Chapelle was born on February 1, 1901.[1] From 1919, he worked as a marine apprentice and designer for a number of shipbuilders. After 1936, he went into business for himself, and later served as head of the New England section of the Historic American Merchant Marine Survey, a New Deal project designed to research American naval history and staffed by unemployed marine architects.[2]
Chapelle was a small-boat enthusiast and sailor. He felt that inexpensive yachts based on traditional workboats were the most practical way to go sailing and designed a number of small boats. His article on a 14-foot (4.3 m) Chesapeake sharpie skiff is typical of many of his articles.[4]
His book American Small Sailing Craft (1951) is considered a classic among small-boat builders and historians. In it he documented many fast-vanishing American working boats.
The Search for Speed Under Sail: 1700-1855 (1967) W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
The Baltimore Clipper
The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935 (1973) W. W. Norton & Company Inc., ISBN0-393-03123-3
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (1964) Smithsonian Institution Press, ISBN1628737921, cowritten by Howard I. Chapelle and Edwin Tappan Adney.