |
| Sail plan: | Noank smack |
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Emma C. Berry (Sloop)
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| Location | Greenmanville Avenue, Mystic, Connecticut |
| Coordinates | 41°21′35.22″N 71°57′59.56″W / 41.3597833°N 71.9665444°WCoordinates: 41°21′35.22″N 71°57′59.56″W / 41.3597833°N 71.9665444°W |
| Built | 1866 |
| Architect | James A. Latham |
| Part of | Mystic Bridge Historic District (#79002671) |
| NRHP Reference # | 94001649 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 12, 1994 |
| Designated NHL | October 12, 1994 |
| Designated CP | August 31, 1979 |
Emma C. Berry is a fishing sloop located at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, United States, and one of the oldest surviving commercial vessels in America. She is the last known surviving American well smack. This type of boat is also termed a sloop smack or Noank smack. Emma C. Berry was built in 1866 at the Palmer Shipyards in Noank, Connecticut by James A. Latham. Well smacks were designed to keep the catch alive in an internal water-filled compartment known as a wet well. Seawater circulated through large holes in the bottom planking. The Noank design was imitated in other regions of the United States, but well smacks had appeared in England previously in about 1775.
The boat was named for Captain John Henry Berry's daughter. In 1886 Emma C. Berry was rigged as a schooner, and in 1916 a gasoline engine was added. She was restored in 1931 to her original condition. Emma C. Berry was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994.
The Emma C. Berry was built in 1865 by John Latham in the R. & J. Palmer Shipyard in Noank, Connecticut for John Henry Berry. The ship was named after his daughter and constructed in a similar way to other Noank smacks. The ship was launched in 1866 with a sloop rig and two head-sails.
Originally, John Henry Berry had a 1/2 stake with Moses Wilbur, William Latham, Charles Spencer and Amos Lanplear each owning 1/8 stake. Ownership changed by September 1866 with, including Berry having no stake in the ship. In 1870, the ship was owned by Henry Chapel with 5/8 and Henry Brown with 3/8. In 1872, Robert Westcote was the sole owner and master of the Emma C. Berry. Henry Chapel became the managing owner in 1886 and later the sole owner in 1887 and the Emma C. Berry was re-rigged as schooner. It changed ownership several times throughout the 1895 through 1910 when it became owned by the Marston Lobster Pound Co. (5/8), Sargent Land and Co. (1/8) and by Charles A. Baker (2/8). Just two years later in 1918, S. A. Skilling and Son had a 6/8 stakes and Clarence A. Baker retained his 2/8th stake. From 1918 through 1929 various individuals came to own the Emma C. Berry. Her career as a fishing vessel ended around 1924 and she was left on the flats of Beals, Maine. In 1926, the Emma C. Berry was purchased by Milton Beal and used as a coastal freighter. F. Slade Dale purchased the ship in 1931 and restored it and registered the ship in Philadelphia. Dale retained ownership until it was donated to the Mystic Seaport in 1969. Captain Dayton O. Newton Bandmaster at Admiral Farragut Academy (Pine Beach, NJ) and Captain of the Schooner Adventure (Camden, ME) met Dale in the early 1960s and offered to assemble a volunteer crew of Admiral Farragut Academy cadets to work on the "Berry". Newton convinced Dale that the "Berry" should sail back to the yard in Noak 100 years following her launch. In 1965 Captain Newton and volunteers sailed the Berry on a shakedown cruise up the Hudson to Troy, NY carrying a cargo of historical documents to the Albany Historical Society. During this shakedown cruise, Pete Seeger came aboard for a concert from the Berry raising funds for his soon to be built Cleawater.
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