Saturday morning, and the temperature was in the twenties. Got over fifty by the time I finished my three miles on the Riverwalk. Now a really nice day and I hope to get out and enjoy it later.
As you can see from today's photo, I am concentrating on old images of the Chesapeake Bay and specifically on the Watermen who work there. Yesterday, I talked about tonging for oysters. Possibly the oldest way to fish for oysters. Late in 1800's, oystermen in New England were running out of product to catch and had to expand or perish. Their alternative was to migrate to the Chesapeake Bay and introduce their oystering boats called skipjacks.
Skipjacks can only fish for oysters. They are dredge boats or as the watermen call them "Drudge" boats. Controversy surrounds everything and the skipjack is no exception. Maryland and Virginia watermen were angry with the introduction of this boat on their turf. They claimed, and rightly so, the dredges tore apart the oyster beds and diminished the long term value of said beds. Claiming that hand tonging was more Eco-friendly, even though back then they had no idea what that term was all about. Well progress won out and the boats became a part of the maritime landscape on the bay. Controversy continued as the skipjack type of fishing took more and more oysters, fights among watermen broke out over territorial fishing grounds. The border between Maryland and Virginia became a critical war zone, and the skipjacks seen there in the early 1900's were more times than not armed to the teeth. Hence, the much remembered "Oyster Wars".
These are not suited for other types of commercial fishing on the bay. With the decline in the availability of oysters, a number of the boats are currently used to take tourists around the bay on Eco tours. The boat was built specifically to be 1/3 as wide as they are long and hence make a wonderfully steady platform from which to work. They generally range from 30 to 60 feet long, fitted with one mast, and something called a push boat. The pushboat is a much smaller boat which holds one large engine. As the name states it is simply used to push this sailing vessel when not under sail. See the one on the stern of the Hilda Willing pictured here. Law prohibits a skipjack from having any power other than a sail unless it is external and hence the pushboat concept. Additional photographs of these boats, the bay, and watermen can be found at my website where I am currently adding some sixty new images.
http://skipwillitsfineartphotography.ifp3.com/
The Chesapeake Bay skipjack fleet is the last commercial sailing fleet in the country, and I believe that I have a photograph of just about all of the remaining boats. So take a look.
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