Skipjacks at Cambridge

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#669999" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><U>SKIPJACKS AT CAMBRIDGE</U></B></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#6699CC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Three Sisters at Hooper StraitCirca 1960"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" 16 x 20 Pen Ink"><U><B><IMG SRC="00d0d1d0.gif" border=0 width="13" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" 16 x 20 Pen Ink"><U><B>Return to 16" x 20" pen and ink page</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>   <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT>           </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Until well into the 1980s skipjacks docked at the J. M. Clayton Seafood house.  The </B><B>Sallie Bramble</B><B>, </B><B>Nellie L. Byrd</B><B>, and </B><B>Rebecca T. Ruark</B><B> (rear) could be seen here most of the time.    The J. M. Clayton Seafood building in this scene no longer exists; this location is now a seafood restaurant.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The 50 foot </B><B>Sallie Bramble</B><B>, built in 1890 at Whitehaven, Maryland, was actually a one masted bugeye.  While most bugeyes were two masted, a few adopted a simplified single mast rig patterned after the easier to manage skipjacks.  The </B><B>Sallie Bramble</B><B> was sold out of the Oyster trade in the mid 1980s and left Maryland for a while.  After unsuccessful efforts to convert her into a yacht, she was again sold and brought back to Cambridge in hopes that she could be rebuilt; plans that never materialized.  She was hauled out of the water and placed on blocks in the fall of 1989 at Cambridge and broken up that winter.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Built in 1886 at Taylor's Island, Maryland, the 47 foot </B><B>Rebecca T. Ruark</B><B> is the oldest skipjack still working.  While generally referred to as a skipjack, the </B><B>Rebecca Ruark</B><B> was originally built as a sloop.  Later rigged as a skipjack her round bottom sloop hull distinguishes her from the true skipjack which is characterized by the deadrise, or V bottom, hull common on the Chesapeake Bay.  Lashed the top of the mast is the Christmas tree traditionally carried by the </B><B>Rebecca T. Ruark</B><B> each year at Christmas time for the remainder of the oyster season.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In this spring scene, following the close of the 1974 oyster season, the sails of the skipjacks have been removed for repair.  The now brown tree on mast of the </B><B>Rebecca T. Ruark</B><B> remains for now but will be removed as summer maintenance and upkeep progresses.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The only true Skipjack in this scene, the 53 foot </B><B>Nellie L. Byrd</B><B> was built in 1911 in Oriole, Maryland.  She underwent extensive repairs in the 1980s and continues to dredge oysters today.</B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>