Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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A hoy was a small sloop-rigged coasting ship or a heavy barge used for freight. The word derives from the Middle Dutch hoey
Precisely what it was like and what its use, changed with time. In the fifteenth century it might be a small spritsail-rigged warship like a cromster. Like the earlier forms of the French chaloupe, it could be a heavy and unseaworthy harbour boat or a small coastal sailing vessel. (Latterly, the chaloupe was a pulling cutter - nowadays motorized.)
Principally, and more so latterly, the hoy was a passenger and/or cargo boat. From an English point of view, it was particularly one working in the Thames Estuary and southern North Sea in the manner of the Thames sailing barge of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, the name originated in the Netherlands and from there, a slightly different vessel did the same sort of work in similar waters. In 1495, one of the Paston Letters included the phrase, An hoye of Dorderycht (a hoy of Dordrecht), in such a way as to indicate that such contact was at that date, no more than mildly unusual.
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, English hoys plied a trade between London and the north Kent coast which enabled middle class Londoners to escape the city for the more rural air of Margate, for example. This trade was much expanded by the introduction of the early steamers. This happened when the barges were taking over the cargo coasting trade on the short routes, so the hoys fell out of use.
Before the development of steam engines, the passage of boats in places like the Thames estuary and the estuaries of the Netherlands, required the skilful use of tides as much as of the wind.
Hoy: a small sloop rigged coasting ship also a heavy barge for bulky cargo. [md hoei me,fr] of course- ” a hoy there” and a “hoyden” for lout or better yet, a girl or women of the saucy kind
then Lambs essay for later.
“Can I forget thee, thou old Margate Hoy, with thy weatherbeaten, sun-burnt captain, and his rough accommodation “
later by charles lamb 1775-1834
http://www.angelfire.com/nv/mf/elia2/hoy.htm
Hoy : “…A two-decker on the far left and a hoy in the right foreground both cross the picture plane in starboard-broadside view. Any smaller sailing craft can be seen closer inshore….”
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/pages/mnuExplore/PaintingDetail.cfm?lettera=s&ID=BHC0972&name=Isaac%20Sailmaker&action=ArtistTitle
hoy in painting see
http://www.cichw.net/pmscottlee.html
nice ships of the
Earliest reference to a hoy in English
comes in the Paston Letters (1495) “an hoy of Dorderyght” (Dordrecht).
many references to the Margate hoy:
The sailing hoys, regularly plying their trade between Margate and London with their cargoes of vegetables, barley and fish, made Margate into one of the first seaside resorts. The privileged classes of the day adored Margate for its safe stretches of sand, temperate climate and close proximity to London. It used to take up to ten hours to reach Margate from London in a sailing hoy.
http://www.cinqueports.org/margate.htm
a hoy is a small vessel, usually rigged as a sloop, employed in carrying passengers and goods short distances along the seacoast
http://www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/eberlesm/bwp1800/editions/sword/sword_notes.html
So packed up all my little odds and ends,
Took silent leave of all my Margate friends,
And sought a gallant Vessel
Hoy appears to be a coastal/river one masted ship for moving goods and Humans locally: see painting .
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/pages/mnuExplore/PaintingDetail.cfm?lettera=s&ID=BHC0972&name=Isaac%20Sailmaker&action=ArtistTitle
A famous one appears to the one that connected London to Margate, [Margate Hoy, see Lamb] there were others for the other Cinque ports, then the goods and people were transferred to cross channel vessels and then ferried to the Continent.
Greeting of another ship, From Sams book of Seamans Grammar:
Hoy: The Dutch had a {Brezzan} Hoy
Lenght 48’, Beam 14’ Depth 5 foot 30 tons with single mast, Gaft rigged with Stay sail, Headsail and Spirit sail.
my take: The Word ‘hoy’ be Spanish meaning day, be applied to a boat that would be only used in day light hours, i.e. a day boat. Then became general usage for boats that be scared of the dark, like we use the word hoover etc.
another missing ref http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1660/05/11/
“hoy” be Spanish meaning day…
Not exactly. “Hoy” (from the Latin “hodie”) means “today”. “Day” in Spanish is “día”.
hoy; adv. - este dia, now {aday} It be like the English misusing Char {lady} for T, Te, Tea, Tay, chai, to wash the tea cups, as there be no love lossed with The Spanish at that time, in my petite mind it make sense to misuse the superiors word in a rather bad way.
As the boat be only used for day travel [now].
