The maritime world is full of great names — names of islands, ledges, bays and outcroppings. One name that I didn’t know anything about until recently is that of a local street — “Gundalo”. Gundalo Gap is a small lane off of Mere Point Road that leads out to the water, and I had always thought that it had been named after a person with the same name. It turns out that it refers to a boat that used to be common in Maquoit Bay but that I’d never heard of before — a “gundalow.” It isn’t entirely different from the better-known “gondola” that is the iconic type of boat found in the canals of Venice. But it is a bit more specific to this part of the world.

The gondolas of Venice are known as lovely, floating vessels filled with sightseers. Whereas, the gundalows that once floated in Maquoit Bay were work boats. They weren’t designed for rough seas but rather for more protected bays and waterways where their flat-bottom design could hold large loads of cargo. Gundalows were essentially sail-powered barges used for carrying wood and other building materials, or even farm animals. They were also used for trade of raw materials for more finished products. The gundalows used the tidal flow as well as wind to power them, so they often took the heavier raw materials like lumber and bricks down river and more finished products like textiles and milled grains upriver.

To carry all of this freight, these boats could be pretty large — up to 20 meters or so. They could also navigate very shallow water since they had flat bottoms without a keel that could get them stuck as they pulled in close to shore. If you’ve been in some of the small bays around Brunswick, you know how shallow they can be. This was an advantage when carrying heavy loads and trying to get them as close to shore as possible.

Gundalows were common in the 1700s and 1800s before engines began to take the place of sails. Now, they have all but disappeared. There is a replica, however, that is down in New Hampshire at the Strawbery Banke park — the Piscataqua — and it is used for school programs that teach about the area’s maritime heritage as well as the importance of environmental stewardship. The last of its kind, there were once more than a thousand gundalows operating in the region. Now, giant cargo ships pass through the Piscataqua River just around the bend from this historical gundalow.

In addition to their use as cargo boats, gundalows were also used as gun boats — not in Maine but in other parts of the United States. In fact, they are part of the early history of the United States. Gundalow boats were used in the Revolutionary War — and by both sides. Perhaps the most famous of these was the Philadelphia, which was sailed by Benedict Arnold and sunk to the bottom of Lake Champlain in the Battle of Valcour Island. Remarkably, it was found at the bottom of the lake and is now preserved at the Smithsonian Museum.

It is remarkable to think that the same type of boat used right here in Brunswick was used in the Revolutionary War. Now that I know of the connection between the types of boats used in Maine waterways and this boat, I’m eager to see both the Philadelphia and the Piscataqua as well as to learn more about the maritime history of our town.

Susan Olcott is the director of strategic partnerships at Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.