Legendary Chesapeake Skipjack Captains Join Author at Bayou Restaurant in Havre de Grace

From the Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy:

On Sunday, November 7th , Christopher White, author of the newly published and critically-acclaimed book, Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen (St. Martin’s Press, www.skipjackthebook.com ), will appear at the Bayou Restaurant in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Joining White will be four legendary skipjack captains from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Captain Arthur Daniels, Jr.of Deal Island, plus Captain Wade Murphy, Jr., Captain Lawrence P. Murphy and Captain Stanley Larrimore of Tilghman Island.

Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen is the saga of a quickly vanishing way of life and a culture unique to the Chesapeake Bay. The skipjack, an iconic wooden sailing vessel, has been used for dredging oysters since the nineteenth century. Once numbering in the hundreds, the number of working skipjacks has fallen to little more than a handful as the annual oyster harvest has been drastically reduced due to disease, pollution, and mounting social and economic pressures. A way of life that has sustained the watermen and their communities for generations is now on the verge of extinction.

Christopher White moved to Tilghman Island for two years in order to immerse himself in the watermen’s culture. The book that came of out this experience chronicles a life of hardship and frequent danger as these men work through the winter navigating unpredictable waters and an equally volatile economic seafood marketplace. The story beautifully reveals the abiding passion these watermen hold for working the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

The event will take place at the Bayou Restaurant, 927 Pulaski Hwy., U.S. Rt. 40 in Havre de Grace, MD. The conversation with Christopher White and the Chesapeake watermen will begin at 5:00 p.m. followed by book signing and oyster reception.

For more information or to register, contact Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy at 410-939-4078, or email director@chesapeakeheritage.org.

This event is free and open to the public but registration is required.