A Ten-Year Retrospective of Spritsail Articles Excerpts from 2007 – 2017. What is a spritsail? And why was the name On the 30th anniversary of Spritsail, we are proud chosen for the journal of the Woods Hole His- to repeat Mary Lou’s hopes that the journal is as torical Museum? Te answers to these questions “useful and as ‘handy to have around’ as the old were best explained by our founding editor, the spritsail boat. We want it to be jaunty and trim, late Mary Lou Smith in the following para- good for all weather, fun to use, and valuable graphs that first appeared in the inaugural issue to year-round and summer residents alike. To of Spritsail in 1987 and were reprinted in the this community of Falmouth, with its splendid 20th anniversary issue in the summer of 2006. maritime past, we offer this Spritsail for pleasure, “Te spritsail is a small boat rig of respectable adventure and exploration of the currents of local antiquity used around the world. Its name history.” comes from the sprit, a spar comparable to a With these thoughts in mind, the editors hope gaff, but attached much lower on the mast. you enjoy the following selections from the past Te sprit crosses diagonally to the uppermost ten years of Spritsail: corner of the sail, which it extends and elevates. “Te Woods Hole Spritsail Boat was origi- Eel Fishing nally used for fishing and later became popular among local and summer residents for racing by Jennifer Stone Gaines (Winter 2007) and sailing. Slimmer, deeper, and with more One fishery that has almost passed from our freeboard than a catboat, it was fairly easy to consciousness is eel fishing. It used to be a row and was a good boat in the fierce tides of dependable standby, especially during the cold Woods Hole. Te spritsail rig was certainly and stormy weather when it was difficult and influenced by the stone bridge built across Eel dangerous to fish offshore. Te eels were caught Pond Channel in 1878-1879. Te mast of the close to home, in the salt marsh creeks, bays and spritsail was stepped far forward and held at estuaries. Te importance of eels to the lives of the bow by a pinned bracket. When approach- the early settlers can be gauged from Falmouth ing the fixed bridge, the boatman removed the place names: not one but two Eel Ponds, and pin, and mast and sail dropped into the boat, one Eel River. allowing the spritsail to enter Eel Pond.” 18 Not surprisingly, the Wampanoags were catching Te historian Kittredge says succinctly, “Te eels long before the first Englishman set foot on Indians were more gregarious than the whites.” this continent. In a more complete accounting of the first Tanksgiving feast in Plymouth, Marine Sciences one finds that the friendly and helpful Wam- panoags brought not only the famous turkey, by Jennifer Stone Gaines (Summer 2007) corn, and squash, but also eels! ...Tere is other … And yet, life at MBL in the early days was not evidence that the Wampanoags were not only all work. Over the years quite a lot of fun, even consummate hunters and fishermen, but also romance, has occurred here. In the early 1900s very sociable, and would go to catch eels as a cookouts, beach parties and sing-alongs were popu- group, enjoying the camaraderie and the hunt, lar. Lobsters were steamed in the end-of-the-day working cooperatively to ensure a larger catch. steam from the trains at the Woods Hole station. As described in Woods Hole Reflections, “Te students had a large galvanized ash can modified — i.e., an inlet pipe placed at the side near the bottom. A few large stones were placed in the bottom of the can, and then the live lobsters were added. Fresh seaweed was placed on top of the lobsters. When the last train came into Woods Hole, this lobster can was wheeled down to the R.R. depot in a large two wheeled cart, and the agreeable engineer would let out all the engine’s steam through the pipe con- nection to the can. Behold, about 30-40 lobsters were beautifully cooked in the record time of 15 minutes, and soon consumed!” A Silent Fall — The Story of the West Falmouth Oil Spill by E. Graham Ward (Winter 2008) An oil barge, Florida, loaded with No. 2 diesel Both issues for the year 2007 explained the background fuel, foundered on rocks near Little Island in to a series of cast plaques by local artist Sarah Peters West Falmouth Harbor on September 16, 1969. (above) that were being installed along Main Street in What ensued was an ecological disaster. front of the Falmouth Public Library. Each plaque ad- dressed an aspect of Falmouth history. George Hampson and Howard Sanders, col- Falmouth Enterprise photograph