THINKING BACK ON THE CHESAPEAKE BAY
MARYLAND MY MARYLAND
THINKING BACK ON THE CHESAPEAKE BAY
By Mike Descheemaeker, captain aboard the goodship SV WHIRLWIND
I moved to Washington State over 20 years ago and when people ask, "is their anything you miss about back east?" I have one simple answer: the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay was formed by the southern extent of the polar ice cap depressing the ground. The mighty Susquehanna River and the lesser rivers dredged the rest over a long time. The Bay has been home to diverse and abundance of flora and fauna and the setting for so many stories in the founding of the United States of America. I grew up motorboating and sailing on the Bay from the age of nine until I graduated high school. Most of my mucking about was on the Elk River in the northern Bay but a few times a year we would cruise to Baltimore or Annapolis with stops along the way at Worton Creek or Fairlee Creek. At least once we went all the way down to Crisfield and really got to experience the magic of the Eastern Shore and the Bay.
The Eastern Shore is a place where time seems to stand still and older traditions are still alive. If you come in by water, especially if you come in by water...the magic is can be found. Stop and talk with a waterman and try to understand his mix of old English and southern draw combined; their dialect sounds old; it is very unique and difficult to understand if you speak modern day English. If you are lucky, maybe you can see the last of a working sailing fleet, like a Skipjack, the Maryland State Boat, dredging for oysters. In the 1800's Chesapeake Bay oysters were considered a white gold and people flocked to the bay to make their riches on this resource. As with many a gold rush, there was a fever mixed with greed, hard work, and turmoil. A range of harvesting techniques was followed by substantial depletion and attempts at regulation to preserve the stocks in the Bay. Maryland made it a law back in the 1900's that oysters could be harvested by dredge under sail or hand tongs. On a recent trip back to see my dad we stopped at Harris Crab House at the Kent Narrows for crab cakes and hush puppies. We asked the young waiter about the Skipjack fleet and he looked at me like I was speaking about a ghost he'd never seen. Fortunately, the old watermen unloading crabs at the dock knew. They said there was only one or two still working from Kent Island but the upkeep cost and lack of crew was making it difficult to operate. It’s not surprising and really amazing that these old sailing oyster dredges are still at it.
Another piece of bay magic: the Drake Tail work boat. This narrow, long, open motor boat has a small cuddy cabin and wheel house forward. These boats also date to the early 1900s and were used for going out to the oyster grounds. One or two guys with long tongs would lean out over the edge of the boat to work the bottom, usually 5-10 feet below, and tong up oysters. This was back breaking work. In the summer months lacking the letter 'r' oysters are not in season these same boats were used to run trot lines for the Blue Crab, also a local delicacy. Even today, looking around the docks up a backwater you can see an old classic workboat tied to the dock or better yet out working an oyster bar or running a trot line. Trot lines are long lines between two buoys with eel bait tied in with a clove hitch every 4-6 feet. When the trot line was loaded you dip the crabs with a wire net on a long handle. When it’s happening it’s happening fast and can be a dangerous thrill. The danger is in the jellyfish, which come up with the net and inevitably get flung about with the dip netting. When I was a kid, my neighbors ran a trot line and we got to go with them sometimes. They did not use a classic workboat to run their lines but a 16’ Jon boat trailered down to the middle eastern shore from our elk river home waters. The most memorable day for me was a great day when the crabs were coming fast. Well, when the crab are coming in fast the jelly fish are getting flung all over the place. In a quick moment amidst the bumper harvest, my friend, Billy, actually had a jelly fling right into his open mouth! Billy's day, Bill, ran the boat and always had a cooler of Busch beer and Mountain Dew to fuel the crew. In this instance, we kids had already drank all the Mountain Dew so Billy got to drink Busch beer for the rest of the day. Needless to say we were jealous but glad not to have chewed on a jelly.
