Here you see the Fishing Vessel Dear Abbie: coming into the Town Dock in Naskeag Harbor last week. Her crew has been pulling some of their lobster traps from the water and is about to offload them onto a trailer and take them to winter storage. The lobstering season here usually ends in November.
Dear Abbie: has the kind of jaunty beauty that a good hunting dog has. But, part of that beauty derives from her classic characteristics as a Maine or Down-East-Style lobster boat.
Among other characteristics, she has a graceful but functional sweep or “sheer line” from a high, flared bow that can handle head-on seas to a low working freeboard area that makes hauling traps aboard easier. Dear Abbie: sits relatively high in the water, which helps maneuverability due to less water displacement. Below the waterline, she has a rounded hull and a keel in which the propeller is set to protect it in low water. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on November 6 [moored] and 8 [moving], 2021.)