MINDING THE ROOTS AT TAVERN CREEK - 8
Sitting here almost 60 years later with my first Pikes Place Roast of the day, I am struck with the idea that a mid teenage person was allowed by his parents to venture out daily onto a huge body of water that regularly kills more careless souls every year. But I guess they knew what they were doing or had some inordinate amount of trust in me. I know I pushed that level of trust over the years probably much to their chagrin. But in fact I was never alone on the bay....all one had to do was look.
A waterman starting his day hand tonging for oysters.
A group of watermen clamming on the Chester River.
A group working a set of pound nets.
Another boat load working drift nets.
A patent tonger working an oyster bar just to the south west of Tavern Creek on the Swan Point Bar.
Or finally clammers culling the clams from the rest of the debris found on the bottom of the bay.
Every last one of these guys would have and do come to the aid of anyone in distress on the water. Oh, yeah they would cuss ya for making them stop their work just to help some green horn, but help they would. Or if they knew you, they would tease you in public for years for getting in trouble.
It is amazing however, the stupidity of some who take to the water. Or mabye it's just people who are unprepared and unaware. Mostly folks that rent or lease boats for short vacation type trips. Never been in a boat, never been on the water, have no clue how to get themselves out of trouble. And, mother nature is very unforgiving. I have pulled many folks off sand bars upon which they found themselves grounded. One such comment was made to me by a father on a sailboat with his young son on board. I was watching them ground themselves with a huge thunder storm forming to the west. I knew that this had all the markings of a disaster in the making. They were in the flats off the Tavern and between the islands. He couldn't understand it. "This boat draws three feet of water and the charts say I have three feet right here" Well Duh! Yeah, that's at high tide and now the tide is out. I towed them to deeper water and the guy was still shaking his head at the charts. I told him to stay in the area where he could see the markers for crab pots. The pots always had to be in a water depth of at least an oars length. Rule of thumb. Failing that maybe follow the buoys marked on his charts. Good thing, as it turned out it was a bad storm!
It is amazing however, the stupidity of some who take to the water. Or mabye it's just people who are unprepared and unaware. Mostly folks that rent or lease boats for short vacation type trips. Never been in a boat, never been on the water, have no clue how to get themselves out of trouble. And, mother nature is very unforgiving. I have pulled many folks off sand bars upon which they found themselves grounded. One such comment was made to me by a father on a sailboat with his young son on board. I was watching them ground themselves with a huge thunder storm forming to the west. I knew that this had all the markings of a disaster in the making. They were in the flats off the Tavern and between the islands. He couldn't understand it. "This boat draws three feet of water and the charts say I have three feet right here" Well Duh! Yeah, that's at high tide and now the tide is out. I towed them to deeper water and the guy was still shaking his head at the charts. I told him to stay in the area where he could see the markers for crab pots. The pots always had to be in a water depth of at least an oars length. Rule of thumb. Failing that maybe follow the buoys marked on his charts. Good thing, as it turned out it was a bad storm!
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