[Leica] The Bay 101 - Workboats in Winter

[bquinn at sgi.com (Bernard Quinn)]

This is Parrish Creek. It is on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay,
just east of the mouths of the West and Rhode Rivers. This is where I
keep my sail boat. This picture was taken at Sunset on a winter day when
it was about 10 Degrees F outside. This was the afternoon when I learned
once and for all the difference between a professional and a
recreational sailor such as myself. 

 

We call the people who make their living by harvesting crabs, oysters,
and clams from the Bay waterman. They are a hearty breed. They are out
on the water year around. The channel in the ice wasn't cut by Sunday
sailors! This boat is fairly typical of the ones used by Maryland
Watermen. On this particular afternoon I went to the boat yard to check
my boat and to do some work on it. As the afternoon progressed I heard
the unmistakable sounds of the owner of this boat  trying to fix its
balky engine. You could hear it catch and run for a few seconds.
Sometimes great plumes of grey and black smoke would rise in the air as
the engine coughed and quicly died. Sometimes all you heard was the
engine cranking and cranking in the cold. 

 

The owner got the engine running just as the sunset. In this picture
he's running the boat up to the mouth of the creek and back to test it.
What he would have done if the engine had failed I have no idea. It
would have been dark, cold, and ugly. I take my hat off to our Watermen
and their families. I got to go home to my warm house and a nice glass
of single malt, and the next day I got to go back to my comfy indoor day
job. I was out playing at boats and pictures. He wasn't. He was engaged
in a life or death struggle. If he wanted to eat on Monday he was going
to have to get his boat working and he was going to have to go out on
the water. No matter what. 

 

Try thinking about the Maryland Watermen in this picture the next time
you are mad at your boss or your partner. It might just help put things
in perspective.

 

www.leica-gallery.net/barney/image-91796.html

 

Comments and criticisms welcome, as always.

 

Barney