long desired to combine in one small boat.

Mr. Charles Hallock, in his paper the "Forest and Stream," of April
23, 1874, gave drawings and a description of the sneak-box, and fairly
presented its claims to public favor.

The sneak-box is not a monopoly of any particular builder, but it
requires peculiar talent to build one,--the kind of talent which
enables one man to cut out a perfect axe-handle, while the master-
carpenter finds it difficult to accomplish the same thing. The best
yacht-builders in Ocean County generally fail in modelling a sneak-
box, while many second-rate mechanics along the shore, who could not
possibly construct a yacht that would sail well, can make a perfect
sneak-box, or gunning-skiff. All this may be accounted for by
recognizing the fact that the water-lines of the sneak-box are
peculiar, and differ materially from those of row-boats, sailboats,
and yachts. Having a spoon-shaped bottom and bow, the sneak-box moves
rather over the water than through it, and this peculiarity, together
with its broad beam, gives the boat such stiffness that two persons
may stand upright in her while she is moving through the water, and
troll their lines while fishing, or discharge their guns, without
careening the boat; a valuable advantage not possessed by our best
cruising canoes.

The boat sails well on the wind, though hard to pull against a strong
head sea. A fin-shaped centre-board takes the place of a keel. It can
be quickly removed from the trunk, or centre-board well, and stored
under the deck. The flatness of her floor permits the sneak-box to run
in very shallow water while being rowed or when sailing before the
wind without the centre-board. Some of these boats, carrying a weight