April 19, 2024

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.