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Saving the Skipjacks |
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Deborah S. Davis |
September 2002 |
A rare sight: The last of the working skipjacks dredge under light winds at sunrise in November, 1990 off Howell Point on the Choptank River. The boats traditionally met as a fleet on the opening day of the dredging season. Photo by David Harp © 1990.
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The skipjack, Maryland’s state boat and a beloved symbol of the culture and heritage of the Chesapeake Bay, is disappearing. Because it is the only commercial sailing fishing fleet remaining in the U.S., the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the skipjack fleet on its 2002 list of "America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places." Efforts are underway to preserve and restore these remarkable treasures, and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland is in the midst of them.
A Brief History
The skipjack made its debut in the late 1800s. The oldest of the still-remaining vessels was built in 1886; the youngest was crafted in 1956. Evolved from larger, V-bottom crabbing skiffs, the shallow-draft, wooden-hulled boats were constructed specifically for the shallow Chesapeake Bay waters. Especially created to dredge oysters, they sport a simple design that makes them easy to handle, responsive in light winds, and relatively inexpensive to build. Since the arrival of these vessels the oyster population has sharply dropped, mainly due to oyster diseases, historic over-harvesting, and water pollution. As the oyster industry declined, so did the profusion of skipjacks. The high costs associated with the maintenance of these wooden boats are causing the fleet to vanish one by one. Once numbering more than a thousand, the fleet had dwindled to 35 in 1985, when it was designated as the state boat of Maryland and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By 2002, only 13 working vessels remained.
Preserving the Fleet
With the National Trust’s "endangered" designation, the skipjacks join a list, compiled since 1988, of 135 historic resources whose preservation has been determined to have critical importance to America’s cultural heritage. The state of Maryland is concerned, too. In 1999, a Save Our Skipjacks Task Force was created as part of "Maryland 2000," the state’s millennium celebration. The task force, appointed by Maryland 2000 chair (and Comptroller) William Donald Schaefer, includes skipjack captains, conservationists, preservationists, and insurance experts. They were charged with addressing some of the obstacles to preservation, including investigating a number of issues that are accelerating deterioration. In April 2000, the task force issued several recommendations to save the vessels. These include providing funding assistance for maintenance of the vessels, affordable liability and hull insurance, land use and zoning measures which support the maritime industry, and alternative but compatible uses for the commercial vessels. The task force also considered establishing an educational program to encourage and teach traditional Bay-craft trades and a program where skipjacks are linked to state tourism.
To implement some of the task force recommendations, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum established a program for the restoration of the boats by shipwrights and apprentices at the museum. Funding for this Skipjack Restoration Project has so far been provided by the Maryland Historical Trust, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, the Bartus Trew Providence Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and individual donors. In-kind support has come from Black & Decker, Jamestown Distributors, Chesapeake Wood Products, Seahawk Yacht Finishes, and Fawcett Boat Supplies, Inc.
It is estimated that these vessels require approximately $150,000 each to completely restore. Due to the level of funding currently available, the Task Force has set a maximum grant expenditure of $50,000 per boat. To date, four skipjacks have received assistance through the program: City of Crisfield, H.M. Krentz, Lady Katie, and Somerset. Repairs are aimed at making the vessels seaworthy so they may continue to dredge safely. The goal is to offer repair or restoration to all thirteen of the skipjacks that are eligible for the program. To be qualified for the program, a skipjack must have commercially dredged for oysters since 1999 and be privately owned.
The Skipjack Restoration Project is intended not only to keep these vessels afloat, but also to provide training in wooden boat repair through an apprenticeship program. All work is done on the museum grounds, allowing visitors to witness the restoration and speak directly to the captains who work the water for a living. The project gives the museum an opportunity to document this unique culture of the Chesapeake Bay through the collection of photographs and oral histories of skipjack captains and crews, which become part of the museum’s collection and educational programming.
A Continuing Story
One way the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum shares this culture with the public is through their permanent exhibit, Oystering on the Chesapeake. An entire building is dedicated to this exhibit, which centers on the retired skipjack, E.C. Collier. Built in 1910 by George Washington Horseman at Deal Island, the E.C. Collier dredged oysters until the early 1980s. The Oystering on the Chesapeake exhibit lets visitors on the boat, offering a hands-on experience that tells the story of how the Bay’s oyster initially shaped the region’s history, culture, and landscape and how the devastation of this famous mollusk is reshaping it again.
Facing the Future
Both Maryland 2000 and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are assisting the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in its continuing effort to raise funds for the Skipjack Restoration Project. The goal is to raise $2 million so as to fully restore each of the 13 eligible skipjacks, as well as to create a $500,000 endowment that would make regular haul-outs, inspection, and routine maintenance possible. The vision is for proper care to take these vessels off the endangered list, so they may remain a successful commercial sailing fishing fleet for many years to come.
Related Links
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum Skipjack Restoration Project
http://www.cbmm.org/wh_prog_skip.html
National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Endangered Sites
http://www.nationaltrust.org/11Most/2002/skipjacks.html
Save Our Skipjacks Task Force
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/26excom/html/32skip.html
Annual Labor Day Weekend Skipjack Race off Deal Island, MD
http://skipjack.net/races/
Recommended Reading
Chapelle, Howard I. Notes on Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks. St. Michaels, Maryland: Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, 1998.
Vojtech, Pat. Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1993.
Deborah S. Davis is the Director of Marketing at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. A New York native, she moved to Maryland’s Eastern Shore in 1998. Deborah holds an MBA from Yale University and previous work experience includes serving as the Director of Marketing for the Council for Creative Projects in Lee, Massachusetts; as a Research Analyst for New York City’s Economic Development Corporation; and 11 years as a marketing account executive in New York.
© University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 2005. All rights reserved.
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Additional Photos
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| The City of Crisfield, the first skipjack to undergo restoration in the program, receives finishing touches in preparation for her launch. December 2001. Photo by Laura Vlahovich |
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| Project Manager, Mike Vlahovich, removes the fore deck and deck beams on the Somerset. June 2002. Photo by Laura Vlahovich |
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| Master and apprentice shipwrights finish up the bottom work on the Lady Katie. Visible are the new bow stern and bottom staving. March 2002. Photo by Laura Vlahovich |
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| Apprentice shipwrights Bob Savage and Heron Scott install the forward bulwarks and cap rail to complete the Somerset's fore deck repair. August 2002. Photo by Laura Vlahovich |
Questions or comments regarding
this article should be
addressed to the editor:
Katherine Harting
Room 2133 Richard A. Henson Center
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Princess Anne, MD 21853
Telephone: 410-651-6084
E-mail: kharting@umes.edu
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