Addenda and Errata handle than a two-master, I had written: “The wind might be free, but the boats and their crews were not. Soon, a new type of dredgeboat emerged that helped to reduce both of these costs, essentially a larger version of the 16’ to 25’ ‘bateaus’ used by watermen in the southern regions of the Bay… With its simpler sloop rig, the skipjack could be handled by 5-6 men instead of 8-10 on a bugeye… As an added bonus, they were quicker and cheaper to build.” “Balderdash! (or words to that effect)” roared Sidney. He insisted that anyone who has ever sailed a bugeye knows they are easier to handle than a skipjack with its great long boom and huge leg-of-mutton mainsail. “One man and a boy can handle a bugeye. In the right wind, you can sail one backwards into her slip.” “So then why did skipjacks come to be preferred?” I asked. “Money,” he replied, with emphasis. “As you finally got around to saying, skipjacks could be built che aper a nd fa ster t ha n a logbottomed boat. Also, the supply of good logs was drying up fast.” I thanked him for the first-hand information. Later I discussed this question with some experts hereabouts. All agreed. If a bugeye had a large crew, it was for working the winders and for culling ~ not for boat handling. I stand corrected.
The Preventorium Earlier this year, in May of 2015, I wrote about the Miracle House, a tuberculosis “preventorium” operating in Claiborne Village during the first half of the 20th century. I confess to wondering whether anyone would care to read about this deadly disease and the generous efforts on the Eastern Shore to help children avoid contracting it. Here’s another photo of the preventorium in operation, which appeared originally in the Baltimore Sun.
The children were weighed and given medical checkups on Fridays. I was quite delighted, therefore, to receive a phone call from Mrs. Pearl Collier over on Kent Island. She said she had just read “The Preventorium” and was quite pleased because it brought back so many fond memories. Yes, she had been one of the children who spent a summer at the Miracle House, many years ago, and the article had struck some chords. She remembered their daily schedule quite well and was able to confirm that my rendition of it was fairly accurate. She remem-
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