Noank Smack Sloop, Jeff Brown
Jeff Brown was built in Noank by Jack Wilbur, in 1966, and is a replica of an 1883 Key West smackee, the plans of which are in the National Watercraft Collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
Jeff Brown is a typical Key West smackee of her time, which owed much to Noank boat building and design practices. Many Noank fishermen would sail south, and operate out of Key West and other southern ports during the winter. Not surprisingly, the Noank designs found an enthusiastic welcome there, and according to historian Howard I. Chapelle, boats built in Key West at that time were in all respects identical to those built in Noank.
Before his death in 1990, Jack Wilbur went on to build nine more boats which, like Jeff Brown, were derived from local prototypes.
Jeff Brown was followed by two schooners, three sloops, a power boat, an open launch, a small pulling/sail boat, and a sharpie. Of all the boats he built, Jeff Brown was, in many ways, Wilbur’s favorite. The boat was originally fastened with galvanized boat nails, and the winter after his death (1991), she was refastened by a small group of volunteers spearheaded by Jim and Andy Giblin. The intervening years have taken their toll on the boat, and she is awaiting restoration.
