Larry below did all the brass work for Sam and most Verity's. Some of his work is on my Skiff.
"I don't think," Larry mused, "that Sam ever used a level or square on a boat. None of them did-and both sides always came out even. Hell," he added, "I don't think any of them could have worked to plans. They didn't have to!" One might wonder whether Sam ever used a ruler, for he always brought measurements to the machine works marked on a stick. One mark for shaft length, another for the rudder post, and so on. Quaint? Perhaps-but hardly prone to error.
Henderson, R. (1982). Nautical Quarterly, Sumer 1982(Number 18), 112
The photo above captures the first time we saw
Grandpa's Skiff in October 2023.
She Is Home
​Thank you, Grandpa.
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She is home now, where she belongs. The search that began in boyhood and carried through five decades has found its end; and its beginning. The meticulous restoration is underway, and with it, a purpose larger than one family's story.
The goal is not simply to bring her back. It is to preserve her, for history, for the water, and for those who will come after us and need to know what a Verity Skiff™ truly was. A museum transfer is the dream. And dreams of that size are never carried alone.
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My loving wife, Beth Ann, has been with me every step of this journey. She is my greatest supporter, and lucky for me, the sea runs in her blood as surely as it runs in mine. None of this happens without her.
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Thank you, Grandpa. She is exactly where she belongs.
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The Search
Growing up, I always heard about the day my grandfather, Louis "Hike" Verity Jr., launched his and the last Verity Skiff. A descendant of Samuel Verity — whose story will be told in the heritage section of this site — he was a man who left his mark on these waters in wood and in memory. His final skiff was rare. A 24 footer. The kind of boat that turns heads and holds stories.
When my father, John L. "Hike" Verity, spoke of her, something changed in his face. A quiet pride settled in that I never forgot. He told stories of storms, of open water, and of how a Verity Skiff could handle whatever the sea demanded. As a kid listening to those stories, I wanted nothing more than a Verity Skiff of my own.
As a young adult, that want became a search. I kept my eye on a 1964 24-foot Seaford Channel Raider for years. But something was always off. The bunks were wrong. The windshield was oversized. The details that should have placed her squarely in her time simply did not add up.
Then came the harder truth. My grandfather passed in 1962. The boat 1964 skiff I had been watching, the one that matched everything I had ever been told, except for those nagging changes. The photograph below is from a Motor Boating advertisement, 1962.
Everything else about her was exactly as I had learned. The full story of finding her lives on the Finding Her page.
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​​Welcome to VeritySkiff.org.
This site began with a question, where is my grandfather's last Verity Skiff? That search grew into something larger. A deep respect for Long Island Verity Skiff history, and a responsibility to get it right.
I've done my best to let the research lead. That meant revisiting sea tales my father told and humbly setting some of them straight. It wasn't easy. But the truth of the Verity Skiff™ heritage is worth telling honestly.
Many photographs and articles here are protected by educational copyright by their holding institutions. I am honored to share them in that spirit.
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A Note on the Grover Skiff
If you found your way here searching for the Grover Skiff, you are not far off course, you are simply one step back in history.
Al Grover grew up working traditional wooden Verity Skiffs in Baldwin Harbor, New York. In 1970, he purchased a 1926 Verity Skiff, restored her with care, and used that seasoned hull to create the mold for what would become his celebrated fiberglass Groverbuilt skiffs. The lineage runs straight and true. I know this not only from the record, but from Frank Siphonage — a man who worked on those very molds — who spoke with me about it many times.
Al Grover is a great man. The Grover Skiff has earned deep respect on Long Island waters, and that is not lost on me. But the story this site tells begins earlier — with the wood, the builders, and the Verity Skiff™ heritage that made everything after it possible.
A section devoted to the Grover Skiff may find its home here one day. For now, follow me back to where it all began.
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The Verity Clan
The Verity family were Long Island baymen in the truest sense — deeply rooted, hard working, and many-talented. They designed working and pleasure skiffs, and patented both sailing and gunning skiffs that would earn a lasting place on these waters. They were boat designers and builders, decoy carvers, gunning guides, and in the off seasons, they built homes with the same steady hands that built their skiffs. Most were churchgoers, woven into the fabric of their communities, and known as much for their character as their craft.
