March 29, 2024

Message From the Captain/Changes Around the Marshes on St. George Island in the Fall

message from the captain

The temperature drops, the birds head south, and the butterflies migrate across St. George Island: autumn creeps into this issue of Message From the Captain.

Who’s Who on St. George Island/Camp Merreylande

St. George Island

Camp Merryelande, long a vacation haven for summer visitors and fishermen is still a resort for the whole family on the every-changing sands of St. George Island. Who’s Who of St. George Island captures a piece of its ongoing history.

From The Captain……Oyster Season Begins

“Oyster season in the months with R” used to be the norm, but conservation efforts and disease have dictated some changes to that meme. September was dropped out of the season decades ago. Oyster season began Oct. 1.

Yaocomicos Help Calverts Settle in St. Mary’s City

After seven months at sea tossing around like a cork, 150 or so adventurers were really anxious to set foot again on solid ground, but were afraid to stop. Luckily, the friendly Yaocomicos helped.

Who’s Who on St. George Island / Tommy Deagle: Master Wood Carver

Tommy Deagle

A conversation with waterman and decoy carver Tommy Deagle, a St. George Island resident. Deagle recalls the nearly two decades he crabbed and oystered the local waters. He also has carved several thousand decoys during the past 26 years, including the Eagle on Francis Goddard’s skipjack “Connie Francis.”

Ospreys Flying & Dolphins Leaping at St. George Island

Waters around St. George Island are full of fish drawing yet another contingent of young ospreys, right now just learning how to fly and fish — and drawing some very active dolphins to St. George Creek as well. Video here!

Torpedoes Remembered in Piney Point: Message From the Captain

torpedoes

It wasn’t only Cedar Point, Jarboesville, and the Patuxent River that were changed by the arrival of the US Navy. Piney Point, St. George Island, and the waterways from whence originates Message From the Captain, were where the Navy tested its torpedoes during World War II.

The Birds Are Back! Ospreys Return!

ospreys return

The ospreys return, ahead of St. Patrick’s Day as usual, warming water and air are drawing others birds back to their Chesapeake summering grounds and preparing the tributaries for the return of the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab.

Wendell Chesser Continues Tales of St. George Island 1920s

St. George Island

“In the [pungy] Joe Smith, we freighted herring after they were salted and packed in barrels. The barrels weighed more than two hundred pounds, and five hundred barrels was a full load for the Joe Smith.’ And so continues Wendell Chesser’s tales of his father’s work boat of St. George Island, MD, during the 1920s.

The 1920s on St. George Island, MD

St. George Island

Wendell J. Chesser was 12 in 1920 when he began his “eternity” of “eight long years” working aboard his father’s pungy, the Joe Smith, out of St. George Island, MD.