Evening star., 1953-01-20
Captive Ghost
Away;
Forfeit Sought
Hieh-Speed Dredger
Lies in Hideout as
Oyster War" Prize
BY J. 1. MichoeI
Sfor Stoff Correspondent

ss svUSbs0Sb
stor Stoff Correspondent
LEONARDTOWN. Md, Jan.
20. - Virginia's roaring Ghost
was tied up alongside a Mary
land dock today while daredevil
dredgers mapped a raid to re-
cover two other sleek craft seized
in a resurgence of the Potomac
River oyster war.
The high-powered Ghost was
towed here Sunday after Mary
lands oyster navy ran the elu-
sive vessel aground in a hail of
gunf1re.
With patrol boats close on
their stern, the three-man crew
dumped alongside and tried to
set it afire. When they failed,
they jumped into a marsh near
the Potomac River Bridge and
sloshed to safety on the Virginia
shore.
To Ask Forfeit.
Maryland Tidewater Fisheries
officials planned yesterday to ask
that the Ghost. fully equipped
for illegal power dredging and
with 250-horsepower motor in
her hold, be forfeited to the
State.
They based their intended ac-
ton on a ruling handed down
last week by st. Marys County
Trial Magistrate Wilson H.
Knight. He held that vessels
guilty of conservation law viola
tions are subject to seizure,
whether or not the crews are
convicted.
The unprecedented decision
impounded two Virginia dredge
boats captured Wednesday, pend
ing a ruling by the State at
torney general.
Joseph A. Mattingly, st. Marys
County States Attorney. decided
yesterday to wait for the opinion
before bringing the Ghosts case
into court.
Ghost Spirited Away.
Shortly afterward. Capt. Ches-
ter Cullison, supervising inspec-
tor for the lower Potomac, looped
line from his patrol craft. Tiny
Lou, to the Ghost and headed
into og-shrouded Breton Bay.
He radioed later that he was
feeling his way down river" and
would hide his prize in a secret
cove.
What neither he nor his fellow
inspectors knew was that a car
filled with husky Virginians
prowled the st. Marys County
waterfront throughout the day.
They searched for, and found
the two $4,000 boats tied up at
Compton, about miles from
here, after the impounding order
was issued by Judge Knight.
Marylnad officials had tried to
keep their location a secret.
Found Captured Boats.
Capt. Ben Morgan, veteran oys-
ter and fishing boat captain, was
surprised when the men drove up
to his house yesterday morning
and then went down to his pri-
vate dock where the unguarded
craft was moored.
"They didn't exactly say they
would take them" Capt. Morgan
remarked, "but they talked and
acted as though they planned to
slip in here at night and take
them away"
Just before dusk last night,
they came again, while report
er was there. After a while they
drove away, leaving Capt. Nor
gan apprehenSive.
But before they departed,
they told of the Ghost chase
Sunday. II witnessed it," one of
them grinned, indicating that he
was one of the crew.
He said the Ghost was on
Swami Point, one of the Poto-
macs main oyster bars. few
miles below the Potomac River
Bridge.
Three Pursuers Depl0y.
AS he told it, three Maryland
patrol boats were deployed on
the Virginia side of the river
and one on the Maryland side.
One vessel left the Colonial
beach waterfront and churned
toward the Ghost, which upped
anchor and roared off.
Rifle and pistol bullets whis-
tied overhead and sprayed the
water until the Ghost headed
into creek and went aground.
The Ghost was mired so
deeply that the linked power OF
two Maryland patrol vessels was
required to free her.
All of the Old Dominion wa
termen discounted reports that
the Ghost is the fastest craft
in the Potomac dredging busi-
ness.
"She would only do ABOUT Is
knots" they said. "Shucks, just
let them try to catch the Spirit"