Some made their mark through business. Others worked the bays and ocean as boat builders and fishermen — demanding, unrelenting work that asks everything of a man. But working that close to God's wonder can never be beaten. I have always understood that.
I have been called a workaholic my entire life. I have come to accept that it is simply a family trait — one I carry with pride.
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Verity
* the state or quality of being true; accordance with fact or reality.
*something that is true, as a principle, belief, idea, or statement.
Below is a Verity Skiff™ I found on Woodcliff Canal. There is a group of three photos of this scene. Two of them described the boat as part of the Viking Fleet where my grandfather worked from time to time. Using the process of elimination that is a Louis (Hike) Verity Skiff.
The Frist Verity's I found dated back to May 10 1910. Charles H. Verity built the sailing Verity Skiff.
Charles H. Verity, born Jerusalem, 20 February 1835, died 19 April 1903 a bayman, of Freeport (St. John's Place). Married, May 1859, Jerusalem, Lucinda Baldwin, born 25 August 1841, died January (or February) 1903
Henderson, R. (1982). Nautical Quarterly, Sumer 1982(Number 18), 106.
For over four decades, I searched. Boating forums, old listing sites, boat boneyards, and marinas up and down the coast — always looking, always hoping to find her. My grandfather's last Verity Skiff.
The details I had to go on were slim, but certain. The skiff was built just before his passing in 1962 — confirmed not only by family, but by sources well beyond it. She was a 24-footer. Helm steering on the port side. Dual forward portholes. A narrow time frame, a handful of details, and a lifetime of patience. The rest was research.
One boat never left my sight. A Seaford Channel Raider that surfaced on the boating forums over the years, again and again. But her listing never sat right. She was being marketed as a Jersey Skiff. She carried a nameplate reading Williams Marina. Close enough to keep me watching. Different enough to keep me uncertain.
I kept watching anyway. A man who has been searching for four decades learns one thing above all else — you do not look away.
Using the process of elimination below is a Louis (hike) Verity Skiff.
Freeport Historic Photographs, Freeport Historical Society, Freeport Historic Photographs, Freeport Historical Society & Museum, 2009-07-30. “Viking Boats”
https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15281coll12/id/3960/rec/531
Freeport Historic Photographs, Freeport Historical Society, Freeport Historic Photographs, Freeport Historical Society & Museum, 2009-07-30. “Men on boat”
https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15281coll12/id/3959/rec/94
There were many boat options available during the Verity Skiff ™ era.
However, it was best said in Nautical Quarterly a Verity is not a boat; it is an insurance policy.
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Since May 1910, the Verity Skiff™ has been more than a workboat; it has been a promise. Earned through salt spray, changing tides, and moving sand bars, the respect she commands from mariners didn't come easy. Whether on open ocean, quiet bay, or forgotten backwater, a man who works the water knows what keeps him alive. The Verity Built wood skiff doesn't merely fight rough seas. She handles them. Built by baymen who faced those same waters, who knew what the sea demands and the Skiffs she was made to answer every call. This is not a standard hull. She never was meant to be.
The Nautical Quarterly so aptly put it: "A Verity is not a boat; it is an insurance policy." A testament to craftsmanship, reliability, and the confidence that comes with owning a Verity Skiff.
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A nice opening statement about Sam and the Verity Builders.
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The following is from Henderson, R. (1982): Nautical Quarterly, Sumer 1982(Number 18), 106.
It was a fine day for school: white water all across the inlet. Brazen soldiers marching in cadence to the beach, rising in salute, visors frothy \white and streaked with green as they paraded across the bars. "You, wouldn't dare go out in it," Dolph still recalls with awe. "But Sam took the tiller, slowed her to 600 turns and out we went as easy as could be. He just kept a little power on, watched his timing, and eased her out-then turned right in the white water and eased her back inside!" (For those unfamiliar with Jones Inlet, it's more than a fair run between bay and good water when soldiers march.)
"Don't try to drive her through an inlet," Sam admonished. "Let her alone and she'll come through by herself." Then he eased her back outside again, aimed the bow north and added turns to the purring Pierce Arrow. They slid into a broach, Sam holding her half a plank short of disaster to the last moment, when he pulled her out. "That's what you did wrong," he scolded. "My boats will go through that inlet better than some damned fools can bring them through!"
Henderson, R. (1982). Nautical Quarterly, Sumer 1982(Number 18), 107.