Eventually crabbers moved up to crab pots which called for a bigger boat which gave rise to the now more common dead rise workboat. These workboats typically have a large cover over the open cockpit. The narrow beam was widened eventually a lot and the elegant drake tail was flattened out the beam carried aft. These boats were first built in wood and some of these are still around. Time marches on, designs and materials for fabrication have changed. In the case of old wooden crab boats: many have been replaced with fiberglass and single screws have been doubled which is handy for turning a boat into the slip. This video offers a glimpse at the history of workboats in the Chesapeake Bay: https://www.soundingsonline.com/news/chesapeake-working-girls
There are lots of fun traditions that live on and commemorate the ways of water life for those that live on the Chesapeake Bay. For example, the docking competition at Crisfield and Pocomoke city. If you feel like you are timid coming along side a dock check out a docking competition where captain and a crew member are judged and timed coming in hot turning and backing down into the slip. The timer stops when four lines are on the pilings. This is a place where paint and piling really get to know one another. Annual docking competitions happen in Pocomoke City in the end of August or in Crisfield in the beginning of September. A lot of boats, watermen, and water women come together to compete so this a great time to check out different styles of bay boats prideful water people.
A visit to the bottom of the eastern shore of Maryland in the end of summer or the beginning of fall is a great time to explore the tidal tributaries that make the bay so unique. The Pocomoke River is one of the most northern places where cypress trees grow in the United States. The Pokomoke River Canoe Company rents boats and provides a shuttle service. The River can be paddled from its headwaters all the way to the mouth at the bay. The Pokomoke River Canoe Company rents boats and provides a shuttle service for and small boat adventure meandering through a cypress forest lined creek. Because of it's long life of living in swamps, Cypress is extremely rot resistant and therefore ab important wood for boat and ship builders. The tannins from the trees dye the river waters a dark ice tea hue giving the water a mysterious and haunting look. This is prime wood duck habitat and their whistles can be heard often before they disappear bending and twisting in flight to screen themselves with the trees. Again, in my youth, I remember paddling along the lower Pocomoke one spring morning. I pulled into a wooded inlet and slipped quietly under some over hanging limbs on a point. Two river otters were playing on the bank a short distance up in the woods. When they saw me they bolted for the water. They shot down the bank right at me to dive into the water beside my canoe. The first one did this in style. The second one ran right into a tree needing a moment to shake off the daze before escaping in the tea colored waters. As one paddles out of the thick cypress forests the creek slowly widens and shifts from a meandering creek to a tidal river. The forest gets broken by sections of marsh grasses and reeds. A low bridge marks the town of Pokomoke City where you may have rented your craft.
Tidal tributaries are what make the Chesapeake Bay so unique. Rivers that are navigable ,especially with shoal draft vessels, have their starts in beautiful northern hardwood forests. Sassafras, beech, walnut, oaks, and white pines are some of the trees you might see on these wild waters. The Sassafras, Bohemia, Chester and other rivers on the bay give you an opportunity to see some truly spectacular landscapes slowly changing from forest to marsh. While draft and bridges will limit river exploration with the big boat, there are many dinghy adventures that can be taken once anchored in a sheltered cove.
Speaking of draft: the Chesapeake has lots of places to experience soft groundings as the Bay is known for it's mud bottom and shallow depths. It is always best to explore on a rising tide so the tide can assist with refloating. There are definitely some hard sandbars and oyster bars but a lot more mud shoals and shallows. Growing up on the Elk River gives me a different perspective of shallow. We used to go into some secret spots by running on plane in the Jon boat with the motor set to kick up and skid across mud flats and then drop into deep water on the other side motoring on. I wouldn’t try that in the big boat!
Mariners who love history will find much to explore. On the head of Elk in the Scotland Marsh Trojan Yachts were built not far from Fort Defiance. Fort Defiance is where there was a small gun emplacement visited by George Washington as he escaped from the British and headed south. The Chesapeake has been used by others to escape as it was a main artery of the Underground Railroad, it’s marshes and wooded tributaries excellent for escaping to the north. Both the Elk River and the Susquehanna flow from the hills of Pennsylvania the Susquehanna actually coming from New York.. This of course was a major route for indigenous communities to move from the north and south trading frequently occurring between the northern woodland tribes and the tidal tribes of the Chesapeake.
