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Subject: Re: [LDR] Sailor/Cap'n/Waterman
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:22:36 EST
In a message dated 12/13/2004 8:35:57 PM Central Standard Time,
writes:
I'd like to jump in here. My grandfather, born 1883 & died 1979 was a
commercial waterman on the Patuxent River/Chesapeake Bay area. His
father, brothers, etc were all listed as watermen on the census. My
grandmother ran the boarding house, and my grandfather had a charter
fishing boat business. He also tonged for oysters, ran trot lines to
catch crabs to sell. He would keep the peelers in floats for fish bait,
and would set out eel pots to catch eels to salt down to bait his crab
line. He used to have a truck come down to the county to pick up his
crabs to take to Baltimore to different restaurants. My grandparents
made their entire living off of the water business except for the couple
years during the war when he went into DC to work since their were mines
in the river. Jan
Ditto. My great-grandfather and his three brothers, and my
great-great-grandfather and his brothers all spent at least their younger lives working on
the water on the east coast of Delaware. They are listed in census reports
variously as watermen, oystermen, and sailors, one as a captain. Most of them
spent most of their time on the water taking from the sea things that could be
eaten. I do know, however, that at least one of them sometimes worked on
the tug boats that worked the Delaware River (and his son-in-law became a cook
on the tugboat). Occasionally, at least one of them transported people and
things up and down the river, making stops between Milford and Philadelphia
(or maybe they worked as far south as Rehoboth or Lewes) stopping at the many
formerly active ports along the Delaware River.
Karen
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