Part One
Waterman, “What is a waterman ?”, people will ask. A waterman, as simple as some may think, is in fact one of the most misunderstood person/occupation to many. If you are a waterman or in a waterman family, you have a deep understanding, love, compassion, respect and appreciation for all it entails.
Before, women working on the water was almost unheard of. She was a real trailblazer if she was out there. However, time always brings change and there are many women working hard for their place in the seafood industry. So, when I say waterman now it is to include watermen and waterwomen.
I believe a waterman is the most connected occupation to nature and their environment. A farmer pays attention to the seasons, temperatures, rain and soil. A waterman pays close attention to the seasons, temperatures, sunrise and sunset, sky, sundogs, rain, ice, fog and especially the wind speed and direction. Not only the sun, but the moon is very important as well. Next you have the tides, with or against the wind, saltline/brackish, depth, temp. The bottom, clean, trash/junk, hard, soft, sand, mud, grass, rocks and hangs. We always talk about the beautiful sunrises, but we take the foggy, rough and blowing a gale as it comes, the good with the bad.
Now we can talk about the fishery you are in to include license. The crab, peelers, #1 Jimmys, sooks, molting, balled out, on the run, best bait, best pot, how deep and where you set them, and many other things to consider. Fishing, where, when and how to set, what size net in which season, blow stirring them up is only a few things of what is considered. Oysters, season, scrape, patent tong, shaft tong, shell, seed, rough culls, clean culls, public or private. Clams are on the downside for now and being farmed for the most part (Aquaculture).
This brings us to the market, it all hinges on the market. Is the market good, slow or flooded? What is the price, is it up, is it down? Are they buying off the boat or are you trucking? Where are you going to work out of?
The biggie is the boat, registration, documentation, deadrise, fiberglass or skiff? Diesel, gas, inboard or outboard? When to haul out, how often to haul out? Fuel, paint, hoses, belts, pumps, electronics, rope, throw rings and even survival suits.
This by no means is a list of everything, this is just a beginning, an example of what it is to be a waterman and all he pays close attention to.
Stay tuned for Part Two !!!…Thanks
Part Two
Back in the day when you look at old census records most men are listed as a farmer/waterman. The reason being you were farming and growing food on which to live and during the winter months you were oystering. Oysters were being worked and marketable in the months with a R. It would carry you through those tough winter months.
People say they sure had large families back then. In the early days you worked to live, most were not working a job with a salary to buy everything needed as you do today. You were growing your vegetables, feed and hay for livestock to provide eggs, milk, meat, hides and fats to be rendered for soap, oils and medicine. Nothing was wasted, everything on a hog was used except the oink and that was only because you couldn’t catch it. You would have a fruit tree and bushes as well as know where they were growing wild. You knew where the asparagus and poke salad were, even honey to include all the many wild plants that were home remedies.
Before crabpots and gill nets as we know them, you would go out and fish a troutline or a fish trap (pound net) to get enough to feed your family and then some to trade and barter for different goods. Feed sacks called gunny sacks were made from nice prints the ladies would like to make clothes, a curtain, rag rugs and many other things. Everyone had a gift and talent that was used for the good of the community. The traveling” Doc” would mend you up and go home with some eggs or chicken, maybe a cake. Nothing was wasted. My grandma was the community doctor, “doctoring everyone up”. If you got a cold, she would mix up in a coffee cup some lard and sugar and a couple drops of kerosene that you ate to open you up.
It was seen as a good thing to have a large family. You had your own workforce with everyone having chores, chopping firewood, bailing water from the well, collecting the eggs, feeding the livestock, hoeing the garden. All growing season you were canning fruits, vegetables, pickling eggs, cucumbers, even watermelon rind . Nothing goes to waste.
When fall was coming around you had raised your pigs and would select which hog you would put down to slaughter. It is a lot of work so usually several neighbors would gather and work as a team and make a great gathering of it. Then you were salting it down and smoking it to have bacon and ham hanging in the smoke house. You would make sausage as well that could be canned to sit on the shelf. I truly believe that in that less convenient yet simpler time they had a much better life and putting all the effort in gave them a greater appreciation. Being closer to creation kept them closer to their Creator!!!
If you were in a waterman family, on top of all of that the “women folk” were helping to steam and pick crabs, shuck oysters, opening clams and cleaning fish for your family and to trade off. Fall you not only slaughtered hogs, but filling salt tins with spot or your fish of choice. The ladies were working right along making and baiting the troutlines, hanging net, braiding rope, sewing on sails and starting in the thirties making crabpots with two funnels, I was around when going to four funnels was a big thing.
The Waterman, The Captain, The Father was the Leader of his family and to have your family all working together to be a supporting member of your community made him a proud man, knowing you had all come together one for another.
Part Three
To be a waterman you learn early on that you must be a jack of all trades. If you need to hire someone to maintain your boat and rig all your gear , you will find it very difficult to get ahead. You just would not be able to afford it, and you learn how to work on it yourself. One thing I have noticed is once you begin to work on something, consultants come out of the woodwork and advise is flowing in abundance.
