Evening star., 1937-03-14
BAY CRAFT OF STRANGE TYPE
Unlike Wars and Carpenter Maryland Has Heart for Bvalves
and Bans Engines "Drudgers"-Which Gives Capital
Flavor of Days When Sail Was Supreme.

among the tongers like variety and
break with tradition. Hence We have Q
Queen Mary and Normandie. There
is Mickey Marge III and Mickey
Marge H. There may be number one
Of the tribe, too
Note the variety Of designs to be
found among the tongers. Especially
take a look at canoe, for they can
not last much longer Hewn from
solid logs 40, SO, so or even 100 years
ago, these remarkable craft are still
in service. Once upon time they
were known as the fastest sail boats
on the bay. Now q single-cylinder
marine engine, or an old auto engine,
serves for propulsion.
NOW let us drive around the Naval
Academy water front. Between
the hulls OF sail and power boats set
ashore for the Winter we can get
glimpses OF the broad mouth Of the
Severn River and the bay beyond. II
the time is right the waters will be
spotted with many a billowing sail,
making long and beautiful parade
coming up the channel. If your
camera Is along, take a picture or
two, then drive out past the sentry
and get over to Prince George street
(you crossed 1t coming from the
municipal wharf. Turn down to a
dock at the foot of this street and
park, front row seat at a rare spec
tacle-one which the next generation
cannot hope to see. The buy boats
are anchored out in the stream. Most
OF these were once bug-eyes or
schooners in the drudging game
themselves. Now, cut down and motor
lied, they are the middlemen Of
oysterdom.
One by one the incoming sailers
douse sail and slip alongside their
favorite buy boats, sell their catch
and then drop over to the gas dock
Tor fuel, oil and water. Thirty min.
utes of furious activity follows tho
selling OF the catch. Decks are
washed down, yawl boats hoisted snug
and everything put in order for an
early departure on Monday morning.
AS the sky yellows and the wind dies,
hundred white-lighted lanterns are
holsted into the rigging of as many
boats; a blue haze forms above the
decks as the smoke issues from the
galley stoves, and as you leave, shiny
faced spruced-up watermen, dressed
for Saturday night in Annapolis, begin
to come ashore, walking from deck to
deck OF the close-berthed craft like
soldiers crossing a pontoon bridge.
Not many Of these are local men.
They come from Deals Island, Tay-
lors Island, T1lghmans Island, Cris-
field and other Eastern Shore places,
Many speak with an accent more like
that found In England's Lancaster or
Yorkshire than in everyday Maryland
and Virginia.
They work on shares, most Of these
men, one-third for the owner, one
third for the boat and the rest d.
vided among the crew. Sometimes,
! on the smaller craft, it is one share
for the owner, one share for the boat
and one share to each member Of the
crew. Oysters bring anywhere from
20 to 10 or 80 cents a bushel at buy
boats. They averaged around 4o cents
this Winter.
IT'S hard life-and it takes men
with stout hearts and strong
muscles to keep the cities of America
supplied with oysters. But we ind
the Chesapeake. which gave our fore
fathers the famous Baltimore clippers
and rakish privateers Of our early his
tory, doing its fair share to satisfy
our current needs. Men and boats are
both old in this service. There's many
50-60-70-year-old schooner or bug
eye carrying full sail and crew IN the
oyster trade, and few new boats are
seen. Almost none have been built in
the past 20 years. Skipjacks, them
selves descendants OF a pre-revolu-
tionary type, are taking the places left
by the fast-fading feet Of two-mast-
ers. II you see boat with two
masts, the second little shorter than
the first. and both heavily raked, or
slanted, the chances are greatly,
though not always, in favor Of her
being bug-eye. II the second mast
Is little taller than the first and the
sail somewhat larger on the second
mast. you're reasonably safe in call
ing her schooner. Single mast boats
are mostly skipjacks. The pictures
will help you determine which Is
which.
New laws and new methods are
bound to come and wipe this all away,
just as has been the case In Long
Island Sound, Great South Bay and
the Grand Banks, where gasoline and
Diesel engines have run sail from the
surface Of the waters. Go soon to
watch q piece Of American marine
history being re-enacted in . show
that must soon lower its curtain for
ever. But, remember, it does not run
| during the Summer months.