As a mariner, an outdoor adventurer, and history enthusiast, the Chesapeake Bay stole my heart at a young age. I look forward to getting back there someday. Hopefully, the magic lives on!
The Birth of the United States Navy
THE BIRTH OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY:
A Mad Idea that Stuck.
By Mike Descheemaeker of SV WHIRLWIND
Both the Revolutionary events in Massachusetts in the year of 1775 and the need to keep the British Army under siege in Boston led to the early formation of the US Navy. The British were surrounded by the Continental army in Boston and the people of the colonies wanted a voice and a say in the running of their colony. At this point the 13 colonies were only rebelling against the tyranny of the parliament and hoped the King would see that colonists were in the right and simply give them representation. While history has shown that kings do not view their reign as tyrannical, time and time again people hope for more autonomy without a fight. Many hoped war was not the answer and yet obtaining their goal was otherwise quite complicated. The colonies were dependent on Britain in many ways and Continental Leadership knew that challenging the Royal Navy on the high seas was, as Samuel Chase of Maryland said, the Maddest Idea; they could be no match. In spite of the madness of the idea, the congress slowly debated whether or not there was a genuine need for a true American Navy. The congress was concerned that the creation of a navy would be seen as an act of aggression or a move toward sovereignty a threat to the crown. While the debate wore on the continental congress gave the commander of the Continental Army, George Washington, authorization to spend money as he saw fit in an emergency. As it was, Washington saw fit to secretly and, at first, privately funded the arming of two schooners, the Hannah and Warren, for potential military purposes.
Working with the New England maritime community to ready two ships of merchant service for naval service quickly turned into more than Washington anticipated. With lack of gunpowder and cannons combined with a New England sense of independence and Sea Lawyer obstinance among the volunteers who manned these ships, it’s amazing they were able to accomplish what they did. Using the small rocky harbors to the north and south of Boston Harbor, Washington's ships were able to rush out and intercept a merchant ship arriving from England or Canada sent to supply the besieged British Army in Boston proper. The British army and loyalist citizens of Boston were slowly whittled down to starvation rations; they began tearing down structures and stealing furniture inside abandoned rebel leader mansions to gather fuel for cooking fires. Firewood and fresh food was being imported from Maine and Nova Scotia because of the siege. These early schooners of the continental army had limited oversight and often took advantage of their interceptions as opportunities to enrich themselves with the spoils of war thereby making themselves no more than privateers with captain and crews. In the beginning they captured as many friendly ships as they did enemy ships. At the time with the lines of independence being still blurred it was difficult to determine what was a legal prize. Many of the core families of the initial rebellion were involved in merchant shipping on the New England coast and into the Caribbean. Needless to say Washington had more than one awkward meeting with a angry rebellion financier questioning why Washington’s secret navy had captured one of their legitimate merchant ships.
After the first two schooners started to see some success in capturing actual military supply vessels and independence seemed the only path forward the congress approved a navy. Washington quietly let them know what he had been up to with his secret navy. Some of the challenges the young Navy faced was competing with privateers and there financiers for capable ships, commanders and armament for effective naval combat. It’s rather amusing to see the work orders from the captain of one ship requesting top masts and yards, studding sail spars, and a quiver of sails needed to capture or flee from a well canvased enemy. The simple working sail plan of a New England fishing schooner was not adequate for a military vessel facing the dreaded Royal Navy and its well honed ships and crews.
After a rough and quiet start, the young US Navy had, by wars end, fitted out close to fifty ships and captured two hundred enemy ships some with military munitions bound for the British war effort. With really no chance of going broadside to broadside against the British, snatching a prize lost in the fog or separated from its escort was a common tactic in the early days. Captain John Paul Jones and others did have success in the North Sea in direct action against the British towards the wars' end. This action gave Jones title to the first American Naval vessel to force an enemy naval vessel to strike her colors.
