The Chesapeake Bay is famous for its crabs and oysters, and the boats that have worked so hard catching these local delicacies have a celebrity status among locals. For over 100 years bugeyes, skipjacks, log canoes and deadrise boats have been part of the bay’s rich maritime history, and today a number of them are part of the fleet maintained and exhibited at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland.
Among the fleet’s standouts are three unique Chesapeake Bay buyboats. These historic boats are spellbinding. You can’t walk away from them without turning around for another look. They are handsome beasts. Also called deckboats, freight boats, packet boats or mast boats, they boast a distinctive profile and hull form designed to safely haul and deliver fresh catch, livestock, produce, construction materials and passengers up and down the shallow waters of the bay. From the early 20th century, just as engine-driven boats were coming onto the water, these 40- to 100-foot rugged vessels served as the bay’s fleet of delivery trucks well before modern bridges and highways were built.
When not delivering freight, buyboat captains would hang out among a fleet of workboats that were catching crabs or tonging for oysters to buy their fresh catch and then head to a local wharf to sell it for a profit. This win-win arrangement allowed the watermen to stay out longer and catch more. Indeed, the buyboat captain was the welcome wholesaler for the local seafood industry. Down south in Virginia’s waters, where winter dredging of crabs was legal years ago, many buyboats spent the cold months in dreadfully frigid conditions dredging for the elusive crustacean that buries itself in the muddy bottom. This was hard and sometimes dangerous work, but it meant these seaworthy vessels were kept busy all year long.
Luckily for those who love workboats, buyboats are survivors. Maybe it’s their handsome looks or romantic history; or perhaps many are still with us because they were built simply enough that refitting and rebuilding them is not an insurmountable project. Fortunately, there are a few dedicated individuals and visionary organizations that have recognized the value of these 100-year-old treasures and have made the investment to convert them to privately owned cruising yachts or tour boats. Yes, the watermen might finally be through with them, which mean it’s time for recreational boaters to enjoy them.
The museum’s 60-foot Winnie Estelle is a buyboat with a storybook history. Built in 1920, she spent the first 50 years of her life hauling seafood and produce throughout the Chesapeake Bay. She later found herself in the Caribbean carrying lumber from Honduras to Belize. While there, she was rebuilt as a charter and dive boat. By this time, most wooden boats her age would have been retired and put to rest, but not Winnie. In 2012 she was sold to a buyer from Centerville, Maryland, and began her 1,700-mile, 59-day voyage back to the Chesapeake. In 2014 she was donated to the museum, where she has been a major attraction, taking students and museum guests out on the bay for educational programs, private parties and day cruises. But at the end of the 2022 boating season, it was time for Winnie to get a rest and lots of TLC. In September she was hauled out for a well-deserved, one-year, stem-to-stern refit at the museum’s boatyard. Based on the museum’s reputation for quality work, Winnie Estelle might just be around for another 100 years.
Choptank is another historic buyboat that’s on the museum’s growing project list. Built in 1938, this 65-foot beauty was rebuilt in 2013 and is now being upgraded to allow her to take guests on overnight cruises in the comfort of their own stateroom. She’ll have four new cabins to accommodate two passengers each, as well as forecastle bunks that will be ideal for youth groups. She’ll also be getting a new cabin sole and a systems overhaul, and she’ll be readied for Coast Guard certification. Imagine stepping back in time and cruising the Chesapeake Bay with friends and family on a totally restored, 100-year old buyboat. Sign me up.
Most buyboats were built with bottoms featuring the cross-plank method. Utilizing short planks running more perpendicular to the keel as opposed to longer fore and aft planks, this method was cheaper and more practical as it minimized the need for long, steam-bent planks. And since Chesapeake boats were hard-chined and didn’t follow a complex, curved line from the waterline to the keel, it was faster and easier to cross plank the bottom. Only the topsides of the hull were planked fore and aft. But some watermen preferred an even older method of construction. Instead of planks being fastened to a skeleton of frames, whole logs were hewn, run fore and aft and fastened together, creating an incredibly strong hull with a more spacious interior. The museum’s 51-foot Old Point, a crab dredger that closely resembles and often functioned as a buyboat, was built using seven huge pine logs. Built in 1909, Old Point is one tough lady who continues to explore the bay and turn heads.
Of course, few individuals have the time or resources to buy a 100-year-old, 60-foot wooden boat and rebuild her. Even if they did, running and maintaining it can be a daunting experience, both financially and practically. But Col. Grigg Mullen, Jr., a longstanding member and volunteer of the museum, had a better idea. Why not design a smaller, more practical buyboat and have the museum’s crew build her? No stranger to wooden boats, Mullen built his own 25-foot dovetail, or draketail boat, inspired by the museum’s beautiful, 90-year-old Martha. But since it took him five years to complete (four more than he had planned), and he was approaching his golden years, Mullen decided to have the museum’s shipwrights and apprentices take the lead. Mullen is a retired engineering professor at Virginia Military Institute who also wanted to support the museum’s focus on education, as its shipwrights and staff encourage visitors to get involved and ask questions.
Mullen first had to design something that literally fit his needs. Most of the buyboat construction plans he could find were for 60 feet or more. But he wanted something small enough that he and his wife could easily handle and yet big enough to sleep on. Most importantly, it had to reflect the true character of a Chesapeake Bay buyboat.
While exhibiting his 25-foot Miss Sue at the museum’s annual Small Craft Festival, he befriended Dave Wyman, a naval architect. Mullen explained his idea of building a 36-foot buyboat to Wyman, and the wheels began to turn. It soon became apparent, however, that they couldn’t just proportionately shrink a 60-footer into a 36-footer. The pilothouse, for example, would be only 42-inches high. That’s why the new design, named Mr. Dickie, shows some modifications. In the pilothouse, for
instance, the sole has been lowered below the main deck to allow enough headroom while maintaining the buyboat’s unique profile. Consequently, the 40-hp diesel engine is now forward of the pilothouse, which should result in a quieter helm area while underway.
As for the names of Mullen’s boats, Dick Whaley and his wife, Sue, were farmers who lived next to Mullen’s parents on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. They were such a strong influence on the young Mullen that he chose to honor them.
Undoubtedly Mullen is a man with sawdust in his blood. As a past board member of the Timber Framers Guild and a founding member of the Timber Framing Engineering Council, he teaches the pre-industrial art of timber framing—building a wooden structure without using nails or modern tools. While a timber-framed house is more expensive than a conventional “stick-built” structure, its exposed timber creates an undeniably more attractive, welcoming home.
Philanthropy also runs in Mullen’s blood, as he has led more than 40 community service projects, often attracting up to 150 volunteers to build a variety of wooden structures for public and nonprofit entities.
Mullen lives nearly 200 miles from the museum, but he visits every few weeks to help build Mr. Dickie. Jeff Reid, the museum’s foreman on the project, welcomes Mullen’s time in the boatyard. “There’s an old boatyard joke about owners who want to help,” he says. “We normally charge $60 per hour, although it’s $70 if you watch and $80 if you help. But Grigg is an excellent craftsman, and we love having him here.”
Reid is confident Mr. Dickie will launch later this summer, and Mullen hopes the museum will use her to expose both children and adults to the wonders and history of the great Chesapeake Bay.
This article was originally published in the April 2023 issue.
