Working Boats of The World

Lobster Boats - Perkins Cove - Ogunquit, Maine
Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved

DURING THE past 15 years or so, my travels, particularly on cruise ships, have given me some unique opportunities to photograph seagoing vessels, and I have always been drawn to them.

It wasn't until many years later, in my 30's that I really began to appreciate the huge variety of "boats" in our world

IRONICALLY, I grew up in the middle of some of the largest "freshwater oceans" in the world: The Great Lakes. My home state was Michigan and for most of my youth, I lived in a city that was a major recreational port on Lake Michigan. The only true "working boats" we had were the occasional oil tanker bringing petroleum in to our above-ground storage tanks. If, like me, you were exposed to boats, but your primary exposure to was pleasure craft, you might not appreciate the working boats of the world. I am imagining my voice to be like popular comedian, Jeff Foxworthy in his "you just might be a redneck" schtick as I write this. Probably not very effective. Still, maybe to the point.

Fisherman's Wharf - San Francisco, California
Copyright Andy Richards 2011 - All Rights Reserved

GROWING UP, we had a sailboat moored at a harbor in Traverse City, Michigan, on one of the two great bays of Lake Michigan that the city sits at the base of. We also had grandparent cottages on two different inland lakes in Michigan where we had motor, sail and rowboats. All pleasure boats. I blogged about mostly pleasure boats a year or so back in "Whatever Floats Your Boat," but it wasn't until many years later, when I was in my late 30's, that I really began to appreciate the huge variety of "boats" in our world.

Really we would probably be more accurate describing them as seagoing or watergoing "vessels"

MOST SOURCES indicate that there well over thirty million boats in the world (approximately 60% of which are recreational). I was surprised to learn that approximately 50% of all of these boats are in the U.S. But there is that old saying about statistics. Just because 50% of the boats are owned in the U.S. doesn't mean that number of boats owned per population is the largest. Canadians own some nearly 9 million boats, in relation to their population of just over 41,000,000. The U.S. population, on the other hand, is 340 million. Interesting math. Canada has the most coastline of any country. The U.S., only ranks 10th in the world.

Cruise ships have given me some unique opportunities to photograph seagoing vessels

WE PROBABLY should stop here and attempt some definitions. A lot of us refer to waterborn vessels as "boats." Really we would be more accurate describing them as seagoing "vessels." Of those vessels, we generally divide them into two categories: boats and ships. If you try to look up definitions, you will find almost as many different ones as there are varieties of watercraft. There is no "official" definition or explanation of the difference. There are some generalizations. Ships are generally larger by a magnitude. Ships are generally designed as "ocean-going" (including within the definition of "ocean" large freshwater bodies like The Great Lakes). Ships generally have a commercial or military purpose. Boats are generally smaller, more local in their travel, and often recreational; though there are certainly working boats (fishing, transportation, and research).

Ships and Boats - Port of Livorno, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THIS WAS originally going to be a single post, but as I was writing, I began to look again through my archives and realized that I have photographed a lot of these vessels. Enough that I eventually concluded that there are two many to try to cover in one post (this one is already ouot-of-control long). Over several weeks, I will post a series of related posts, featuring some of the working ships and boats I have photographed.