by Michael Stewart leagues at WHOI, investigated Wild Harbor Sowers. River: 19 “What we found was every kind of conceivable You didn’t think things could go on dying any invertebrate that you can imagine coming out longer but they did… Ten days after the spill, of their holes and swimming on the surface. I was in Silver Beach Harbor and I dropped a … All of these animals match I thought was were moribund, which out onto the shore and means they were in the wet mud caught the process of dying. fire.” And it seemed as if the Howard Sanders re- whole area was of that called in the same ar- nature. Everything was ticle: coming out of the sedi- ments. Te bi-valves, “By October, we were the soft-shell clams had looking at a biological their necks sticking desert in the intertidal out. Te shellfish war- area. It was a strange den, George Souza, was autumn. You could go Howard Sanders and George Hampson at the site of the West down to the marsh and beside himself because Falmouth oil spill. Courtesy WHOI Archives. he was losing his shell- there wouldn’t even be fish crop.” [bugs]. No mosquitos, no greenflies, no nothing. And no birds… Even the gulls left … because George Souza was quoted in a 1973 New Yorker there wasn’t anything to eat. It was absolutely article about the spill: quiet.” “Te marsh grass was beginning to die along the George Hampson, recalling Rachel Carson’s creeks in the marshes… Te whole marsh was Silent Spring, said what they had experienced full of dead fish… Tere were tom cod and blues in West and North Falmouth was Silent Fall. and bass. Tere were eels too and they’re a tough bird. Tere were scums of oil all over the water. Letter – A Silent Species One morning I saw schools of little bait fish coming in and they were eating the scallop meat by John Valois (Summer 2008) right out of the dying scallops. So you could see To the Editor right in front of you that the oil was getting into Your Winter 2008 issue prompted me to add my other animals and the food chain. own account of that dreadful oil spill. Tere was dead seaweed washing in from off the Te day started early in the morning . fog was rocks and jetties… Tere were crabs with their thick all night but dissipated quickly when the legs twitching. Tere were all kinds of things, sun came up. Two Marine Biological Laboratory mixed up like a soup, at the waterline. 20 collectors were preparing to collect annelids covered and uncovered this area during this time. (worms) to be used by scientists. Nature’s purging has surpassed any effort that Te truck left the laboratory for West Falmouth man could do to save the marsh. to catch the low ebb tide. Te collectors noted in the log the pertinent information for the day. Falmouth Village: Katharine Lee Bates’ Date: September 16, 1969 Playground Time: 0800 departure by Leonard Miele (Summer 2009) Tide: 0830 low tide Katharine Lee Bates went on three interesting Species: Polychaetes, Nereis, Phyllodoce, Poly- sabbaticals during her tenure at Wellesley Col- dota lege. Her first trip was to France and Spain. Her second was to Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, and Environments: Marsh grass, marsh channel, Palestine. And her third trip was to Norway, creeks Denmark and a third trip to Spain. She was Te truck arrived at West Falmouth close to especially fond of Spain and called it her sec- the marsh grass vicinity. In moments we were ond country. When the Spanish-American War breathing the strongest smell of diesel fuel. Ap- ended in 1898, she went to Spain as a director of parently, the odor was coming from the shore. the International Institute for Girls in Spain and We decided to put on hip boots and we picked became a correspondent for Te New York Times, up our clam rakes, buckets and shovels. Off we writing weekly articles about the social, political, went across the meadow grass. Before we arrived and religious lives of the Spanish people. at the collecting area our boots had become Troughout her 69 years, Katharine Lee Bates covered with sticky oil from walking through wrote 11 volumes of prose, 12 volumes of poetry, the marsh. Te terrible scent indicated a non- and 31 diverse works as an editor and translator. healthy environment. We assumed the diesel She retired from Wellesley College in 1924 and fuel came in on the flood tide late the previous died of pneumonia on March 28, 1929. She is night and had spread over the marsh peat. Large buried in the Bates family plot at the Oak Grove populations of marsh mussels were hanging dead Cemetery about a mile from her birthplace at and fiddler crabs were floating in the oil.