Historic Vessels of the Chesapeake

Skipjacks

Mister Jim is a restored Chesapeake Buy-boat now docked at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, MD. Buy-boats were used to pick up and haul the catches harvested by watermen on the Bay to the seafood processing plants on shore, as well as to transport general cargo and farm produce through the area.

The Edna E. Lockwood, the last existing log-hulled bugeye, at her berth at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, Maryland. Built in 1889 by John B. Harrison of Tilghman Island, her hull is hand-hewn from nine pitch pine logs. Despite extensive research, the identity of the Edna E. Lockwood’s namesake remains unknown. For most of her career, she was used to dredge for oysters in the winter, and haul freight for the rest of the year. Several inches wider on the starboard, her asymmetric design made her handier when dredging on a port tack. Describing the locally built shallow-draft schooners that have plied the waters of the Chesapeake since the mid-1800s, the term “bugeye” probably refers to the prominent hawseholes in their bows that give them a somewhat “bug-eyed” look. Because of the lack of suitable large trees to provide logs, and the decline in oyster harvests, bugeyes were eventually replaced by smaller, easier to build skipjacks. Restored to her 1910 sailing rig and working appearance by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, the Edna E. Lockwood is the last of a sailing fleet of bugeyes that probably harvested more oysters than any other type of vessel.

Skipjacks are the iconic vessel of the Chesapeake Bay, relatively inexpensive, rugged reliable, Skipjacks were the watermen's choice for harvesting oysters, crabs, and other seafood. Still in use, many of these historic vessels have been restored to ensure their continued presence on the Bay.