Historical Significance of Lowell’s Dories
In his book Fast & Able: Life Stories of Great Gloucester Fishing Vessels, Gordon W. Thomas indicated that the average length of the Lowell dory in the 19th century was 18 feet. From the available production figures it is believed that more than 100,000 Lowell dories were manufactured between 1850 and 1990. If laid end to end, these dories would stretch more than 200 miles, longer than the entire length of the Merrimack River. In order to achieve these production levels, Hiram Lowell initiated a system of dory mass-production, which revolutionized the boat building industry.
Although many Lowell Boat Shop record books were lost in a fire in the 1980’s it seems safe to conclude that the majority of Lowell dories were built for offshore Banks use by fishermen in nearby Gloucester, Massachusetts. Gloucester was the birthplace of the American schooner in the 18th century, and became the home part of the majority of the New England fishing fleet by the mid-19th century. Although Salisbury and Amesbury boatbuilders and shipbuilders constructed vessels for Gloucester fishermen in the 18th century, the majority of the earliest vessels were not dories; the earliest Gloucester fishermen simply "handlined" from the deck of their schooners. Merrimack Valley boatbuilders constructed many schooners, sloops and other large vessels for Gloucester fishermen. A noted 19th century Gloucester historian recorded that the Banks fishery "began to decline…after the Revolution" and was almost "totally abandoned" by the early 19th century. Between 1790 and 1860, Gloucester captains filled the fishing gap by engaging heavily in "foreign commerce." Banks fishing was revived shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War.
According to the 1876 Gloucester historian, "since about 1860, the increased demand and consequent higher price of fish have induced many [Gloucester] merchants to send their vessels [back] to the ancient fishing ground." By 1859, the Gloucester fishing fleet was rebuilt, and it was designed to engage in the new method of dory-fishing, which was far more efficient than hand-lining. In dory fishing, each schooner carried 12 to 20 dories, which were rowed apart to spread thousands of hooks over wide areas of ocean. On January 6, 1859, the Villager of Salisbury and Amesbury noted that a fleet of 300 schooners in Gloucester harbor was preparing to make way for Grand Banks fishing. A fleet of this size required approximately 2,700 new dories yearly. Salisbury and Amesbury boat builders responded to the market by erecting "new shops" to build new dories for the fleet.
In 1897, the Amesbury Daily News reported that "When the manufacture of fishing dories for the Banks trade grew up, Mr. [Hiram] Lowell was one of the pioneers." John Gardner and other historians have suggested that Hiram Lowell "invented" the American Grand Banks dory by modifying the round sided wherry and colonial flat-bottomed "batteaux" made by Simeon Lowell and others before 1830. There is additional evidence, which suggests that the name, form and use of the dory derived as well from French fishermen, who used similar boats for Grand Banks fishing.
By 1860, Hiram Lowell modified his family boat building business to produce fishing dories on a large scale. By the last quarter of the 19th century, Hiram Lowell’s boat shop became the leading manufacturer of dories in the United States.
Lowell dories had a reputation for quality, and were popular in Gloucester. Howard Blackburn, the most famous Gloucester dory fisherman who survived a winter storm off Newfoundland in 1881 owed his life to the integrity and design of an 18 foot Lowell dory. During the 1890s Lowell dories were delivered "primarily to Gloucester" and a fishing schooner named after the great dory maker, Hiram Lowell, was built in Gloucester in 1892. IN 1984, the 92 year old Gloucester schooner captain Morton Seilig recalled: "We in Gloucester used Lowell dories. Wouldn’t use anything else. They were the best. If you had a Lowell dory, you had a good dory." Dory quality was critical to the men whose lives depended on them, and Lowell dories were chosen by many Gloucester fishermen.
Lowell dories became a standard fixture on Gloucester schooners and Gloucester beaches by the third quarter of the 19th century, valued both as a deep sea vessel for use with schooners, and as a row boat for Victorian outings and recreation. American artist Winslow Homer recorded Gloucester dories in many of his marine renderings of the 1870s and 1880s. Paintings and engravings such as Waiting for Dad (1873), Gloucester Harbor (1873), Three Boys in a Dory with Lobster Pots (1875), Children Playing under a Gloucester Wharf (1880), Green Dory (1880), and the Fog Warning (1885) attest to the vessel’s popularity as both a hard-working commercial boat, and a recreational boat for children and mothers in Victorian Gloucester. By the 1890’s, the Gloucester fisherman and Gloucester dory were further popularized by Rudyard Kipling in the classic sea documentary, Captains Courageous.
The Lowell dory was popular in other areas besides Gloucester. The Moultons are known to have delivered Lowell dories north to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Coast Guard in nearby Newburyport purchased Lowell dories to use as surf rescue craft. The famous Swampscott dories are also believed to have derived in part from Lowell originals. Lowell dories and boats were sent to destinations across the United States and Europe. In the early 20th century, arctic explorer Donald MacMilan witnessed a Lowell dory being used by Eskimos in the far north.