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Article: To Stay Afloat, Skipjacks Go for a Ride; Paying Passengers Help Sustain Chesapeake Bay's Oyster-Dredging Sailboats
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 25, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The oyster-dredging skipjacks of the Chesapeake Bay haven't
had a good season harvesting the bivalves in years. Now America's
last commercial sailing fleet is finding new sustenance, if not
prosperity, carrying corporate parties, school groups and couples on
romantic getaways.
For owners of these sloop-rigged boats, unique to Maryland,
fortunes have plummeted with the decline in the bay economy.
The active fleet has shrunk from more than 80 in the 1950s to
only a dozen or so last season. That has left very few options for
skipjack captains who wish to maintain the time-honored tradition.
Here on this Eastern Shore island, where the largest
contingent of skipjacks is docked, ...