Newport catboat KINGFISHER II

Newport catboat

One of two extant Newport-type catboats, Kingfisher II was built on Long Wharf in Newport, Rhode Island, by either T. Stoddard or one of the Barker brothers. Edward W. Smith, Sr., her original owner, sailed her as a yacht and used her when he made his many wonderful glass-plate photo¬graphs of Newport's waterfront scenes. These plates, many of which are published in his son's book Workaday-Schooners, are preserved at Mystic Seaport.

Traded to Lars Larson in 1905, she was later rebuilt by Larson with a cuddy cabin and vertically staved coaming to serve as a day charter boat in Newport harbor. In 1941 Henry A. Wood, Jr., nephew of E. W. Smith, Sr., purchased the boat from Larson's estate, and she remained in the family until she was donated to Mystic Seaport.


CREDIT LINE: Mystic Seaport Watercraft, Maynard Bray, Benjamin A. G. Fuller and Peter Vermilya. Mystic Seaport. 2001.