Lobster Boat Legacy

Decades of Yachts Inspired by Timeless Design

- Peter A. Janssen

The ever-growing popularity of Downeast boats today—ranging from outboard-powered mini cruisers to multimillion-dollar luxury yachts—dates back to 1912 when William Frost moved from Whale Cove in Nova Scotia to Beals Island, off Jonesport, Maine, and started building boats for local lobstermen. Then, as now, form follows function, and Frost’s Beals Island boats had a fine entry to part a head sea, a hull with modest deadrise amidships that flattened aft for stability, a large working cockpit with low freeboard for pulling in pots, and a full-length keel to protect the running gear and provide directional stability. The boats were popular in eastern Maine, where Frost and his son-in-law, Riley Lowell, built hundreds of them before moving down to the Portland area, where Riley’s sons, Royal and Carroll, took over as builders and designers.