Customer Reviews

Skipjack: The Story of America's Last Sailing Oystermen

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This lovely book immerses the reader in Chesapeake Bay, illustrating the sad decline of it's fisheries and the colorful characters whose lives depend on it. The writer creates a rich sensory experience: I saw the sunrises, felt the cold spray, smelled the mud, tasted the oysters and Miss Pauline's pies, and heard the sounds of the wind in the rigging and geese overhead. I felt sad to leave the people and pace of Tilghman Island when I turned the last page.

It is heartbreaking in many ways to read this book - if you love the water and nature, but especially the endangered treasure that is the Chesapeake Bay. Skipjacks are handsome working boats, but to work on them is to know bloody blistered hands and the dangers of running on a body of water than can be just as hazardous as the open ocean.
Christopher White writes of these boats and the last sailing oystermen. He lived in their communities and sailed on their boats. He is able to write as both an insider and someone who knows he has to explain to the rest of the world what watermen or chicken neckers are. The hard but proud life of these watermen and their dialect is well conveyed; also the tragedies that can happen to the boats and their crews. Detailed and well done explanations are given of dredging and the falling numbers of healthy oysters. Also covered are the struggles to save an industry and a natural treasure that to some is a special food, but to others; oysters can help the quality of the Bay- each oyster acts as a filter for a huge amount of water.
The book follows the waterman's year; but also gives the history of oyster harvesting, the Oyster Wars, the rivalry between the boats, the captains and their crews, the skipjack races and even some traditional recipes.
The waterman's year ends on a pessimistic note both for the Bay, the oysters and their industry; but more than that - if you read this book you will know and feel the love of sail, the labor of the watermen and their place in the world. This is a marvelous effort that captures a way of life and an appreciation for an amazing part of the world we live in.

I bought this book during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend and read it while a storm raged outside. The book was a very pleasant surprise! I had never heard of Christopher White, but he has written an exceptional book, one that I have placed on my bookshelf beside William W. Warner's Beautiful Swimmers and Varley Lang's Follow the Water; my favorite books about the Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake Bay. Christopher White's gift for capturing the dialog of the Watermen is exceptional, and he uses that gift to propel his captivating, funny, and finally, very moving story to its sad ending. I've seen many of the Skipjacks mentioned in his book, at dockside in Tilghman Island, Cambridge, and other ports, at the Skipjack races, and out on the bay. It breaks my heart to read of their abandonment and destruction, and the disappearance of the way of life that sustained them for over a century. I will remember this sad and beautiful book for a very long time. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the Bay, its unique watercraft, and above all, the Watermen who sail on it.

I am a transplanted resident of the Tilghman Island area and have long had an interest in the history of the "Eastern Shore". I have been fortunate enough to personally know several of the Skipjack Captains mentioned in this book.

Well, I thought I knew a fair amount about watermen and such before I picked up this book. Boy, was I wrong.

Skipjack is an excellent account of the lives of the Eastern Shore watermen. It is not only accurate but extremely entertaining. I expected a rather dry story line. On the contrary, the book reads like a novel. I particularly appreciated the details provided about the various families involved. White's evenhanded and comprehensive accounting of the reasons for the demise of the oyster population are to be commended.

The finest book on the subject I have ever read!

This is a very well written story about the life of the skipjack watermen. The nicest thing about it is that you don't have to know the people or even what a skipjack is to read and enjoy it. I now live on Deal Island and know that it is all fact. However, Captain Art Daniels is not the only skipjack captain to sail from Deal Island. There are three skipjacks that sail from here. The Somerset with Captain Walton Benton and the Fanny Daugherty with Captain Delmas Benton both sail from Deal as well. This year, oystering is best in the Tangier Sound so many of the Tilghman watermen are oystering there. It is really sad to watch one of the skipjacks sail on the sound and know that someday soon there won't be one there to watch. I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading.

Chris White infuses Skipjack: The Story of the Last Sailing Oystermen with the cadence and the observation of a poet. He captures the patois of the Chesapeake Bay islanders woven into the narrative as he tells the story of a dying way of life. The tough and courageous watermen and their families face the extinction of their centuries old heritage, and White speaks with poignancy to this loss. He is a gifted writer, leaving us heartbroken at the end and wishing for more stories of these very real people of Tilghman and Deal Island.

I loved every word of Skipjack. It's non-fiction that reads like a novel. The character portraits are wonderful; the captains and their families come alive. I find myself relaxing as I enter the physical, simple, honest life of these islanders, as if transported back to the first half of the century.

The author lived on the island and worked the boats, bent over on the deck culling marketable oysters from the the dredge-loads, hauling sails, shoveling loads of oysters at the dock, and helping to do boat repairs, sometimes enjoying beautiful vistas and sometimes being hammered by foul weather. He lived on the island with the waterman, learned their history, their customs, their way of speech, their politics and family feuds. The writing is sold, not exceptional, but a valuable insight into a way of light and tradition that is disappearing for a variety of reasons. I have been to Tilghman Island several times, and have ridden on the Chesapeake Bay Foundation skipjacks twice and I have seen waterman workboats up and down the bay; I find this book very informative and interesting. The writing is heartfelt but not superb. My gripe is: could the author have not put a few diagrams to illustrate some of the points about the point or sailing he was making?

The book was a father's day gift and since my dad loves the Chesapeake and historical collections, this was the perfect book. And the order was shipped promptly, as usual.

I had the grand opportunity of spending a weekend on Tilghman Island and Dogwood Harbor. One afternoon was spent with Capt. Wade Murphy and this is his story about commercial skip-jacks and their centuries old industry going extinct. This book is a first hand look with great tales as well as oyster education tidbits. Worth the read if you are interested in the Chesapeake or skip-jacks and affiliated.