Cornshuckers and San

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University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1326731 Witty, Anne E. "CORNSHUCKERS" AND "SANDSNIPES": THE OYSTERING SCHOONERS OF DELAWARE BAY University of Delaware (Winterthur Program) M.A. 1984 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Copyright 1984 by Witty, Anne E. All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this docum ent have been identified here with a check mark V . 1. Glossy photographs or pages______ 2. 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Further reproduction prohibited without permission. "CORNSHUCKERS" AND "SANDSNIPES": THE OYSTERING SCHOONERS OF DELAWARE BAY by Anne E. Witty A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Early American Culture. August 1984 Copyright 1984 Anne E. Witty All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. "CORNSHUCKERS" AND "SANDSNIPES": THE OYSTERING SCHOONERS OF DELAWARE BAY by Anne E. W itty Approved: Bernard L. Herman, Ph.D. Professor in charge of thesis Approved: p i . Qr.v _________________ StephanLe\G. Wolf, Ph• D^ Director of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture Approved: ___________________________________________ R. B. M urray, Ph.D . University Coordinator for Graduate Studies Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As is true for any study based on fieldwork, my debts are numerous. My thanks go, first and foremost, to the people in South Jersey who shared their knowledge of the area and its maritime traditions. In particular, warm thanks to Clyde Phillips, Clem Sutton, Mildred Sutton, Bob Morgan, David Robbins, and Ed Farley (of Bozman, Maryland), all of whom facilitated my work with their generosity and hospitality. Also, the New Jersey Department of Shellfisheries office at Bivalve; the Rutgers Univer sity Shellfish Research Lab, also at Bivalve, and its staff, in particular Don Kunkle, Dan O'Conner, and Clyde Phillips; and Pat Heyng of the National Marine Fisheries Service office at Cape May, all of whom helped me track down the Jersey-built schooners. A thanks also to all those unnamed here, with whom conversations along the way proved informative; I hope I have not misconstrued any of the information relayed. For past fieldwork, a nod to the University of Delaware students of American Studies 367 in 1979 who, under the direction iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iv of Professor Bernard L. Herman, left a valuable tape archive recording some of the oral history of Delaware Bay oystering. For sharing current fieldwork approaches and many insights, my thanks go to Rita Moonsammy, David Cohen, Larry Taylor, Susan D'Ottavio, Bonnie McCay, and Paula Johnson. This study has been helped along by several museum people, whose help with collections, archives, and fieldwork has been invaluable. For their assistance, thanks to Ben Fuller of Mystic Seaport Museum; Alan Frazer of the New Jersey Historical Society; Sandra Buchman and Richard Dodds of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum; Mary Ellen Hayward of the Radcliffe Maritime Museum; Roger Allen and Jane Allen of the Philadelphia Maritime Museum; and James Knowles of the National Museum of American History. Thanks also to Stephen DelSordo and Dean Nelson of the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, to James Valle of Dover State College, and to the staff of the Cumberland County Historical Society, Greenwich, New Jersey. For encouragement, guidance, and insight, I would like to express my appreciation to several of my professors in the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Winterthur Program and at the University of Delaware, especially Robert St. George, Robert Bethke, and my thesis advisor, Bernard Herman. A final thanks to all those who understand the joys (and pitfalls) of "messing around in boats 11 and have helped me, in countless ways, to accomplish this project, most especially Patricia Lisk of the Publications Office at Winterthur, who saw it through production, and my fellow students. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CONTENTS Introduction 1 Notes 20 Chapter 1 The Nature of the Vessel as Artifact 22 Notes 38 Chapter 2 The Development and Building of the Jersey Schooner 40 Notes 70 Chapter 3 The Schooners as Index to Change in the Oyster Fishery 74 Notes 104 Conclusion 106 Bibliography 110 Appendix A Catalogue of Jersey Schooners 118 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION The broad, winding expanses of South Jersey's Maurice River are bordered by thousands of acres of marshlands. The riverbanks, peppered with the remains of wharves and pilings, reveal here and there the skeleton of a wooden boat poking its ribs up through the mud at low water. Waterfowl add animation to the quiet river with its swift-flowing current. Around the riverside towns of Port Norris, Mauricetown, and Dorchester, wharves and pilings still stand in good repair (fig. 1). Here, the river harbors the boats of the oystering fleet, and fast land at water's edge supports a few packing houses, boat sheds, and shipyards where repair and maintenance are per formed (fig. 2). So much has been erased by time and the river that it is difficult to imagine that within living memory both sides of the river were lined with the buildings and vessels of a thriving enterprise centered around the oyster. But old-timers assure you it was so. "Looks like a woods, all those masts," said George Hinson of nearby Dividing Creek, looking at a photograph of 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. flLFM CO CUM BERlBNiD GO MnuRicrrow/\i \ Eftsr poii D EL A W A R E B A Y Fig. 1. Map of oystering and shipbuilding towns in South Jersey and southern

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