In 1778, France allied with the United states and joined in the fight for independence from Great Britain. Subsequently, the small but growing US Navy was joined by a large French Naval force. This alliance made way for a gradual change in direction for the colonies. Finally, with a fleet of 36 French naval ships, a blockade of Yorktown from the sea, and a combined French and US army Cornwallis was forced to surrender. This surrender brought a decisive victory for the United States an end to the Revolutionary War. In 1783, the Paris Peace Treaty was signed with Great Britain. This treaty recognized the United States as a sovereign nation.
Upon Independence, the fledgling US Navy was quickly regarded by some as not necessary and definitely expensive. This new nation, however, was ready to get out in the world, cross oceans, and continue trade with other nations. The Navy took on a new task with the turning of the tide in French - US relations. Circumstances in France quickly changed with the French Revolution which brought a change in heart amongst the former allies in the American Revolution. The French Revolutionaries were using public guillotines to chop the heads off aristocrats to make their point and get their way.
Washington and Hamilton were appalled by the bloodshed of the French approach to revolution. Concurrently, Jefferson and Madison looked past the gore and considered themselves loyal allies to French. The US congress stood with the Washington and Hamilton opinion and decided not to uphold the alliance with France after the American Revolution. The US Congress declared that the new French government with their violent actions was not the government the treaty was originally signed with. This departure brought the US into Qusai conflict with French Naval vessels and privateers in the Caribbean. The US Navy quickly became indispensable. The French preyed on US merchant ships doing trade in the Caribbean with the British. In 1796-1797 the French captured 316 American merchant vessels with a loss of 12-15 million dollars in goods and vessels. In 1794 congress approved the creation of six heavy frigates to protect American shipping abroad. Unfortunately the frigates came off the ways slowly and only served in the latter years of this Quasi-War with France...too late to stop a French privateer from snatching up a prize off the coast of New York in May of 1798.
The Frigates United States, Constellation and the famous Constitution were the first three ships off the ways in 1797 with three more to follow in the following years, the frigates President, Congress, and Chesapeake. These six ships are regarded as the official first ships of the United States modern day navy. Fortunately, for American ship builders having the forests of the new world at their disposal was a great advantage for trying to compete with Old World Naval powers. The American shipbuilders were matching nearly unlimited wood sources with superior craftsmanship blended by naval architects with new visions of speed and strength. Knowing that six ships would be no match for the large navies of Europe these six ships were built heavy for defense and the ability to carry a lot of cannons but with big rigs to maximize speed.
The USS Constitution which is still in active service took over 60 acres of forest to construct. Her nickname old Ironsides came from her ribs being so tightly spaced that it’s difficult to place a hand between them. With thick oak planking laid over these ribs cannon balls would just bounce off. Like many a Navy build, these first naval ships were over budget and late on delivery especially for the beginning of the Quasi-War with France. However by 1798 the first three frigates were sent to stations centered around commerce hubs in the Caribbean. The frigate captains were given orders not to engage with the French naval ships. They were to capture the French privateers who patrolled the surrounding waters. Eventually, the early naval frigates saw action with the French on multiple occasions. By 1800-1801 the Quasi-War was brought to an end through treaties and renewed trade agreements. The fledgling navy was sent into common service and sent home to sit idle at the dock once more.
Meanwhile, the young nation of the United States was tired of paying ransom to the Barbary Pirates on the northern coast of Africa Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers. For hundreds of years the Barbary Pirates or corsairs were in the habit of raiding mostly Christian villages in Spain and Italy and enslaving those they captured. Their treatment was less than wholesome and most of the captives lived out their lives enslaved. Later on, the pirates preyed on merchant vessels plying the Mediterranean and the Atlantic around the Straits of Gibraltar. Once captured these vessels would be taken back to the Barbary strongholds, their ship and crew enslaved and held for ransom. Lucky crews were freed from the horrors of enslavement when the ships owners paid up. Unlucky crews were left to rot. This became so common that the British and other European nations paid a flat rate to the pirates so they would leave their ships alone. America, being young and poor, couldn’t afford to make the payments so American shipping soon became prey for the Corsair pirates.
