The Automobile Engine

he make-and-break engine motorized the inshore fishery and made it safer, more efficient, and less laborious. The adoption of the automobile engine further revolutionized the inshore fishery and made it far more versatile and efficient. Perhaps most significantly, the automobile engine made possible the changes in hull design that led to the accepted classic Cape Islander shape.

While the make-and-break engine had taken the inshore fishermen into the mechanical age, the automobile engine gave them increased versatility. The old, single- or twin-cylinder make-and-break engines were heavy, and their power was limited, with none to spare for auxiliary equipment. Soon after the automobile became common, surplus engines from scrapped or wrecked vehicles began to make their way aboard small boats. Their conversion to efficient sea-going power units soon followed. Auto engines had much more horsepower per pound of weight, and though physically larger, they did not weigh much more than the make-and-breaks. Their installation in the narrow boats gave a new speed and versatility unknown previously. Higher power at higher revolutions made the retention of automobile gearboxes necessary. The reverse gear was also required, as formerly engines were reversed simply by halting their motion and re-starting them in the opposite direction like a reciprocating steam engine.

Changes in Hull Design

he increased size of the new engines with the gearboxes made a number of changes in hull design desirable. Boats were built wider, and the after run was made flatter and broader as the sterns were given wide transoms. This long flat run of the underwater hull prevented the hulls from "squatting" under power and gave much more space within the cockpit for fishing gear or lobster traps. The larger, more sea-kindly hulls allowed the fishermen to go farther offshore into deeper waters.

Automobile engines had remote controls, and by fitting a steering wheel adjacent to the front of the engine, the helmsman could move forward, enabling him to fish directly overside for lobsters. This move made a shelter necessary for protection. Boats were next fitted with a short forward deck space with a small raised shelter or "pilot house" and then later a windshield. With time, the forecastle deck was raised and fitted with a cud or cuddy, which allowed for seating and a small stove to be fitted below deck. The windshield was eventually fitted with a roof stretching aft over the helmsman, and this developed in turn into a small deckhouse or "winterhouse" if it was portable.

The overall appearance of such craft by the beginning of World War II had assumed the essence of the popularly accepted characteristics of the Cape Island boat. These features were retained until wood was replaced by fibreglass.

Mechanical Auxiliary Equipment

he first piece of mechanical auxiliary equipment, a lobster trap hauler, was devised and fitted shortly after the automobile engine was adopted. This novel convenience was fashioned from another automobile cast-off, the rear axle. One side was cut off at the differential, and the unit sat on the closure plate so the remaining axle stood vertical. A pulley on the cut-off drive shaft was connected to the fan-belt pulley at the forward end of the engine, and an idler pulley controlled by a lever put it in motion. On the top of the vertical axle a small wooden capstan head was fitted to haul trap lines, relieving much of the lobsterman's labour.

This device was followed by many other auxiliary mechanical winches and fittings which helped adapt the hulls to various methods of fishing. The adaptive re-use of automobile or truck mechanical cast-off parts led to the development of novel winches for hauling small trawl nets, reeling in long line trawls, activating jigs, and pulling and retrieving scallop drags. The inventive appropriation of technology made the Cape Islander a proven and dependable vessel for exploiting the disparate inshore fishery. As these adaptations were proven effective, larger boats were built to range further afield, but their style remained essentially unchanged.