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W hitehalls ranged in size from single rowing station12 footers to five station sports boats topping out at 26 feet
overall. The small rowboats were used as for-hire craft and
they carried one or two passengers. Larger boats of 16
to 18 feet were used by ship’s chandlers to carry
samples or to take out gear in an emergency. The
largest were used by groups of thugs called press gangs,
who rounded up or shanghaied beached sailors and
hauled them off to crew aboard outbound ships. T he Whitehall was the recognized champion in speedand it was only natural that unofficial competition led
to organized racing. Many stories are told of the inter-
city competition between Boston and New York and the large sums that were wagered on these challenges.
Rowing became the principal American competitive
sport on the Eastern seaboard from the middle to the
end of the nineteenth century. It was the influence of
the Whitehall as much as anything else that made it so. C aptain Smith, born in Boston in 1869, tells in theaforementioned Rudder article the story of a deep
water boarding house owner by the name of Sorenson.
“Captain Alfred Sorenson usually got what he went
after, whether he was in quest of sailors for his
boarding-house or to pluck a fellow being from a
watery grave. He outran the fleet of Whitehalls once.
He reached a point off the tip of Cape Cod. Came a howling winter gale. Was Alfred fazed? He was not.
Rolling, or furling his sail tightly he bent on his warp.
With this sea support he lay head to it. After Thrity-six
hours of exposure, he spotted a ship and came home.”
According to Captain Smith it was because these boats
rowed so easily in calms and sailed so well in a breeze
that they were even used by the New York Police for
harbor patrols. “ The boat is on thesame general model
that was used in very
fast pulling boats, the
wherry, cutter, and gig
from 1690 or earlier,
on to the end of the
nineteenth century.” N ow a growing interest in clean healthy recreation is creating a need for these fast and efficient boats.
The Whitehall Spirit boats are a fusion of the fine
workmanship of the past with the best of modern
materials available today. They offer the attractive
appearance and superior performance of a Whitehall
with much greater durability and easy maintenance. T he elegant Whitehall Spirit designs provide the funand experience of traditional rowing, slide seat rowing
or sailing a legendary classic that reached its pinnacle
over a century ago and has never been equaled for
beauty, speed or seaworthiness. C olorfulstories are associated with the “runners”who, under oar and sail, ventured out to meet sailingships as they approached harbor. A salesman’s lot was adventurous in those days as this chap was a highly competitive representative of one of several
“deep water boarding boat houses” actively engaged in
lining up clients. Closing with the approaching sailing
ship they would swing about and, rowing furiously,
approach the larger ship’s bow. Using a long slender
pole, a grapple marine hook and line would be slipped onto
the fore lee marine chains, line payed out to a safe distance,
and the Whitehall then warped alongside, where one
of the runner’s crew would slip nimbly aboard. A half
pint slipped into the right hands assured him of a
welcome aboard and an ear or two to ply . 31
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