Bay Tripper

The buyboat F.D. Crockett was in sad shape. Built in 1924 by Alexander Gaines with a Lathrop gasoline engine, she began her career moving cargo

As you read this, I’ll be back in Tidewater after a couple of weeks “up ta Maine,” the brokers’ holiday during the summer doldrums. We

“Stand your ground, surround him and don’t let him take you,” said Capt. Whitehurst to his crew and the other oyster dredgers. And when Whitehurst

Now that I have been writing this column for more than a year, I have to check the same issue of Soundings from 2015 to

The Potomac River tumbles down the mountains from Fairfax Stone, West Virginia, (the North Branch) and Highland County, Virginia, (the South Branch) and flows just

The Top of the Ditch has been pretty quiet for pleasure boat viewing, but the commercial side presses on regardless. In the words of Calvin

When John Smith explored Chesapeake Bay, he found five rivers along the Western Shore. In his words: The fift [fifth] river is called the Pawtuxunt,

It was a lovely fall and mild start to winter here at Mile Zero. The cruising rallies to the Caribbean got off pretty much on

When Capt. John Smith came up the Chesapeake in 1608 and rounded what is now Howell Point into the Sassafras River, he was met by

There seemed to be many more sailboats gathering in the Crawford Bay anchorage at Mile Zero than last year. In the marina where I sit,