modesty is believed to be the last large sailing shellfish dredger built anywhere along the shores of long island. modesty was modeled after the 1892 catboat honest, which was built by jelle dykstra of greens creek, west sayville. modesty was built as a gaff-rigged sloop but a two-cylinder gafka gasoline engine was installed during the construction. the fact that modesty was even built at the end of the age of sail is due to an old law enacted before world war i which stipulated that only sail power could be used while dredging for shellfish. after working as a scallop dredger in peconic bay until 1936, modesty moved to connecticut to finish her working career as an oyster dredger. from the 1950s until 1974 she served as a pleasure yacht for various owners.