How Adam Changed History by Gary D. Crawford
Perhaps you were expecting a Biblical discussion? If so, my apologies. Actually, this is about another Adam. He, too, changed the course of history rather significantly, at least for a lot of people here on Tilghman’s Island. To understand just how he did so, we need to sketch in a bit of historical context. The demand for oysters grew throughout the 19th century, but the “oyster boom” really kicked off in 1866 when Maryland lifted its ban on dredging. Scraping oysters up from the bottom with a dredge proved several times more efficient than scooping them up in small batches with hand tongs. Schooners and other vessels soon were fitted out for dredging; new dredgeboats, the two-masted bugeyes, were developed and by the 1880s were in use everywhere. (Skipjacks came a bit later.) Gathering the wild oysters was challenging enough, but it was just the first step. Somehow these delectable bits of meat needed to get to markets in the big cities and beyond. The oyster’s protective covering, that hard and heavy shell, added to the transportation problem. In the 1870s, there were three basic solutions.
One option was for the oysterman to sail his fully loaded boat to Annapolis or Baltimore, where there were many shucking houses with access to railroads. For watermen near these ports, that was a possibility, though you will recall that in those days, oysters could be dredged only by sailing vessels. Being subject to wind and weather, voyages to market could sometimes be timeconsuming and costly. Once out of
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Skipjack Rosie Parks (Cambridge) Buy Boat Arabelle Photo by Fred. C. Thomas November 10, 1959