Morocco actually sent the yet to be formed United States a trade agreement in 1778 but apparently everybody in power was too busy fighting a war and organizing a government that they failed to acknowledge or respond to this request. In 1784, acting on behalf of the Sultan of Morocco, US merchant vessel Betsy was captured and used for leverage to bring the US to the bargaining table. A free trade agreement was struck and all seemed well except the Corsairs were basically a mercenary force that worked for the different Sultans along the Mediterranean. In Algeria things were not going well for the US. For a decade two US ships and there crews were held captive in horrific conditions until some sort of release was secured. Many in power in the US didn’t want to continue to pay the tribute money because they figured it would just keep going in the wrong direction which it constantly did. The monetary tribute amounts were constantly increased with added demands like Algiers requesting the United States build them a naval vessel. All of this was occurring in much of the same time period as the Quasi-War with France so as things really started to come to a head in the Mediterranean the young Navy was really looking ready to handle this global dilemma.
In 1800 Captain William Bainbridge on the USS George Washington arrived in the Port of Algiers with tribute money and other gifts for the Dey. After getting the anchor down they were informed that the ship would be used to transport the Dey around the Mediterranean to conduct his business. Now the ship had already sailed into the harbor under the protection or threat of the large coastal batteries served by the Deys troops. Bainbridge felt like he didn’t have much choice so he essentially surrendered the vessel to the Dey's demands. Back home in the US the nation was not happy about this turn of events. This was the beginning of the end for the US sending tributes to the Sultans. In fact, President Jefferson, with approval from congress, sent the Navy in force.
In 1803 commodore Preble arrived in the Mediterranean with the Constitution and the rest of his ships. Unfortunately, the new fleet consisted of heavy deep draft vessels which had a difficult time negotiating the shallows and reefs that protected the ports of Northern Africa. In an ambitious action Bainbridge in the USS Philadelphia chasing a Corsair vessel ran hard aground off of Tripoli. Under attack from small gunboats of the Tripolis and unable to refloat the vessel Bainbridge surrendered. Thinking they had flooded the vessel beyond salvage they were horrified to see the USS Philadelphia float in to Tripoli harbor from there new accommodations in the prison. There they sat for almost two years. The Americans knew they needed to recapture or scuttle the Philadelphia before it could be repaired and put back into service against them. So in February 1804 lieutenant Stephen Decatur with his crew brought a captured Tripoli merchant ketch renamed USS Intrepid into the harbor with the assistance of Sicilian pilot who knew the local waters. They trimmed the rig down to make it look like a local trading vessel and roughed it up to make it look like they had been through a bad storm. They brought the ketch right along side the Philadelphia under the cover of darkness and attacked the small guard crew. However, they were unable to cut out the Philadelphia so they set charges and destroyed her at her mooring.
The fleet continued blockades and bombardments of the harbors to some effect but it was a land force of US Marines backing the exiled brother of the ruling Pasha of Tripoli that turned this tide of war. From Alexandria the forces of US marines, led by the former US consul to Tunis, William Eaton, and a mercenary force of the exiled Pashas brother were marched along the coast to capture Derna, Benghazi and eventually Tripoli. With success in Derna the Pasha surrendered to the land force and the constant naval bombing from the USS Constitution.
This, however, did not bring an end to hostilities in the Mediterranean because the British were not happy with the foot hold that the United States was gaining in trade. Britain used their position to try and squeeze the young nation out of the game. Determined to defend their trade position, the US sent another force led by Stephen Decatur which defeated the British backed Algerian fleet. Subsequently, the United States was able to achieve a period of somewhat free trade into the Mediterranean for a time. These actions by the British were fueling the flames of the next war on the horizon in 1812. And so it was that by this time the United States Navy had proved herself as a valuable and effective tool for the United States to defend, expand, and stand her ground to become a thriving nation.