Certain watermen get a reputation for working on the engines, some working on the boat and others working on the gear (Drudges, Nets, Tongs.) When first starting out you have the Old Salt coming along beside you to share their knowledge and tips of the trade. Sometimes you are going to the ones known for their specialty and start asking questions and most will come take a look. You may hire one to come and you learn from so you will know the next time. Your goal is to be able to do it yourself.
But, through the different scenarios I have seen the waterman community come together to lend a helping hand, at the dock, out on the river and the bay. You will be out there working, and someone will be coming along side wanting to borrow a tool, a filter, some fuel, etc. Out there working before everyone had radios you would notice someone off from you sitting still, you realize they have something going on. You would finish your line and run over to them to see what they need and always offer a tow in. You looked out for one another, you never knew when it would be your turn.
A waterman has pride in being self-sufficient and some would not ask for help, so usually when you see them over there struggling you just walk over and start helping. Whether they said it or not they greatly appreciated it. Even now as we age and your body starts putting limitations on you, he has been doing it himself and will not ask for help. We know the right thing is to come beside him and prop him up in his struggle. There are some around us now in this position and I hope we find it in our hearts to help. Every community has someone!! We are a waterman family!! I am asked very often how we can help someone that will not ask for help, the best answer I know is to reach out within your community and share the love that has kept these communities together for a long time now!!
Part Four
Well, we started out talking about how in tune a waterman is with his environment in the sky, water, the bottom and what he is fishing for. He knows the birds; gulls all move together in a flock. Birds of a feather flock together. The fish in the water all school together and move/migrate together. The crabs on the bottom make a move together. Why do you think that is?
People have studied geese and how they flock together and migrate together. It was determined that the flock can fly together and travel 70% further in formation, than they could individually. They take turns leading the way as the tip of the spear, working the hardest with the full blunt of the wind resistance. After leading awhile, they fall back and the next one leads the way. It is no different from NASCAR on the super tracks, while running in the pack the two lead cars are running wide open and the cars mid way they are running easy, about 65% or 70%. They can save gas and easier on their tires.
Years back they were tagging crabs. If you caught one with the tag, you were asked to contact them with where and when you caught it. One crab was caught on Hampton Bar, and it was discovered it had been tagged two days earlier on Eastern Shore at Kiptopeke State Park. He didn’t move alone either, they moved together. Like the birds, the young, the old, the weak are in the middle of the pack for protection. There is strength in numbers.
This being said, why would you as the waterman be any different? Like I said in the WORKBOAT LIFE Five Year Anniversary video, you the waterman need a bigger voice. You need to come together in association and work together. Would ALL of you agree together 100% on EVERYTHING, NO. But there is much common ground that could be found. There are many things that you would agree on and that is where you start!! Stay tuned for Part Five coming soon!!!
Part 5
After all the years of the daily grind, the hop and a skip you always had start to fade. The joints just don’t cooperate like they once did. Time always brings change. That 3am internal clock still chimes as it always did. You can’t just lie there any longer. Early to rise and take a look outside after tapping the barometer hanging on the wall and taking a look at it. Yep, confirms what your knees been telling you was on the way!!
All through the years you learned to respect the Old Timers. You learned they knew way more than you thought you did at the start of things. The Old Salt had seen many things, they had been where you were at, but you hadn’t been where they were at. The smart ones didn’t tell you what to do, they would tell you a story of how they handled it.
You ride down the shore and open the door to take a deep breath of that morning salt air. The sun starts to come up, and the northeast wind breezes up and blows through your hair. You know she’s gonna blow. You see them heading out the creek to go take a peek, remembering you always said, “If I listened to the weatherman I would starve to death.”
Ole’ Capt. Baker comes walking up and sits on the old wooden fish box. You ask him,” Remember opening day when we went down Thimble Shoals and first lick had a bag full of mussels that took three of us to dump.” He says, “Yeah, that was something in this world !!” Next thing you know you’re talking about all the games of dominoes you played at Burton’s Store at the Boat Harbor. The cat runs up and starts rubbing his head on Capt Baker’s leg. You say, ” That cat looks just like the one Pete Drummond had. Go get you a gallon of shipyard copper and that cat would be up on the counter helping Pete mix up crabcakes for the day”. Back River stone pile, Restricted area, all the stories to tell!!!
Seems like yesterday you got your first 16-foot deadrise bateau. Got you a few pots and a shot of 2 7/8″ net and it was on!! Next thing you know you’re pumping diesel in the tank of that 40-footer to head up the bay. On that grind day by day the waterman way!!
Even though you spent your life out there, you would throw a watermelon on ice, grab the hand lines and clam rakes, gather up the grandkids and head out for the day. Life was centered around the bay. With a tear in your eye, you look up at the sky and thank the good Lord for sending so many blessings your way!!!
It is a deep honest, gratifying satisfaction, peace, joy in your sole to know you worked hard all of your life to fulfill your purpose. Gave it your all to stand tall while surrounded with so many challenges. Raised your family, had respect for and from your waterman community, realizing it was all by the Grace of God you filled your watch for such a time as this !!!
Fair winds and following seas my friend, as we cross the bar to walk through the Door of that Celestial Shore to be together again eternally ever more. Amen !!