This article about Delmarva's maritime history appeared in a special magazine-style publication called "Delmarva Millennium, Volume I,"
published in October 1999 by Thomson-Chesapeake.By Terry Plowman
The Delmarva Peninsula is defined, physically and culturally, by water.
The peninsula is actually an island, bounded by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the two massive bays linked by that channel, and the Atlantic Ocean.
And the peninsula's lifestyle is deeply rooted in those waters -- from dugout canoes on the Nanticoke River to oyster boats on the Delaware Bay, from commercial sailing rams on the Chesapeake to recreational vessels on the inland bays, Delmarva's maritime tradition is rich.
Less than a dozen skipjacks remain in use in the Chesapeake Bay.
The evolution of sailing ships
Delmarva's original inhabitants were its first watermen. The peninsula's native people speared fish from large dugout canoes, or they simply waded into tidal shallows to harvest shellfish, much like casual clammers do today.
European colonists brought their shipbuilding knowledge to Delmarva, first improving the Indians' blunt-nosed log canoes with a sharper bow and stern, then later adding sails to larger versions of the log canoe.
Thus began the evolution of sailing ships built and used for commerce around the Delmarva peninsula for the next 200 years.
With names that sound quaint to modern ears -- bugeyes, shallops, sloops, schooners, pungies, skipjacks and rams -- the sailing vessels common during the 18th and 19th centuries (and into the early 20th century) defined the maritime industry. In those eras, before large-scale recreational boating, maritime activities consisted mainly of oystering, fishing and shipping.
The multi-masted schooner, especially the sleek "Chesapeake" version developed by Maryland and Virginia shipbuilders, dominated the oyster dredging industry in the Delaware Bay during its heyday between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The schooner was so well-designed for sailing in variable winds that Joseph Conrad called them "birds of the sea whose swimming is like flying, and resembles more a natural function than a handling of manmade appliances."
But it was the skipjack, a smaller, single-masted vessel, that dominated the oystering industry in the Chesapeake, mainly because it was cheaper to build and maintain, and because it could be sailed by fewer crewmen. Today about a dozen skipjacks continue the "oystering by sail" tradition, as dictated by Maryland's prohibition against powered oyster boats.
Before the skipjack became popular, the quintessential oystering boat in the 1870s was the two-masted bugeye. Also common on the Chesapeake were the pungy, a smaller variation of the schooner, and the sailing ram, a large freighter designed and built in Bethel, Del.
Until World War II, these sailing ships ruled the waters of Delmarva, as they did all along the Atlantic coast.
Shipbuilding
Such an active sailing fleet spawned a bustling shipbuilding industry throughout the Delmarva Peninsula. Shipyards thrived in many small towns, including Bethel, Milton, Milford and Seaford, Del.; Salisbury, Cambridge, St. Michael's and Sharptown, Md.; and Onancock and Chincoteague, Va. -- all that was required was access to a waterway, a supply of oak, a few carpenters, and a blacksmith. These shipyards built all types of wooden sailing vessels, and steamships as well, until several factors killed the industry: the once-abundant supply of local white oak was severely depleted, railroads took over freight hauling, and the demand for wooden ships declined when thousands of surplus steel ships became available after World War II.
Fishing industries
Oystering was once the dominant seafood industry in both the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. The introduction of dredging, by which a large rake and net are dragged over oyster beds, made oystering lucrative. A dredge boat could take as many as 500 bushels a day from the bay, and hundreds of boats worked the beds at the industry's peak. But this overharvesting, as well as the decline in demand for luxuries such as oysters during the Depression, drove the oyster fleet ashore. Another blow came in the 1950s, when disease decimated the oyster population.
Though oystering holds a prominent place in Delmarva's maritime history, it was not the only successful fishery in the region. At various times, depending on the health of the waters, market demand and other conditions, fishing for menhaden, shad, sturgeon and other species was big business.
Menhaden was one of the biggest fishing industries in the U.S. during its peak in the 1950s, and Lewes, Del. was the epicenter of that industry, landing a record 360 million pounds of the small, oily fish in 1953. But that industry declined because of several factors -- overharvesting, natural population cycles, and new regulations that forced menhaden boats farther offshore, away from the shallow-water schools.
Today crabbing reigns as Delmarva's dominant commercial fishing industry, with multimillion-dollar catches in both the Chesapeake and the Delaware Bays.Other fisheries remain strong as well: weakfish, shad, striped bass and other finfish, as well as conch and horseshoe crabs.
Maritime tradition continues
Throughout the ups and downs of maritime industries, Delmarva's waters have played a huge role in the peninsula's economy and lifestyle. Although shipbuilding and oystering have faded from prominence, commercial crabbing and fishing remain viable endeavors, and unlike 100 years ago, recreational fishing and boating are now major industries. In addition, the region's waterways contribute to the economy in many indirect ways -- especially as an attraction for the ever-growing tourism industry and a factor in steadily increasing real estate values.
Because the "island" of Delmarva is surrounded by water, its maritime tradition -- like the tides -- will continue to exert a powerful influence on the region.