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A Catboat with Many Lives
By Gary Jobson
“This type of boat has only one sail, and there must be perfect harmony between sail and hull.”
– Edwin Schoettle
Homes and boats share a special place in people’s hearts. When asked by the editors to write about an especially unique boat, I made a list of possibilities. An elegant 33-foot-long catboat called Silent Maid jumped to the top of my list. The curious name piqued my interest, along with her graceful lines, a huge single sail, and a meticulously varnished hull.
Catboats are extremely wide and feature a shallow draft. Fast, beautiful, and functional, the catboat is integral to early American history; its iconic gaff-rigged sail is still spotted in our waters, silhouetted against the sky. In the 1850s and early 1900s, catboats were the dominant working watercraft on the New England Coast, used for fishing, transporting goods, and for pleasure, thanks to their size, speed, and maneuverability. This graceful wooden vessel captured the imagination of Winslow Homer, who painted a now-famous catboat called the Gloucester braving choppy seas in that New England harbor. Predictably, as technology advanced, catboats were replaced by motorboats. Although their popularity declined in the commercial world, it was inevitable that boat owners and their crews would race these endearing crafts, helping them evolve. Watching Silent Maid glide across the water made me want to sail her. Lucky for me, I’ve had several opportunities over the years to race and cruise on this classic beauty.
The original Silent Maid was built in 1924 by racing sailor and author Edwin Schoettle from Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. Schoettle commissioned one of the most successful naval architects of the era, Francis Sweisguth, to create a fast catboat. Born in New Jersey, Sweisguth is renowned for designing the International Star Class that raced in the Olympic Games from 1932 through 2012. Following orders, he designed Silent Maid for a singular purpose: to win races. Schoettle published a 786-page book in 1928 titled Sailing Craft. This classic anthology highlights a broad cross-section of sailing vessels of the era, including Silent Maid. Schoettle wrote proudly about his own boat, “This class of catboat represents one of the roomiest, safest, and easily sailed boats of present-day yachts. It is, without question, the best for use in America or anywhere else on inland bodies of water. This type of boat has only one sail, and there must be perfect harmony between sail and hull.”
I speculate that there must have been a good story behind the name Silent Maid, which becomes more intriguing when you learn that Schoettle also had a powerboat named Noisy Lady. In 1952, the 28-year-old Silent Maid changed hands when it was acquired by James Crane Kellogg III. Kellogg had a successful career on Wall Street, was Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and was instrumental in the construction of the World Trade Center Twin Towers. Kellogg’s son, Peter Rittenhouse Kellogg, grew up sailing on Silent Maid. Eventually, the wooden boat’s sailing life ended. However, her spirit lives on. In 2009, Peter Kellogg decided to build a replica at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To authentically re-create the original Silent Maid was a highly ambitious project, but he accomplished his dream. She has visited Annapolis and traveled as far north as Maine and as far south as Georgia. The boat features three masts of varying heights to accommodate different wind conditions. Lighter winds require more sail area and a taller mast. The boat is amazingly fast and sails like a dream. Schoettle was correct when he described Silent Maid’s sailing characteristics as “easy.”
The boat is sailed by raising the centerboard when downwind and lowering it when heading windward. I learned that trimming the gaff, the diagonal spar that supports the head of the sail, at the correct angle to the wind was a critical element in maximizing the boat’s speed. Silent Maid has excelled against other classic yachts and even more modern craft in notable regattas, including the Eggemoggin Regatta Race in Maine, the Opera House Cup in Nantucket, the Catboat Rally in Georgia and South Carolina, and multiple regattas on the New Jersey coast, Long Island Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay.
Everywhere Silent Maid visits, a crowd will appear to inspect this elegant, purposeful-looking sailboat. She has an immense 950-square-foot mainsail that keeps the trimmers working hard. The cockpit area is huge thanks to the 12-foot, 6-inch-wide beam. There is plenty of room for at least eight crew in the cockpit. It is surprisingly roomy down below, with six feet of headroom, four comfortable bunks, a modern flush head with a holding tank, and a functional galley. It also features a navigation and instrument table with internet and GPS capability and an efficient diesel engine that runs on very little fuel.
The boat has many nifty features, both on deck and down below. As one would expect, the varnish is perfect, and every piece of equipment is installed with Bristol precision. When sailing, there are no creaking sounds—perhaps another reason the boat is named Silent Maid. She does not heel over too far, thanks to the stability created by the wide hull, and slices through choppy waves with ease.
Silent Maid is comfortable and gorgeous to look at, but the greatest joy is sitting at the classic spoked wooden steering wheel, with the breeze on your face, feeling the raw power as she charges forward.
No one is sure of the origin of the name “catboat.” Some said the boat was as fleet as a cat. Or the name might have been inspired by dock cats that greeted returning fishermen.
Gary Jobson, a former All-American collegiate sailor, won the America’s Cup in 1977 as tactician for Ted Turner. A lifelong advocate and educator when it comes to sailing, he is also ESPN’s Sailing Analyst and Editor-at-Large for Sailing World and Cruising World magazines.
© Annapolis Home Magazine
Vol. 16, No. 4 2025