The Maine Lobster Boat: History of an Iconic Fishing Vessel, by Daniel Sheldon Lee. Down East Books, www. downeastbooks.com. 508 pp., illus., index, $35.
Available from The WoodenBoat Store (www.woodenboatstore.com)
There is something beautiful to be found in the lines of the modern lobsterboat and in the simple and efficient process of managing the more than 800 traps that a lobsterman uses. Such boats, and the lifestyle of operating one, create the economic foundation of many a Maine coastal town.
The lobsterboats moored in many harbors may appear, to the untrained eye, to be very similar to each other, but if you look closely you will discern a startling variety of hull shapes, sheerlines, and deckhouses. A “codger,” or old lobsterman, can see a whole history in the lines of a boat. They know who built it and why it might be different from those their father built. They can tell whether a boat was built by two brothers who worked together, or later, after they fell out and worked in separate shops.