The Minnie V. is a skipjack, a Chesapeake Bay sailing craft designed and built to dredge for oysters. Skipjacks typically have a flat or v-shaped bottom and a shallow draft. The one self-tending jib and large triangular mainsail make these vessels easy to sail with a small crew. Skipjacks represent the last remaining commercial sailing fleet in the nation. In 1884, when the Maryland oyster harvest reached an all-time peak, there were more than 1,000 skipjacks fishing in the Bay.
Today, the remaining skipjacks number less than 30.

The Minnie V. was built in 1906 in Wenonah, which is on Deale Island, located on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The builder was John B. Vetra, and he named the boat after his wife, Minnie. The V, therefore, stands for her last name, Vetra. The Minnie V. has had many different owners, and has spent 87 years in the oyster dredging business.

The Living Classroms Foundation acquired the Minnie V. in 1995, and today she is a key part of the Foundation's educational shipboard programming.